American fridge freezer recommendations

[The jiffle king]

We're putting in a new kitchen and have a space for a 91cm wide American fridge freezer. We'd like to spend £1k or less and the unit be silver or black but any colour other than white might do.
We don't want it plumbed but would like a cool drinks compartment if possible and it will be freestanding and not built in.

Some questions:
Ratio of fridge to freezer?
Good brands within our price range?
Any watch outs?
Any recommendation is welcome

[CO2000]

Fridgemaster looked good for that budget when I had a look around a few months ago but I haven't bought a new one as yet of any make!

[jonnydm]

Will be looking for similar in a few months myself. Though, hopefully a bit under £1k. Seen a few Samsung that fit the bill - how does Fridgemaster compare in terms of quality / reliability?

[Dicky Knee]

This?

https://www.costco.co.uk/Appliances/Fridges-Freeze...

[jonnydm]

Dicky Knee said:

This?

https://www.costco.co.uk/Appliances/Fridges-Freeze...

This model (albeit in silver) is on my spreadsheet, won't be ready to have delivered until about Sept. Sure something similar will be around then.

[j4ckos mate]

My kitchen was finished in the last twenty minutes,
so i will be following this with interest

our dining room is now in what was an unuesed extension
and the wall of the old dining room will have a trendy upright radiator and an American fridge,
in terms of value i cant see further than this one at the moment
https://ao.com/product/rs741n4wc11-hisense-america...

[dhutch]

I looked as we where after a fridge and freezer to fill a 1200x185 hole in the cabinets, which turned into two 600 units.

Considered various options, Samsung looked good on the long warranty but everything online pointed to it being no better a fridge and some issues getting the to uphold it, so we went with Liebherr and have been very happy indeed, very nice kit. Looked it all up as the sales people where hopeless, but then paid 1658 for the pair delivered from the local showroom knocked who £200 off what AO would do the same kit for, link below in case they are local.

They had 900 units for the sort of money you are talking, and again the spec and details seemed a lot better then most.

http://www.domestic-appliance.com/

[thepeoplespal]

I'm not following you OP honestly.

I'd avoid the Samsung American Style Fridge Freezer at all costs if the quality is in anyway near the one I have.

1. 1) The plastics fall apart in the doors, it's a really poor design and bursts open easily
2. 2) The drawers are impossible to clean, debris like onion skin gets between the clear and white plastic, regardless of what you do.
3. 3) The metal covers on the shelves ping off

It looks good but it is a false economy.

Do I need to go on? You have been warned.

[BaldOldMan]

If the opening will only take a 900 unit, then I guess an American makes most sense.

The freezers are usually quite small though as they tend to be 60/30cm in favour of the fridge - but without ice/water then you will have a little more, which may be enough, but you'll struggle to get things like pizzas in there - so I guess it depends on how high brow your freezing requirements are.....

[dingg]

We had a daewoo and we would buy another

[eliot]

Problem with the american style ones is that the freezer tends to be narrow, which means you cant get pizza boxes in them and the water thing takes up loads of room
Luckily I had the space for a full size one of each. I went for LG which has handed doors and a coupling kit to make it look like one large unit with double doors which manages to out american the american style fridge!

[The jiffle king]

Thankyou for all of the opinions, very helpful.
I think we are going to go for a fridgemaster or hisense as it looks like false economy to go for an expensive one

[Belle427]

We went for a samsung and it needed its first repair within 18 months, problem is though it tripped the rcd and we lost the entire contents.
Probably the reason it came with a lengthy parts warranty!
We are going to try and offload it to our new house owner when we move.

[Sheepshanks]

eliot said:

Problem with the american style ones is that the freezer tends to be narrow, which means you cant get pizza boxes in them and the water thing takes up loads of room

If stuff is already frozen you can stand it up. Having said that, my missus has determined that when our Maytag packs up we'll get one split horizontally, with drawers at the bottom for the freezer. The wider fridge part and having that more at eye level would be better too.

The one thing I would say about these things is you generally need to be able top open the doors 135 degrees to get good access due to the depth of the door bins - so make sure the place you're thinking of putting it is suitable, they'd be a pain if stuck in a corner.

[rodericb]

Is an American fridge freezer a side-by-side? If you want more width look at what are called french door fridge/freezers. As they're the hot new style they're a bit on the spendy side but you might find something reasonably priced.

[Shakermaker]

if you get a drinks compartment/ice maker I would urge you to get one with a mains water feed, rather than one you have to top up from inside.

My parents have one, and just have to change the filter a couple of times a year but you get fresh cool water all the time.

Mother in law has one with a box on the back. it just tastes like whatever pungent food is in the fridge/freezer

[skyline501]

eliot said:

Problem with the american style ones is that the freezer tends to be narrow, which means you cant get pizza boxes in them and the water thing takes up loads of room
Luckily I had the space for a full size one of each. I went for LG which has handed doors and a coupling kit to make it look like one large unit with double doors which manages to out american the american style fridge!

^
This if you have the room. We did the same after the freezer side of our 'American style' FF developed a non repairable fault so had to bin a perfectly working fridge.