My friend is looking for an American fridge freezer but is can't see the
difference between one large shiny box and another, but there is a hell of a
difference in price.

Any recommendations on quality brands? Maytag? Siemens? Do they offer more
features and reliability or just a big price tag.

I know there are a lot of Bosch fans out there. Any other recommended makes
for general kitchen appliances?

TIA
Suzanne.

On Sun, 12 Feb 2006 11:57:02 -0000, "Suz" wrote:

My friend is looking for an American fridge freezer but is can't see the
difference between one large shiny box and another, but there is a hell of a
difference in price.

Any recommendations on quality brands? Maytag? Siemens? Do they offer more
features and reliability or just a big price tag.

I know there are a lot of Bosch fans out there. Any other recommended makes
for general kitchen appliances?

TIA
Suzanne.



I have a Maytag. It is very solidly made and does all that is billed.
Mine came with a 10 year warranty.

One thing to look at carefully is dimensions. Products for the U.S.
market are typically larger than European sizes.


--

..andy

On Sun, 12 Feb 2006 13:26:12 +0000, Andy Hall
wrote:

I have a Maytag. It is very solidly made and does all that is billed.
Mine came with a 10 year warranty.

One thing to look at carefully is dimensions. Products for the U.S.
market are typically larger than European sizes.

I've got a Maytag, but it's the one made (smaller) for European
kitchens.

In this smaller model. What with the icemaker and water dispenser
gubbins and the extra thick doors the freezer capacity is
disappointing. Because of the tall narrow format one ready meal we
bought wouldn't physically go in.

It dispenses water at room temperature (that came as an unwelcome
surprise). The water seems to be tainted, I think by bugs growing on
the inside surface of the plastic water lines, there is no proceadure
for sanitizing them AFAIK.

The icemaker is a bit temperamental as it's prone to making "hollow"
ice cubes, the cure seems to be to fine tune the freezer temp to suit
the icemaker, it once froze right up solid and stopped producing
cubes.

The shelves can drop out of the extra thick doors, that happened to us
and a 4 pint bottle of milk burst on the kitchen floor. :-(

DG

I know there are a lot of Bosch fans out there. Any other recommended
makes
Expelair, Vent Axia.

On Sun, 12 Feb 2006 14:59:41 +0000, Andy Hall
wrote:


It dispenses water at room temperature (that came as an unwelcome
surprise).

Don't have that problem. There is a heat exchanger in the fridge and
water to the dispenser goes through that and is chilled at the door of
the freezer.

That's the sort of arrangement I was expecting


The water seems to be tainted, I think by bugs growing on
the inside surface of the plastic water lines, there is no proceadure
for sanitizing them AFAIK.

Don't have that problem either, although it is important to replace
the filter at the 6 month recommended intervals. I buy those in the
U.S. as they are cheaper than here, but even so not hugely expensive.


Mine doesn't have a filter. We don't use the water dispenser very much
probably 'cos it's warmer than tapwater, so water could well stay
stagnant in the lines for a day or three. S'pose we could run it off
for a bit before we used any to drink.

Hardly an acme of convenience.



The icemaker is a bit temperamental as it's prone to making "hollow"
ice cubes, the cure seems to be to fine tune the freezer temp to suit
the icemaker, it once froze right up solid and stopped producing
cubes.

Sounds like you need a service call.

I think it is affected by the airflow and hence on how the food is
stacked / degree of fullness. My freezer is just 12" side to side
internally.

I get the expected
semicircular lumps quite consistently, or crushed ice with a different
button.

I've only got one button for "Dispense" and a slider to select ice or
water, which reminds me I have had a dispenser flap solenoid burn out.
The service engineer said condensation can get in and freeze the flap
shut, apparently it's normal for the user then to just stand there
with their finger on the button 'till the solenoid burns out. :-)

There are separate controls for freezer and fridge sections
plus another for the bottle container in the door and for each of the
cooling drawers.




The shelves can drop out of the extra thick doors, that happened to us
and a 4 pint bottle of milk burst on the kitchen floor. :-(

Oh dear. Haven't seen that. For the inside of the fridge I have
all shelves with adjusting handle - they normally supply one of these
and the rest fixed.

