Which Refrigerator to Buy?

[MadAxe]

My 10 year old LG double door refrigerator (this) has been giving me issues pertaining to cooling. The top mounted freezer section gets ice buildup but the bottom refrigerator section has no cooling. I have got it repaired twice by LG technicians but the issue keeps reoccurring after every 3 months.
I'm looking to buy a new refrigerator but cannot decide which one to buy.
My budget is 75k.

• As per the above table explaining the rule of thumb for selecting a refrigerator, a double door refrigerator would be sufficient for me.
• A good double door bottom mounted freezer one from Bosch is costing around 75k offline (this)
• At the same price, Samsung, LG (this) and other brands are offering Side by Side and French Door ones but imo their freezer section takes too much space of the refrigerator as a whole (40% of total capacity) and an Indian household does not require that much freezer space. But they do look more premium and have more space than a similarly priced double door one.
• But most side by side and french doors do not have any BEE Star Ratings.
• Between a similarly priced Side by Side and French Door, the side by side has more capacity and also more features (for instance convertible freezer). Does the convertible function really work or is it a gimmick? I won't be able to utilize much of the freezer area so can I control the temperature of just the upper half of the freezer portion and convert into refrigerator while keeping the lower half of freezer portion as it is?
• Also is a bottom mounted freezer one better than the top mounted one in the long run? Wouldn't it take longer to cool since the cold air would travel from top to bottom part of refrigerator?
• I would also like to know your brand preferences and why. ( For me, Bosch > LG > Samsung)
• At the moment, I'm inclined towards this LG model as it is the only side by side I could find with 3 star BEE rating and is convertible as well. (Not sure about the convertibility of just upper or lower part of freezer as mentioned above)

Apologies if my thoughts are all over the place. I'm confused which one to buy and need your valuable insights and advice. Feel free to recommend better alternative products or any other suggestions or tips related to refrigerator.

 

[Sushubh]

on that note... i can also say this. LG handle for opening the doors are too low and very annoying to use. samsung seems to be using vertical handles which seems more accessible. i personally wanted to get the samsung model tbh. but family wanted lg so i didn't get involved.

yeah the lg tray is fixed on door. it works fine though quality of plastic does not inspire a lot of confidence. i am using it for the time being. but would probably switch back to using regular third party ice trays in a few weeks.

 

[MadAxe]

Does anyone have experience with this model?

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[igloo]

I changed from decade old samsung side by side to this double door a year back

Amazon.in

power consumption of side by side was 3-5units per day while this uses max 1.3unit a day max(used smart plug).
I hope you have the requirement of that big freezer.
Aesthetic was reason why brought it however regretted in later years when I was not able to click power bill below 400units even in winter months.

 

[Jonas]

5 units for a refrigerator? Damn.

 

[MadAxe]

@Sushubh By any chance have you monitored the power consumption of your LG?

 

[Sushubh]

Nope. I can't even find the star rating sticker on it.

 

[Sushubh]

Also just had a visit from LG technician about the door noise. He said it's usual with big door models. And there is nothing to worry about lol. Anyways. Didn't charge for the visit.

 

[Jonas]

I mean, if he had to provide a resolution what would it be? Change major components? It’s just simpler to deny the problem exists. There should be online communities where people can share their experiences about consumer electronics to avoid being scammed or lied to.

 

[vishalrao]

I'm thinking about getting (any inputs you folks have?) this direct from LG website (cheaper than FK) to replace my current 10+ year old LG which is about the same size/capacity and wanted to play with the ThinQ smart features lol -> Buy 343L 3 Star Double Door Fridge - GL-T382TPZX | LG IN

edit: Seems to be cheaper offline.

 

[Sushubh]

Ok. So, this might be an issue with my unit but ThinQ seems to be hopeless with the fridge models. On my unit, I can see the temperature settings, change them, turn on express cooling, turn on the convertible mode and a few other settings. Some of which are not available on the fridge itself but they do not really appear to do anything.

The problem is that the app does not reflect the changes and any modification you make, there is a lag where nothing happens and then app just retains the original information. But most of the times, the command is passed and for instance, temperature settings are updated on the fridge. But the app continues to show the old settings. A lot of times, it just shows an error saying ‘fridge is busy with other tasks or something similar’ and throws me back to the home screen. It’s so bad that I have basically given up on the idea of using the fridge section for anything.


Source

The only time, I have had success with changing some setting and it managing to appear on the app with some effort is when I turned off and on the fridge which basically restarts the connection with wifi.

This is pretty bad ux behavior and I do not expect it to improve with time. Fridge is not even that far away from the nearest router so this is definitely not a connectivity issue. Maybe someone else with LG ThinQ enabled fridge here on the forum can comment if they have better experience with the app on their unit.

I have a few other LG devices connected to ThinQ. AC control is pretty good. And on washing machine it is pretty handy to get alert when the washing cycle is done. Apart from that it is also quite useless with washing machines.

I wouldn’t get a LG fridge specifically for ThinQ unless of course you already have existing devices on ThinQ and you do not want to shuffle between multiple apps like Samsung SmartThings or whatever it is called these days.