Fridge Recommendation

[gkbt 8]

Hi all,

My fridge in about to died on me.

Any recommendation and any best buy methods to note?

Heard that side by side fridge save electricity is it correct?

Cheers..

[SexyDolceVita 0]

Hi, I am also looking for a new fridge.

I have been researching for the past week and a half.

It's crazy when there are so many choices.

I've gathered that inverter technology helps to save electricity.

And you also need to see if your side by side fridge can contain a cake, shelves adjustable?

Side by side fridge needs to offer space that you need because it tends to get really small in actual space offered, although it looks big on the outside.

Buy one that has 10 years inverter warranty.

I wld get a french door type if i have the space allowance.

More practical.

Freezer drawer is the new thing now but I wld still prefer top freezer because the likelihood of the door breaking is lesser than a fully packed freezer drawer.

I am looking at some models:

Mitsubishi Electric MR-BF43C Stainless Steel - 2-door (bottom freezer, top chiller)

Mitsubishi Electric MR-V45C Stainless Steel - 3-door (bottom veg drawer, top freezer, middle chiller)

Hitachi R-Z451EMSX Stainless Steel - 2-door (top freezer)

Toshiba GR-RG46SDZ (GU) Black - 2-door (top freezer) seems to have inverter technology because it has the Inverter signage on the front door. Trying to check with Toshiba.

Toshiba GR-R45SDVZ Silver - 3-door (top freezer, middle chiller, bottom veg drawer)

Warranty

Mitsubishi Electric has 5-year parts and labour warranty, 5-year compressor now until end of this month if I'm not wrong.

Hitachi has only 1-year parts and labour warranty, 5-yr compressor.

Toshiba is also 1-year parts and labour warranty, 5-yr compressor if I'm not wrong. Not sure...

Sigh... I really don't know how to choose...

Help me.

SDV

[dragonnite 2]

Umm, this is how I chose my fridge, just for your reference.

1. Brands

Mom (and a bunch of other friends) advised these:

- Panasonic

- Mitsubishi

- Fisher & Paykel

Which brand you pick is up to you, I prefer Japanese cos if anything wrong, I can probably get replacement parts and labour cheaper and easier than F&P, altho nowadays, since F&P is quite common, servicing it shld b ok but dunno about cost of replacement parts.

I almost forgot, price !! F&P was too expensive for me so I only looked at the Japanese ones.

2. Capacity

Since I don't cook often, I wanted to buy the smallest possible (<200 litres). That's not the best idea cos if I'm going to have guests over, will it be able to handle those situations ? Of course, going for the biggest model in the store is also dumb. I decided to go for something around the 300-400l range, roughly 1.6-1.7m in height.

3. Efficiency

3 ticks vs 4 ticks ? Minimum is to go for 3 ticks, 4 tickes will only save you $2-3 a month, so calculate to see if it's worth paying a few hundred dollars more for an equivalent one but has just 1 more tick.

4. Configuration

Since mine is considered small-medium, I only looked at the 2 door type. Frankly, those side by side thingy look good but not very practical. As someone so pragmatically pointed out to me, can put in a big pizza box/party sushi box ?

I opted for bottom freezer - again, because I don't cook a lot so my freezer compartment won't be very heavy/full. And since I'm vertically challenged , if the item is heavy, I won't have to climb on a chair to get at it. Again, based on my cooking pattern, since I will access the "normal" stuff most often, I don't see the logic of having to bend down most times to get at these items.

I think top or bottom freezer is personal - friend tells me this good reason tho, as we're both vertically challenged. If you drop something frozen from a top freezer, you may chip your tile or at the worst case, cause injury to yourself. Bottom freezers don't have that issue.

5. Size

At this point, I had already narrowed down my choice to 2 fridges - the Mitsubishi MR-BF43C or the Panasonic NR-BW415. They're roughly the same so it came down to this question : tall and thin (Mitsubishi) or the short and fat (Panasonic) ?

Ultimately, I chose the short and fat cos I liked the depth and breadth of the feel of the fridge compartments. Definitely no issue to fit in a large pizza box/party sushi box.