Guess what? No adjusting handle.

The shelves in my door are very loose / clumsy nearly a cm. of play
side to side.

Looks like our friends at Maytag took a good product and wrecked it
when they changed it for the European market cutting corners and not
adequately testing the consequences of the changes.

Mine was £1550 from Allders with a 5 year warranty. :-(

DG

Huge wrote:

Maytag stuff is nothing special, despite Merkin protests to the contrary.

Their dishwashers are pretty good, by US standards. Almost as good as my
UK Hotpoint.......

On Sun, 12 Feb 2006 16:21:26 +0000, Derek ^
wrote:

On Sun, 12 Feb 2006 14:59:41 +0000, Andy Hall
wrote:


It dispenses water at room temperature (that came as an unwelcome
surprise).

Don't have that problem. There is a heat exchanger in the fridge and
water to the dispenser goes through that and is chilled at the door of
the freezer.

That's the sort of arrangement I was expecting

I suppose that they must have removed that piece.




The water seems to be tainted, I think by bugs growing on
the inside surface of the plastic water lines, there is no proceadure
for sanitizing them AFAIK.

Don't have that problem either, although it is important to replace
the filter at the 6 month recommended intervals. I buy those in the
U.S. as they are cheaper than here, but even so not hugely expensive.


Mine doesn't have a filter. We don't use the water dispenser very much
probably 'cos it's warmer than tapwater, so water could well stay
stagnant in the lines for a day or three. S'pose we could run it off
for a bit before we used any to drink.

Hardly an acme of convenience.

No it isn't. I guess that the design changed for the European
market.






The icemaker is a bit temperamental as it's prone to making "hollow"
ice cubes, the cure seems to be to fine tune the freezer temp to suit
the icemaker, it once froze right up solid and stopped producing
cubes.

Sounds like you need a service call.

I think it is affected by the airflow and hence on how the food is
stacked / degree of fullness. My freezer is just 12" side to side
internally.

Not that narrow, but the ducting is separate.



I get the expected
semicircular lumps quite consistently, or crushed ice with a different
button.

I've only got one button for "Dispense" and a slider to select ice or
water, which reminds me I have had a dispenser flap solenoid burn out.
The service engineer said condensation can get in and freeze the flap
shut, apparently it's normal for the user then to just stand there
with their finger on the button 'till the solenoid burns out. :-)

I have a stainless steel spiral that is motor driven and directs the
cubes from the tray to the front. There is then a separate button to
do the same and crush the ice if you want that.






There are separate controls for freezer and fridge sections
plus another for the bottle container in the door and for each of the
cooling drawers.




The shelves can drop out of the extra thick doors, that happened to us
and a 4 pint bottle of milk burst on the kitchen floor. :-(

Oh dear. Haven't seen that. For the inside of the fridge I have
all shelves with adjusting handle - they normally supply one of these
and the rest fixed.

Guess what? No adjusting handle.

The shelves in my door are very loose / clumsy nearly a cm. of play
side to side.

Looks like our friends at Maytag took a good product and wrecked it
when they changed it for the European market cutting corners and not
adequately testing the consequences of the changes.

Mine was £1550 from Allders with a 5 year warranty. :-(

It seems as though this is done to a price point which is a shame. The
U.S. ones aren't fancy in the Italian sense, but quite solidly
engineered and work.

Price point is £2000-2500





DG

--

..andy

Owain wrote:

S Viemeister wrote:
Huge wrote:
Maytag stuff is nothing special, despite Merkin protests to the contrary.
Their dishwashers are pretty good, by US standards. Almost as good as my
UK Hotpoint.......

Is that "damning with faint praise"?

Yup.

"SimonJ" wrote in message
...

I know there are a lot of Bosch fans out there. Any other recommended
makes
Expelair, Vent Axia.
Hardy har har.

On Sun, 12 Feb 2006 21:44:56 +0000, Andy Hall
wrote:

Oh dear. Haven't seen that. For the inside of the fridge I have
all shelves with adjusting handle - they normally supply one of these
and the rest fixed.

