I have no recommendations to offer, but if its any consolation, you're not alone!

I own this fridge! It's a Whirlpool Gold bottom freezer, 22 cubic ft. no water, icemaker, or anything else. Amana makes a similar fridge -- and I believe mine is actually made by Amana. I've owned it for about 6 years.

I enjoy my French-door LG frig with no water or ice through the door (I also don't use the automatice icemaker). I got the wider, shallower one. It is quiet and has worked without a problem for a couple years now.

You describe almost exactly what we hunted high and low for. Its very hard to find no ice/no water these days. We finally decided on a cabinet depth Kitchenaid side-by-side, no water dispenser but an ice maker inside the freezer door. I swore I would never have a side-by-side fridge and I really thought the french door idea would fit our needs. However, we have very little room for door swing and after an exhaustive search we settled for what is turning out to be a good choice. It is quiet, very roomy and I have to admit we have gotten used to having lots of ice always ready. We had a party for 50 a few weeks ago and everything fit in the fridge, including some platters that could stay there until needed. Since it was a very hot week, I expected to use lots of ice so I emptied the ice bucket into a plastic bag thinking we would use more than one batch. As it turned out, the day was very hot and humid, the drinks went fast but one full batch of ice was enough!

So mimisic, how long have you owned your KA fridge?

It's interesting how for every brand and model there are people who have one and love it, and then you can search the 'net and find horror stories.

I was very frustrated during the search for appliances. As you noted, there is no shortage of opinions, and here I am adding my own. This forum did help me though and I looked extensively at consumersearch.com for background and comparisons of the reviewers. As for the KA fridge, I have only owned it for a few months, started using it in June, so I can't comment on reliability over the long run or repair record. I can say it keeps food quite well, holds enough in both freezer and fridge and fits nicely in the space we have. Ours is stainless steel, my husbands preference, and I sometimes refer to it as "my aircraft carrier." Because it is cabinet depth it has to be wide and high - 36x72 - and I am only 5 feet tall. I can reach everything though. The door holds a lot and the shelves slide out. The cheese drawer is big as is the vegetable crisper. What I don't like is that there is only one drawer for produce. I like to keep veggies separate from fruits. Another feature I like is that it is well lighted inside with light bulbs in several places and a switch so you can turn off the ice maker. And it is energy efficient. I hope this helps you more than it adds to the confusion.

We have a Fisher & Paykel fridge that we love! It is around 18 cubic feet, but with the interior layout seems much larger. It is not quite counter-depth but pretty close. They now have flat door models and I'm pretty sure they come in white. The best part is that they are 'relatively' inexpensive at around $1200.