I hope that helps ...

Edited October 16, 2012 by dragonnite

[SexyDolceVita 0]

Umm, this is how I chose my fridge, just for your reference.

1. Brands

Mom (and a bunch of other friends) advised these:

- Panasonic

- Mitsubishi

- Fisher & Paykel

Which brand you pick is up to you, I prefer Japanese cos if anything wrong, I can probably get replacement parts and labour cheaper and easier than F&P, altho nowadays, since F&P is quite common, servicing it shld b ok but dunno about cost of replacement parts.

I almost forgot, price !! F&P was too expensive for me so I only looked at the Japanese ones.

2. Capacity

Since I don't cook often, I wanted to buy the smallest possible (<200 litres). That's not the best idea cos if I'm going to have guests over, will it be able to handle those situations ? Of course, going for the biggest model in the store is also dumb. I decided to go for something around the 300-400l range, roughly 1.6-1.7m in height.

3. Efficiency

3 ticks vs 4 ticks ? Minimum is to go for 3 ticks, 4 tickes will only save you $2-3 a month, so calculate to see if it's worth paying a few hundred dollars more for an equivalent one but has just 1 more tick.

4. Configuration

Since mine is considered small-medium, I only looked at the 2 door type. Frankly, those side by side thingy look good but not very practical. As someone so pragmatically pointed out to me, can put in a big pizza box/party sushi box ?

I opted for bottom freezer - again, because I don't cook a lot so my freezer compartment won't be very heavy/full. And since I'm vertically challenged , if the item is heavy, I won't have to climb on a chair to get at it. Again, based on my cooking pattern, since I will access the "normal" stuff most often, I don't see the logic of having to bend down most times to get at these items.

I think top or bottom freezer is personal - friend tells me this good reason tho, as we're both vertically challenged. If you drop something frozen from a top freezer, you may chip your tile or at the worst case, cause injury to yourself. Bottom freezers don't have that issue.

5. Size

At this point, I had already narrowed down my choice to 2 fridges - the Mitsubishi MR-BF43C or the Panasonic NR-BW415. They're roughly the same so it came down to this question : tall and thin (Mitsubishi) or the short and fat (Panasonic) ?

Ultimately, I chose the short and fat cos I liked the depth and breadth of the feel of the fridge compartments. Definitely no issue to fit in a large pizza box/party sushi box.

I hope that helps ...

The Panasonic model you have chosen has inverter technology I supposed?

I am trying to find one with inverter that can fit my fridge hole...

So hard to find... inverter models are not a lot...

I don't have much width allowance...

But i do like the 3-door type, one for freezer at the top, middle is chiller, bottom is veg drawer.

What is ur take on such 3-door type of fridges?

[dragonnite 2]

The Panasonic model you have chosen has inverter technology I supposed?

I am trying to find one with inverter that can fit my fridge hole...

So hard to find... inverter models are not a lot...

I don't have much width allowance...

But i do like the 3-door type, one for freezer at the top, middle is chiller, bottom is veg drawer.

What is ur take on such 3-door type of fridges?

The Panasonic model is from their new ecoNavi range - has inverter I think and is from their new energy saving series.

Frankly, if you have a size constraint, u may not want 2 look at brand and simply juz go with whichever that can fit.

If you like 3 door, get the 3 door. Remember that no matter what advice other people give you, you are the user at the end of the day. You have to like it and it has to work for you.

[gkbt 8]

The Panasonic model is from their new ecoNavi range - has inverter I think and is from their new energy saving series.

Frankly, if you have a size constraint, u may not want 2 look at brand and simply juz go with whichever that can fit.

If you like 3 door, get the 3 door. Remember that no matter what advice other people give you, you are the user at the end of the day. You have to like it and it has to work for you.

Thanks for the input dragonnite,

Will do some more shopping this week to determine which will be better for me. However as much as the technology, I think size play a major part as my kitchen is really very small. As such the limitation of size + technology make the choice more difficult than it already it.

Wish me luck!

