I have under-counter Perlick Signature refrigerator and wine reserve units. Both continue to operate relatively uneventfully. I do have to clean dust from the condenser assembly at multi-month intervals (i.e., when I think of it). Neither unit has given me any problem. The refrigerator is continuously monitored with a remote thermometer to avoid "door ajar" accidents.

These units live in a room that is humidified in the winter to 40% RH and are backed up to insulated hydronic heating system pipes, so they are not pampered.

Quality control is a problem everywhere, and whether Perlick builds their refrigeration components themselves, or purchases them to spec, they depend on fabricators to be accurate. Two units in a row developing pressure leaks may be a sign of bad luck, or may indicate a QC problem. One would hope that a refrigeration specialist could replace any leaky component and re-pressurize the system without it having to be replaced, as much of the high cost is in the stainless steel.

My units appear to be able to be straightforwardly disassembled. I had to partially disassemble the refrigerator after a poorly sealed horizontal bottle of ale decided to make the entire unit sticky and fragrant.

There are not many folks who will work on the Perlick. On the first unit, Perlick agreed to supply the coil (still under warranty, I believe --- as this one should be), but the labor the guy said they would charge to put it in and recharge it was basically the cost of a new unit. That was ridiculous and why I wen back to Perlick. My unit is in my breakfast room so remote monitoring isn't needed -- and it gets the full benefit of total climate control. Same as we do. I would really like to get back to being able to use the panels -- I hope we can get there.

I love my Perlick. In my opinion if you have a standalone icemaker, it's the only one to have. My outside undercounter fridge has been going strong for nearly ten years without a blip.

If you can't find a Perlick appliance guy, try calling someone who services commercial establishment. Perlick's a big standard in bar equipment.

My unit is just basic fridge drawers -- no icemaker or freezer. The guy who came out before was someone who did commercial work and, IIRC, wanted something like $1600 in labor alone. That was with Perlick supplying the part.

I also had a poor experience with Perlick. I got a Signature Series undercounter beverage center from the Perlick factory seconds; it only had a minor dent in the back corner. Worked fine for the first few months, but by eight months the cooling cycles became longer and more frequent. Seemed that the tab that started the fan upon closing the door was not activating the fan, so I padded the tab and that helped.

However, cooling problems continued to increase over the next few months until the unit no longer cooled. During this time I was vacuuming the coils underneath frequently. Of course the warranty was up by this time (the factory second had only a six month warranty). Perlick had only a couple of names of companies in the area to service the unit, one of whom would not work on a residential refrigerator. A service person from the other company concluded that the coolant was completely absent and he recharged it (he also commented on how clean the coils were!). That cost >$250, and he said that if it didn't hold then he could replace the coils for an additional >$500. Within six months the frig began having significant cooling problems again until it became a non-refrigerated storage unit a few months later. I decided that it was not worth putting more money into the frig.

With this poor experience on a frig that retailed for >$3K combined with the difficulty getting it serviced and a lackadaisical response from Perlick has convinced me to never again get a frig from them.

Very very disappointed with the longevity of our unit. When we paid top dollar for a commercial grade unit “the best on the market” according to our salesman, we anticipated it would last a long while. It was an under counter beverage center—held wine and beer in our bar area, so not used daily. It continually froze up and after spending three months screwing around with Perlick trying to get a repairman, we finally found one on our own. We learned today that the coil is not only out of stock, but also not covered by warranty. Sad that a company doesn’t stand by their product. This should have lasted longer than 3.5 years. Will never consider purchasing the brand again.

I an shocked by all these comments. i am trying to decide between SZ, Perlick, and some cheaper brands for an undercounter wine refrigerator. like some of you, our salesman told us Perlick was ”top of the line” and appeared to be better quality than SZ. now i am questioning this. we live in California; any idea about servide out here?

When I bought my Perlick, SZ did not make a 24" wide drawer unit and I could not use a 27". I have one Perlick unit sitting in my garage and one in my breakfast room and haven't done anything through the pandemic. I need to look into repair or replacement. I am disappointed that a couple of attempts to contact Perlick went without reply. If I replace, I feel pretty certain I would go with SZ now, but I have custom panels for the first unit and my preference would be to get that one refurbished so I can use the panels as designed.

