If you already have a fridge & freezer in the garage. Sell the whirlpool and put it towards the cost of the new one. It will help alleviate the guilt. Also, sometimes we buy stuff and it just doesn't work out as planned. It happens. 2 months ago I had my contractors install a brand new "creviceless" toilet ( chair height). Mind you I bought the toilet and paid for the labor. This replaced a 20 year toilet that we hated! Well this thing had a weak flush, too big for the bathroom and we hated the height. My DH said "I don't care what it costs, but that toilet has to go." I paid a plumber to uninstall the brand new toilet and reinstall a new one. Best "do-over" ever.

It happens. Sell the old fridge and enjoy the new one :)

I've had my current one for around 25 yrs.

Ice makers in doors seem to have a high failure rate.

The ice maker in my 8 year old Kenmore fridge (made by Whirlpool) stopped working recently. A little research on the internet showed how to diagnose what was wrong. It turned out to be the electric eye sensor, which I bought for $40 online and following the directions I found it took about 5 minutes to install.

I replace them when they break. I don't know if I'd consider a broken ice maker "broken". I've never had a problem with those. Of course, when I remodel, I plan for a newer, larger one, but somehow this black 33" SxS doesn't disappear. I think it's about 12 years old and has survived 2 remodels where its replacements were planned but never materialized.

Danielle, it is definitely something that I want and can easily afford, and so I guess there is no reason to feel guilty, and I know I will be much happier with the new one. For most of my life, I did not replace anything until it died, but at this point we are replacing things just because we want something we like better. I live with my brother, and he wants new appliances, whether we need them or not - partly because he can afford them, and they will make him happier. He is buying me a new red Bertazzoni range, and he also bought me a red Kitchenaid mixer, even though my 25 year old white one was working fine. I gave my old KA mixer to a friend, and that made her very happy.
I do not think my old Whirlpool fridge is worth the trouble of selling, and since that is the case, I think I should not feel bad about replacing it. I do get the feeling that appliances are going out of date faster than they used to, but I am happy with the new replacements that are becoming available. I also agree that I could probably fix the ice maker myself for about $40 in parts, but I really do not like the SxS the way I thought I would when I bought it.

Appliance life expectancy is less than half of what it was 25 years ago. BI Viking fridge lasted 10 years (should be 20). Asko washer lasted 8; couldn't be repaired. Bought a "20 year" washer to replace and that broke after 2-1/2 years & is being replaced on extended warranty. Yet 12 y.o. DW is excellent and never repaired (I need to stop posting that so I don't jinx it). No guarantees whatever you buy. Just read the Wolf oven threads on Appliances. My new theory is buy what you like and expect to replace within 5-8 years. If you get longer life it's a plus.

Re your Berta. Before they install, read the instructions on adjusting the oven burner and ask them to send someone who knows how to do that. Those sometimes need adjustment (though you may be able to DIY).

Having moved from a side by side to fridge on top I only wished that I had done it sooner...I too felt the guilt but I also felt like I was talked into the side-by-side configuration which is just not user-friendly. Don't forget you can always donate a working old fridge to a charity.

I think the only way you might regret this is if A. you like it even less than the former and/or B. something on it breaks faster than the former. Hopefully neither of those happen. :)

I agree with practigal, consider charity. We donated the 36in Fisher Paykel range we inherited when we bought our house to Salvation Army. They were happy to pick it up and haul it away.

My fridge is a black SxS Jenn-Air, at least 15 years old (I've had it so long, I can't remember). I hate the SxS and can't wait for it to die so that I can go back to a bottom freezer, but it just won't cooperate! I was so excited when the in-door ice maker quit, but like bob_cville, a bit of research and I was able to fix it myself for $20 and ten minutes of my time. I guess I'm just too cheap to replace a working appliance :o

Our first house came with a semi-functioning (didn't hold the temperature very constant) refrigerator that partially blocked the back door of the house (tiny ktichen). We replaced it without hesitation when we remodeled even though it technically worked. It made a huge difference in the functioning of the kitchen to have a properly sized, truly working refrigerator. The old one was hauled away by the trash collectors.

Second house came with a refrigerator that was a couple of years old, but everything else in the kitchen was thirty years old, worn out and the layout was terrible. The newish refrigerator did not fit in the new layout. We sold it cheap on Craigslist. I didn't feel bad since it was going to get further use.

This kitchen didn't have a refrigerator at all. We bought an inexpensive one thinking we would replace when we remodeled. But it still works so we are just reusing it and I figure it will never die since I don't much like it. Maybe in a couple of years, I will be able to bring myself to sell or donate it and get a new one.

I think the average life of all appliances has been going down and I wouldn't feel too bad about replacing rather than repairing because I'd figure something else was likely to break soon anyway. I would try to donate it though since it's just the ice maker than isn't working.

Our fridge dates to the former owners of the house. It's a 70s white fridge with "wood" foil on the handle! But, it's happily humming along, never a problem in all these years.

We never replaced it since it's only 30" wide and sits between the dishwasher and a wall. Didn't want to spend money on another 30" fridge. We are planning a total gut and expansion of our kitchen and it will finally go.

