American fridge freezers (and mini rant)

[skinnyman]

Firstly, the rant.

We need a new fridge freezer & washing machine. I wanted white, as kitchen is black/white, and then I can get a Miele washer, but wife says the white fridges look old fashioned and tacky, so it has to be stainless steel. However, 'stainless steel' is actually 10-15 different colours, depending on brand, so trying to get 2 appliances the same colour is proving to be a right ballache, and I know having them slightly different colours is a bit #firstworldproblems, but it's just an annoyance. They don't even match across the same brand. Samsung washers are 'graphite' and their fridges are 'stainless steel' or 'platinum'. Why?!?!? Just why?!?

Rant over.

Onto the fridges. The fridge is on the opposite wall to all the plumbing, so sorting plumbing I guess would require going up the wall near the sink, across the joists upstairs, and down the opposite wall, as we have concrete floors downstairs. Is getting a plumbed in fridge worth this effort? Or not? I've read that the plumbed in ones tend to not be as reliable, as obviously more parts, and unless you get a massive one the water container and ice maker can take up a sizeable chunk of the freezer space, thoughts? I was just going to get a normal one without a water container, then just use the extra fridge space for bottles of water, but chaps at work seem to think plumbed in is a must, which got me thinking.

Any thoughts appreciated.

[StratosGirl]

We have a non-plumbed American style fridge freezer and it is fine, love it actually!
We weren't sure about getting an ice dispenser (thinking it might be an unused gimmick) but we are very glad that we did.
It genuinely gets used for every cold drink and is a godsend in this weather.

[skinnyman]

Just to clarify, I'm talking sub £1k American 'style' fridge freezers, I don't have £5k+ to spaf on a proper one.

Oh, and we're also limited to one that's 70cm deep, otherwise we can't get it in the house (no luxury of French doors in the kitchen unlike the last house)

Edited by skinnyman on Thursday 25th August 21:29

[StratosGirl]

Yeah, ours cost about £1k from LG. The doors are designed to be removed so that it fits through a normal door into the kitchen.
We're very happy with it. Even with the ice dispenser, there is still plenty of freezer and fridge space.
We went for stainless steel and you just have to wipe it down occasionally to remove the finger marks.

[roofer]

Water supply is microbore plastic. No great drama plumbing in.

[eliot]

The problem i saw with the American fridges is that the freezer side quite small and unable to fit large things like pizzas in it.
As I had the room, i went for a full sized fridge with a matching full sized freezer - they come with a coupling kit so they look like one massive unit and I get plenty of room.

[skinnyman]

roofer said:

Water supply is microbore plastic. No great drama plumbing in.

I initially thought this, but its getting the pipework there. The fridge is on the opposite side of the kitchen to the plumbing, so we'd have to go up and over, but the bathroom is above the kitchen, so can't lift the upstairs flooring to run the pipe. Not sure of how else to do it tbh. I'd fully agree if it was just a case of running the pipes behind the kitchen units, but unfortunately it's not. I know refilling the water tank is a ballache, but it's looking like the only option.

[kilty2]

Be warned, the plastic pipe work will age and split (just had a $20k insurance claim for this very thing). Much better to use copper (essentially brake pipe).

[kilty2]

As to plumbing it in - I laid in the plastic piping behind the cabinets when I installed the kitchen (water supply on an adjoining wall). But when I came to replace it this wasn't an option (without ripping out the cabinets). In the end, I managed to bodge the pipe under the worktop (just above the cabinets). In our case there was continous work top from the wall with the sink, and the adjoining wall to where the fridge is located.

[Djtemeka]

We got a bloody great big double door fridge for under £500 notes. I chose no ice dispenser or water dispenser as they take up loads of freezer space. True story

[craig1912]

Had a plumbed in Neff one for 10 years. Piping (copper) goes in space at bottom of kitchen units. We use ours for all drinking water as it doesn't go through the water softener

[Hol]

Its seemed silly to re-model the new kitchen around a 600mm fridge gap and we have had no problem with ours, which is on the larger side of the scale (1000mm).
Plenty of freezer space, even with the water dispenser and ice makers - that get used a lot by the family.