Our last fridge was a Whirlpool side-by-side that we bought back in 1996. It still works well but the door started rusting in spots and we were tired of the cramped freezer side. Also, I’m told on all fronts that newer fridges should be less power hungry. We’ll see.
Besides the freezer/fridge difference, the LG LMXC23796S Fridge is also counter depth and fits much more nicely in my kitchen. This size difference necessarily came with some compromises.
Pros:
– Love the wide fridge area and generous shelving
– The doors are pretty easy to open, especially the door-in-door
– The door-in-door feature is surprisingly handy, especially with the ability to see what’s there before you open it.
– The latched drawers are IMHO *much* easier to open than magnetically sealed ones. We tried many in the showrooms and the latches hands-down are the way to go.
– The stainless steel looks very nice
– The LED lighting fills the fridge with no dark areas except the bottom-most freezer drawer
– See the “Con” on water filters below. The “Pro” here is that they are not required if you so choose, so Kudos to LG for that.
Cons:
– Less Ice available than I’m used to. I use a *lot* of ice in the summer when I go bicycling so I’m not sure yet how this will affect me. This was a known trade-off so I’m not harping too much on it
– Also the ice maker tends to spray a bit of moisture when dispensing (even in cube mode) which makes things a bit messier than they need to be.
– The touch switch to change between cubed and crushed ice is finicky and requires you to put your whole thumb over it rather than just touching it like all the other buttons on that panel. It does work fine once you figure that out.
– Water from the dispenser is MUCH less cool than I’m used too. This is probably my biggest annoyance so maybe I’m just nit-picking. I’m working on adjusting the overall fridge temperature settings to correct this but I’ll probably just get in the habit of filling up my water bottles and keeping them in the fridge.
– The fridge can be web connected but it’s a bit of a nuisance to set up as the website is NOT synched with whatever backend system the iOS app talks to. Helpful hint: just create an account on both using the same email and password and save yourself headaches. Beyond that the IOT connectivity isn’t being used for anything that I find useful at all. And I have my home “SmartHomed” out the whazoo.
– OMG I can’t believe how expensive replacement water filters are. $50 retail! I knew this going in though. So we’ll see if they become more reasonable or if they become the “Inkjet cartridges” of the Fridge world.
Neutrals / Notes:
– The compressor makes a different noise than I’m used to. Not bad but will take a bit of time to get used to it as the fridge is quite near my office. I would say the compressor noise is on par with that of my old fridge.
– I haven’t really figured out what to do with the “Customchill” drawer – I started with setting it to a “cold drink” temperature but it’s not really great at holding free cans (they just topple over and/or roll around). So more experimentation is needed. I’m sure I’ll find it invaluable once I figure it out. Some suggestions from LG would be useful on this front.
I tend to buy good quality and expect it to last. Everything about my old fridge still works perfectly so it’s being used as my overflow now. I’m expecting this new LG Fridge to live up to that expectation.