Guess what? No adjusting handle.

The shelves in my door are very loose / clumsy nearly a cm. of play
side to side.

Looks like our friends at Maytag took a good product and wrecked it
when they changed it for the European market cutting corners and not
adequately testing the consequences of the changes.

Mine was £1550 from Allders with a 5 year warranty. :-(

It seems as though this is done to a price point which is a shame.

I've come across this a great deal in my professional capacity with
the Americans.

They see their gear being sold over here at about the same in GBP as
in USD in the US (and then plus vat !). They think "they are all
thieves" not realising we have shipping, import duties, and import vat
to pay in advance, plus currency exchange costs, and UK customers will
not accept a machine shipped to a loading bay, they want it placed on
site, where they want it, installed and commissioned, up and running.

Not forgetting they have an export sales office which has to earn it's
existence by generating export sales at a premium price.

The U.S. ones aren't fancy in the Italian sense, but quite solidly
engineered and work.

I came across a "Kelvinator" blood bank fridge with an internal
domestic quality "wall wart" power supply charging the alarm
batteries, which had melted to a "Horror Movie" Blob because of the
50Hz in the UK.

Price point is £2000-2500


Implies about USD 1750 in the states.

:-(

DG

On Sun, 12 Feb 2006 22:21:51 +0000, Huge wrote:

On Sun, 12 Feb 2006 14:46:39 -0500, S Viemeister wrote:

Huge wrote:

Maytag stuff is nothing special, despite Merkin protests to the
contrary.

Their dishwashers are pretty good, by US standards. Almost as good as my
UK Hotpoint.......

My Mum has a Maytag dishwasher. It's cack compared to my Bosch.



Yes, although US dishwashers work using the high temperature shot
blast principle.

I've looked at Maytag dishwashers, washing machines and dryers in the
US and wouldn't buy those in preference to European products like
Miele.

Fridges and freezers I'd pitch vs. Liebherr and might buy a Liebherr
rather than a Maytag fridge freezer next time, although it's not a
"slam dunk" as the Americans say.


--

..andy

On Sun, 12 Feb 2006 23:07:36 +0000, Derek ^
wrote:

On Sun, 12 Feb 2006 21:44:56 +0000, Andy Hall
wrote:

Oh dear. Haven't seen that. For the inside of the fridge I have
all shelves with adjusting handle - they normally supply one of these
and the rest fixed.

Guess what? No adjusting handle.

The shelves in my door are very loose / clumsy nearly a cm. of play
side to side.

Looks like our friends at Maytag took a good product and wrecked it
when they changed it for the European market cutting corners and not
adequately testing the consequences of the changes.

Mine was £1550 from Allders with a 5 year warranty. :-(

It seems as though this is done to a price point which is a shame.

I've come across this a great deal in my professional capacity with
the Americans.

They see their gear being sold over here at about the same in GBP as
in USD in the US (and then plus vat !). They think "they are all
thieves" not realising we have shipping, import duties, and import vat
to pay in advance, plus currency exchange costs, and UK customers will
not accept a machine shipped to a loading bay, they want it placed on
site, where they want it, installed and commissioned, up and running.

Not forgetting they have an export sales office which has to earn it's
existence by generating export sales at a premium price.

That principle hasn't changed for a generation.




The U.S. ones aren't fancy in the Italian sense, but quite solidly
engineered and work.

I came across a "Kelvinator" blood bank fridge with an internal
domestic quality "wall wart" power supply charging the alarm
batteries, which had melted to a "Horror Movie" Blob because of the
50Hz in the UK.

Price point is £2000-2500


Implies about USD 1750 in the states.

:-(

DG

--

..andy

"Suz" wrote in message
...
My friend is looking for an American fridge freezer but is can't see the
difference between one large shiny box and another, but there is a hell of a
difference in price.

By 'American' do you mean one with double doors and maybe an ice maker? - or one
made in the US and maybe uses 110v?

If the former I suggest that your friend considers the Samsung products.

The exact dimensions, and how easily you can get in into a house maybe important
considerations!


--

Michael Chare