Alas, the new fridges have a life expectancy of what, 7-10 years? What a rip-off. Maybe we'll spend a small fortune and go with a Liebherr.

Thanks for the info about the Berta oven, Rococogurl. The appliance store is in Culver City, which is fairly close to us, and I think they will be good about sending someone to adjust the oven gas burner. Kevin is going to the store on Thursday after work (the only day they are open late), and I will have him include that request when he makes the purchase. BTW, he does remember you! He works at Sony, which is just down the street from the appliance store, and so that makes it easier.

We ordered our fridge from Home Depot, and so I believe that they donate the old fridges to charity, but I can confirm that.

I thought I was going to love the SxS style fridge because I did not not the freezer taking up all the space at the top (like the one before it), but now that freezers are on the bottom, I think the arrangement will be much better. I also like the middle drawer, so that I can open that without having to open the upper part of the fridge.

I will check Salvation Army to see if they want to pick up my old fridge, and then I can have it out of the way before the new one arrives.

Here is the new fridge, which we received today. The old range will be replaced in the next couple of weeks, and so this is my "before" photo. The color of the floor tile seems to look very different in the photo than it does in person, and I will have to see how it looks with a red range.

I already like the new fridge a lot better than the old one. I like that I can get a premeasured amount of water from the water dispenser, and I like the accessibility from the French doors and the middle drawer. I do not like the bottom drawer, but I hope I will not be using that part very much - we have a stand-up freezer in the garage, and so most of our frozen storage stays there, and I will only put what I need for immediate use in the bottom drawer, which I expect will not be very much. Right now I have flour stored in the top sliding compartment of the bottom drawer - I use that in making bread, and I keep flour and yeast in the freezer, plus cornmeal and masa. I will probably put frozen vegetables in the bottom compartment, and maybe some frozen stock - I have chicken and salmon stock in the garage freezer.

I will post a photo of the new stove, once it is installed. First my brother and I have to install a stainless steel back splash between the microwave and the current stove (going behind the stove), and I think we can handle this ourselves. We thought about putting tile there but decided that it would be too busy, and I want to keep that part of the kitchen pretty minimal. It is a fairly small kitchen, but not the smallest I have had. I thought about changing the color of the cabinets, but DB likes them the way they are and thinks they will look fine with the red range, and we both hate painted cabinets. I am okay with them if they are professionally finished with durable polyurethane, but I do not like ones that are done with gloss paint, and we both do not want white.

This is not the kitchen I would have if I had redone the entire space at one time, but we have chosen to update it piecemeal, and I sort of like this process. Also, we get to get new things each year and let the design evolve. If I had started from stratch, I would have a different floor, but I am okay with the one I have and am trying to work with it.

Glad you like the replacement! Looks nice.

Have to ask, what about the bottom drawer don't you like?

Lars, surprised you don't like the bottom freezer. I love mine. So easy to see everything. If you use it a while you may get into it.

What I don't have in my fridge is the middle drawer. Expect you will love yours since there are so many things that can go in there.

Post another pic when you get your Berta. I loved that way that one cooked.

I remember your Brother -- pls send my regards. Came across our pix at the lovely lunch we had the other day. Can't believe how time has flown.

At first I didn't like the bottom drawer but I really liked the fridge which I use all the time at eye level instead of the freezer which I open twice a week...maybe. I did take the time to measure the freezer space and sort through which of my (cubed not rounded) containers would fit best/allowed the best mix and match storage (I ended up buying two large containers for the larger amounts of flour), it was well worth the time to do it.

The only thing I do not like about the bottom drawer is that it is low and will require me to bend or stoop to get things out, but I might adjust to it and like it in the future. I am okay with lower drawers in cabinet more so than lower cabinets that only have doors, as it is difficult to get things from the back of the cabinets, but since this is a drawer instead of a door, I think it will be okay. I really like the middle drawer anyway!
I will definitely post a picture of the range when we get it installed, and I will put that on a new thread. That will be an exciting moment for me.

We have a frig with the premeasured water amounts. Only use these for estimates, our amount dispensed depends upon water consumption in the house. It is nice to fill glasses at dinner without paying attention though.

I do like the premeasured water feature, but we haven't calibrated it yet, and what it thinks is a 16 oz amount is really 12 oz. I have noticed that the ice maker does not a large quantity of ice, and yesterday we ran out of ice cubes. I read the manual, however, and it said that it takes three days for ice maker to get up to speed, and so I will give it another couple of days before I decide that I need to start dispensing and storing extra ice. If I were in Texas, I would not be happy. I am also going to check the water lead for kinks. When it was installed, they added the plastic tubing onto our existing copper tubing from the old fridge because they said they do not connect copper tubing to refrigerators, and so we might take the plastic tubing out and connect the copper directly to the fridge ourselves. I'll ask for advice on the appliance forum before I do that. We have really high water pressure at our house - a tad over the recommended top limit for our location, and the house inspector that we could consider reducing it a bit, but I like have good pressure.