Suzanne, if you live in a major metropolitan area, I would feel certain you will be able to get service on any SZ/WOLF appliance. The issue with Perlick is that they started out as commercial units -- used in a lot of bars, restaurants and other venues with frequent open and closing. That was the reason we went with them -- confirmed the choice when we heard from the person we were dealing with that she did a stadium sky box and they chose another brand. The unit couldn't keep up with the frequent opening and closing and drinks didn't stay cold. She remembered what I told her about my research and they replaced with Perlick and were happy. I don't know how well the unit or units performed over time. It sounds like there was a bad batch of coils. It happens with AC units at times too. One time -- no problem. Twice becomes a problem for me.

That is so disappointing — Perlick is an expensive brand. it seems to be ”higher quality” than SZ bc of the stainless steel interior but i just can’t swallow bad customer service.

Suzanne -- they did stand behind the first unit and sent me the second one. That was above and beyond at the time. I give them full credit for that -- but this one was even shorter lived. I could have done more at the time, but I got very busy with a volunteer gig and we bought a $100 unit at HOme Depot for our drinks and have been using that. I just didn't have the bandwidth to push harder. Might have been different if I had.

have also had bad experience witb Perlick. C-Series undercounter fridge needed sealed system replaced just out of warranty (they did split the labor after a LOT of help from my local distributor.) now 3 years later has died again. similar to others here, i spent more thinking American-made, commerical quality. very disappointing, and of course almost as expensive to fix as to purchase a new unit from someone else! Will be looking at True and SZ. Recommend avoiding Perlick.

We have a SZ designer series under counter fridge that we installed in January so I can't speak to its longevity. However, I did extensive research before selecting a unit and read many posts from people who experienced issues with their u/c units including SZ.

I asked our factory authorized installer about it when he came to install our unit. I also asked our authorized repairman when he came to our house to work on our Wolf range.

Both admitted that u/c units seemed to experience the most repairs compared to other SZ units. They advised keeping the surrounding area clear of dust/debris/pet hair/etc. They said that would help the unit running smoothly.

Our coil broke one month after installation. There were no certified service people in our area to service the warranty. Perlick was completely unhelpful. These things are total garbage

We are in northern CA by the way close to Palo Alto’s. There are no service reps here.

We're in Saratoga CA, and have found plenty of service people. But we've only had our unit for maybe 6 years, and have had two big repairs on it-a new compressor, and now a freon leak, the repair is to the tune of $750. Perlick was supposed to be a good brand, but I have spent almost half the purchase price on repairs. Sooooo not happy right now.

@hadeshnds Sorry you had such an unfortunate experience. What unit(s) do you have? How much was the compressor replacement? Why weren't these repairs covered by the sealed system warranty?

I have had numerous problemswith my Perlick underrcounter refrigerator; freezer and combination units. I will b e filing a complaintg wihtthe better business bureau in the ner futurre. I took the uits out of my condo due to issues with the

them..

I have ordered five units undercounter signaturers series. not one unit's alarm system worked as advertisied. I have been cvommunicating with Perlick's couynsel who said he would give a refund. He told me that twice. however no refund is in sight. I moved these units out of my condo n San Diego and they are sitting in my kitchen and I have no need form them. However I could not put up with the failure to perform and the misrepresentations by repairman who in the last severla years did nothave sufficint knowledcfge of these particular unit.s

I am finally getting a new unit. I wanted to be able to use the custom panels we got when we planned this and got the first Perlick -- they don't fit Perlick or any other brand. It is possible we might have been able to use them on SubZero, but there would have been some issues. Because SZ has a mostly white interior, we could have had white showing along the sides, and I just couldn't get past the fact that SZ was probably the most expensive unit and only 4.0 cu ft. while 5.0 cu ft seems to be the average. We have purchased True undercounter refrigerator drawers and have them scheduled to be installed on the 25th. I ordered new panels and just got them in. The True has 5.2 cu ft, nice features and a good warranty. It has been a while since we looked at them, so I'm going to have to refamiliarize myself with them. True is another commercial brand that has crossed over to the residential market but it sounds like they are doing so with a commitment to quality. I hope so.

If the smaller interior works for you, I know SZ makes good products and has great service. I now have a SZ fridge, Wolf Ovens and rangetop and Cove dishwashers. They were great to deal with when I had any questions or potential issues. I don't think you ca go wrong with them if they fit your requirements. Hope to be saying the same about True soon. Perlick, on the other hand, I haven't recommended in a long time and I feel bad about recommending them before. On paper they were great. For a few years, still great. But commercial quality refrigerators should not be treated as disposables. One of my two units is going to a school with an HVAC program so they can study and learn from it. The teacher might be able to put it to use if they can repair the coil and that would be great. I still have to dispose of the other - I had been holding out hope of repairing it and being able to use the panels again. With new panels, that is a moot point now. Good luck to all of you.