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.

 

[Jonas]

My Whirlpool tripple door refrigerator had a similar issue and was fixed easily within 15-20 minutes and the issue never surfaced again. Surprising (but not so surprising having dealt with the terrible technicians of LG) that they are unable to fix it!

P.s Seems like you have made the post using ChatGPT.

 

[MadAxe]

Empty the fridge, keep the doors open for certain hours and wait for the ice around the clogged fan to melt. Don't have time to repeat this process every couple of days.
Kudos to me if you thought that the post was made using ChatGPT.
P.S. Been a long time. Is the select and quote option also disabled now?

 

[Jonas]

What you are doing is not a solution, it’s manual defrosting. I have never done that in my fridge.

My technician broke the ice build up and adjusted something, most likely the thermistor.

The most common issues are overstuffing the freezer, blocked condenser coils, a problem with the evaporator fan motor, and a faulty thermistor.

 

[MadAxe]

Except the thermistor, the other two parts that you mentioned have either been replaced or repaired. The refrigerator works fine for the first 2 months but after that the issue returns. Don't want to spend more on repairs on a 10 year old refrigerator.

 

[Sushubh]

I do have the LG side by side model. Family purchased locally last month. Ask anything

 

[MadAxe]

@Sushubh

• 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?
• Which model do you have? How much did it cost you?
• Also for side by side, which would be a better option Samsung or LG?

 

[Sushubh]

I mean you are asking questions I can't really answer wrt other models lol.

Left freezer half can be converted to fridge. There is a button inside.

I bought locally so it was expensive compared to buying online. Around 83K iirc.

You clearly don't have control over the freezer half. It can either be fridge or freezer.

Cooling wise it's fine I suppose. I do put the ice cream and other stuff in top area and they stay frozen as expected. Around three hours for ice in the inbuilt tray. Could be longer but I usually empty it twice a day and I have plenty of ice for current requirement of iced americo I make. Peak heat is still a few weeks away so not sure how it performs then.

Thinq is very buggy on my unit. Commands are just not processed. Also doesn't fetch updated temp settings from fridge. Very annoying.

Samsung's similar model is kind of better. You can turn off individual sections so if are going out for a few days you can turn off the fridge half while still running freezer half.

Personally I don't like this model. As you said we don't really need that much space for freezer so it's a compromise in fridge compartment.

One door is also making excessive noise. Not sure if I should call support to get it fixed.

Extended warranty is quite pricey. Around 5.5k for first year. 17k+ for four years. LG visit charges are above 1000 rupees per visit on this model outside warranty. After one month prices for extended warranty go even higher. Around 25K for four years. Decided not to get it. would bite me in the ass I bet.

Also it requires more space as both doors need space on sides to fully open. So keep that in mind. I have a blockage on left side so freezer door can't be opened fully I didn't realize till it was placed at the location

Lg doesn't have bottom half freezer model. At least that was what I was told at their outlet. Haier had a model but mom was not interested in Haier so ended up with this shit

Electrolux also has good models in this segment. I really liked it. But LG was the preferred choice so well.

Also the models on display were different variant. The model I was shown at showroom had a wine rack. Would have been useful for water bottles. The one delivered didn't. So that was annoying. No egg tray as well.

Also the lg guy lied about this model having a vacation mode like Samsung where you can turn individual sections off if not required. Could be a variation specific thing so there's that

 

[hariselio]

@Sushubh And model?

 

[Sushubh]

Regular mode and converted mode.

You can see on the second image that freezer temperature is also set at the same temperature as the fridge section so basically both compartments are now working as fridge. It's nothing magical. Just temperature control.

Exact model LG GL-B257EPZ3.

One last thing lol. Lg showroom guy said that I would get a unit manufactured within last 3-4 months. 2024 models are not out so these are 2023 models. Unit that arrived was from August 2023. So that was kind of annoying. Anyways