[garnerdawson 0]

Refrigerators normally can be used for more than 5 years if your refrigerator is very old try to refill the gas and it might work for you.

[Suyun 0]

Go With Mitsubishi if you have the choice. You can't go wrong with with fridge.

i regret getting my hitachi fridge. its a side by side one just over one year old. it just does not maintain its coolness esp when the kids keep on opening the doors. sometime my stuff ends up spoilt or mouldy.

[applefreak 1]

anyone uses or used a whirlpool fridge?

am thinking of getting whirlpool but can't seem to find any review on their fridge...

[gkbt 8]

I have finally or should I say my wife has finally targeted her dream fridge.

It's a 6 door fridge either from Hitachi or Panasonic. Cant remember the model number will add them in later.

Any comments? I am inclined to the Panasonic one with the navi technology

Cheers.

[dragonnite 2]

I have finally or should I say my wife has finally targeted her dream fridge.

It's a 6 door fridge either from Hitachi or Panasonic. Cant remember the model number will add them in later.

Any comments? I am inclined to the Panasonic one with the navi technology

Cheers.

Wah, 6 doors ?! Woo hoo...that's a lot of food...

I'm inclined to Panasonic or Mitsubishi for fridges, both have proven to be reliable.

[Batman 0]

I 2nd, 3rd or 4th with Panasonic. Honestly, marketing or not, I m sold on Panasonic's inverter technology. According to the sales person from AH @ Bendemeer,

Panasonic fridge will "learn" and go into some "sleeping" mode when u least use the fridge, i.e 12mn to 6am, for eg. Thereby further saving on electricity

bills. If I m not wrong, only Pana fridge come with bottom freezer, which is another + point as the motor uses less energy to pump the "freez" up as compared

to normal top freezer. Again I m sold as it sounds logical to me. hahaha

Saw the point on safety, which I think makes sense too. Because sometimes, my mother do ask me to help her put stuffs up into the freezer as they are either

a bit too heavy for her, or she cannot reach the freezer compartment etc. So I am 99% going for a Panasonic fridge.

Hope this helps and good luck in ur purchase bro!

[gkbt 8]

Wah, 6 doors ?! Woo hoo...that's a lot of food...

I'm inclined to Panasonic or Mitsubishi for fridges, both have proven to be reliable.

ya she is into some gordon ramsy / dochle vita cook show or something... attracting her to cook her heart out.

So I guess I'll benefit with all those yummy foods but have to suck it in and get a 3K fridge...

[gkbt 8]

I 2nd, 3rd or 4th with Panasonic. Honestly, marketing or not, I m sold on Panasonic's inverter technology. According to the sales person from AH @ Bendemeer,

Panasonic fridge will "learn" and go into some "sleeping" mode when u least use the fridge, i.e 12mn to 6am, for eg. Thereby further saving on electricity

bills. If I m not wrong, only Pana fridge come with bottom freezer, which is another + point as the motor uses less energy to pump the "freez" up as compared

to normal top freezer. Again I m sold as it sounds logical to me. hahaha

Saw the point on safety, which I think makes sense too. Because sometimes, my mother do ask me to help her put stuffs up into the freezer as they are either

a bit too heavy for her, or she cannot reach the freezer compartment etc. So I am 99% going for a Panasonic fridge.

Hope this helps and good luck in ur purchase bro!

Hi Batman,

Thanks for the info.

Like you I am swayed by technology... I guess I am leaning heavily on Panasonic now.

Model number is NRF555TX no sure abt colour but

NOW is to find the cheapest price.... wish me luck....

[angmoh 0]

Just to share, i bought a Samsung bottom-freezer, model RL4013UBASL

Reasons:

1. Nice sleek, stylish design, looks like Fisher&Paykel

2. The capacity is just nice for a small family, about 400l

3. Inverter technology

4. Affordable price at slightly more than 1k

5. 10 year warranty on compressor

6. 4 ticks

More info at: http://www.samsung.com/sg/consumer/home-appliances/refrigerator/bottom-freezer/RL4013UBASL/SS

Edited November 1, 2012 by angmoh