First, I would assess how much refrigerator and how much freezer space I need. You probably have 18 cubic feet each in the fridge and in the freezer. Do you need this much space?

You‘ve tried the low budget imitation SubZeros. Now it’s time to either move up to the real thing, or to downgrade to a standard sized 36” consumer French door fridge, with separate cheap top freezer fridge in the laundry room.

Was going to suggest something similar, get two columns: a 36” all fridge and a 30” all freezer. It looks like there are plenty of options.

Thank you for the ideas - we do need a fair amount of fridge space in the kitchen, but freezer space not as much. I like the idea of the column fridges, but with our walkway I think the 36 column would be too tight on space. We have changed a bit (removed curve on the island) to make the walkway better but it's still a tight space.

When we were planning the kitchen, I fell in love with the Liebherr refrigerators. But I was scared off by the cost. At this point I could have ended up buying them for what we have spent.

Budget it a little tight now as we have 5 rescue dogs - 4 elderley with ongoing medical issues that have gotten expensive in the past few months.

Given the choice and what I have learned during designing the kitchen, and then tweaking it (remove curve and shorten island), I would rip the whole thing out and re-plan it honestly. This house was a great deal, so it may be worth cobbling by with the cheaper fridge until I get to do the kitchen the way I want it.

The SZs are counter depth, so they shouldn't protrude in your walking space any more than your current ones already do.

We have had the all-fridge and all-freezer Frigidaire Professional columns for three years, and have never had an issue with them. (Family of 6, so in and out all day long.)

I know they are “the same” as the Electrolux, but I wonder if it’s worth trying them before going to something else, as they are the same dimensions.

I am sure you must be so frustrated, though. What a hassle!

I ahve had the same as above not one issue in 12 yrs the Electrolux are IMO made more for home that the ones we have so nicer storage inside not so commercial but I have used the Electrolux in a couple of clients home with no issues so nore sure waht is happening with yours IMO SZ is a whole other ball game and honestly can’t justify the price

I like the idea of a 36 inch SZ but since the door is 3-4 inches wider it would protrude that much more into the walkway. It would come super close to hitting the island.

Goodness I feel like a negative-Nelly with all my response to the questions, I am sorry.

My DH really really does not want to rearrange cabinets to change the size, so I found the only counter depth option that I think will work. Between Black Friday deal and opening a Lowe's CC, we could get a pair of them for $599 each. They are single-door fridge on top model so I will swap one door swing to make them open like French doors.

Since they were inexpensive I bought the 5 year warranty, so hopefully that will mean I have no trouble with them (Murphy's law)

It is a brand made in US and China - HiSense, the reviews and youtube videos I found were all Australian folks, so I am guess marketed there.

What I really want to do is rip this whole kitchen out and do it the way I want - learning from all my mistakes, but I will only do that if we plan to stay in the house at least a few more years, which may not be the case.

You’re going to need that warranty. Read what it does and doesn’t cover. The manufacturer’s warranty is what covers the first year. If there are no service people for that highly questionable chinese import brand, then you sit for months with no fridge while they try to find someone. This is penny wise and pound foolish to the extreme.

If 3” of more door crashes it into the island, then the house will have to take a giant price deduction to sell with that dysfunctional kitchen and Chinese appliances. It’s a gut redo, no matter what. Better to do that and enjoy it while you can rather than wasting money on patching it to no avail.

thanks for your feedback - 3 inches won't crash it into the island, it just is not ideal to take up anymore of the walkway. Our kitchen is a huge upgrade for our neighborhood/area and price range. It isn't perfect for the totally-kitchen-obsessed but it works a lot better than most. If we have to get a standard fridge when we go to sell, we have space for it and extra cabinetry in garage to fill the gap, I just want to fill the gap with fridge space for our purposes.

Which is actually one of the reasons I don't want to spend $$, I know I am not completely happy with the kitchen layout and I want to save my money for the upgraded kitchen that I want to put in if we stay in this house.

BTW - the manufacturer warranty covers parts and labor or 2 years.

Ok, I have to return here and admit my mistake. The HiSense fridges are awful. They freeze things throughout the fridge section (both units) and one of the freezers randomly stops freezing.

We continue to be in refrigerator purgatory for the last 8 years:

• 2012 - kitchen reno - put in Electrolux All-Fridge and All-Freezer
• 2014 - fridge side died - repaired by Electrulux
• 2015 - fridge side died again - put in 36 inch French door in the meantime - not counter depth and stuck out way too much. Electrolux replaced dead fridge unit (250$fee) so tried again with the pair.
• 2018 - Fridge side died again - replaced both with Whirlpool Sidekicks.
• 2019 - put in HiSense refrigerators - both not function well (freezing in fridge section, freezer randomly stops). Move Sidekicks to Mudroom for extra stuff.
• 2021 - Whirlpool Sidekick refrigerator died - 1 Hisense is totally dead

So I have 3 fridges - 1 partially working Hisense (still freezes in fridge component) - and freezers. This is what I have:

- 2 HiSense fridge on top model (in kitchen, only 1 working)

- Whirlpool All-Fridge (dead) - All Freezer (in nearby mudroom)

So confused and overwhelmed about what to do now.

When we did the kitchen in 2012 I looked at Liebherr fridges and loved them. But in looking at reviews their reliability makes me wonder.

Thank you

Roberta

Sub Zero. Can’t say enough great things about it. In 8 years you’ve spent as much or more than 1 would cost.

I truthfully though they had reliability issues. Going to look now.

SubZero was always the answer. Buy once, and buy the best. Then the entire saga wouldn’t have occurred.

(not a pro) Have you ever dug into the causes of the failures? Not sure if it's possible to get answers, but I'm wondering if for some reason you've had a number of power surges? We had a power surge once in my old house, can't remember why but I think during a storm, and it fried my TV even though it was on a surge protector (I got a stronger surge protector after that.) I think a neighbor had a refrigerator that got issues from the same thing. I know it's a long shot, but it might be worth asking an electrician and/or appliance person if there's anything you can do to maximize success.

I'd also make sure your clearances around the fridge are good. Check the specs. Most of them need space behind.

Roberta, so sorry you've been through this. My brother swears by SZ, having tried less expensive options. Others feel the same way. They are expensive.

In our island house I love our Daewoo, a simple, tropicalized fridge that deals well with the crappy power supply: brownouts, blackouts, etc. Not sure a SZ could cope with that.

I have had three Liebherrs at different properties without one issue. Perhaps good luck. We made sure the ventilation met all their specs. They even replaced, for free, a part our contractor's nitwit helper broke.

We recently replaced all the appliances in a condo to sell it. A Haier fridge came highly recommended. Will it last? Not my problem. But it fit and looked good. And it was available - a big thing these days.

Hard to say what your best course of action is. Maybe get a 36" fridge column and a cheap chest freezer.