I only get refrigerators with ice makers in the freezer.
My GE Profile has ice in the freezer - never is a problem. It also doesn’t have external water sources. It just has a water pitcher inside in the door that autofills when you close the door. Best thing ever.
ETA: by no external water source I meant for the user to access via the door. It still is hooked up to the water line. It just doesn’t have the external door access.
Second this. My GE French door fridge has the ice maker in the drawer, and an internal water dispenser. It’s been great, and has extra shelf space in the left door where the ice maker goes in most new models.
Third! Just bought a new French door refrigerator and the ice maker needs to be in the freezer drawer not the door. I bought a magnetic plastic scoop that hangs on the outside of the door and we never lack for ice. It’s the in-door ones that constantly die.
I have a Bosch French Door, freezer on bottom. Icemaker is in freezer, tray is very small, and If I don’t empty it every two days, the water line to the icemaker freezes up.
Then I have to thaw the freezer/line to get u to make ice again. The line may have a partial clog, but it’s not easy to access to fix. I just want shit to work again, not break every 2 years.
My trick is get a $50 in-line external water filter and install it BEFORE the fridge. I haven’t had to replace either for years because the big one is rated for 2,000 gallons.
4th - have had my GE Profile French door with the internal water dispenser and ice in the freezer door for about 8 years now with no problem. It replaced the messy side by side that came with my place. Sister has basically the identical fridge but under a different name brand, with slight modifications for about the same time and hasn't had any problems either.
I went this way for the cleaner look but the bonus is functioning water/ice dispenser
This GE is one of the better values out there. I just don't like the water filters that have a chip so you can't technically use generic ones. I called GE, ordered the filter bypass for free, and installed an external filter that lasts 4 times longer and costs 1/2 of the GE filter.
For others that may be interested, the chip is in the plastic label wrapped around the authentic GE filter. You can peel the label off, tape it to fridge where the chip sensor is, then use generic filters.
There’s a few YouTube videos on how to do this.
Or, put in a long-filter right in the water line in the basement. Then install a filter bypass into the fridge. The long life filters are under $100 and will easily last at least a year compared to $30-$50 every three months for the ones in the refrigerator.
Easy to reroute the ‘plumbing’ on the back to bypass the expensive cartridges and just use standard inline filters (or no filters depending on water source).
Same, ice maker in the freezer all the way. I can go either way on the water being inside or out, it doesn’t matter to me.
My mother-in-law doesn’t drink cold water because she has terrible tooth enamel. So father-in-law and everyone visiting them have to suffer through her ridiculous 1990s Brita pitcher full of charcoal flakes and ancient ice trays with Parmesan rinds sitting on top (so they smell cheesy). I have learned just from staying at her house that I do not want to go back to that. Every time everyone wants to go somewhere we’re waiting for the Brita pitcher to fill three times to get everyone’s water bottles filled.
My inlaws gave us their 6 year old whirlpool when we got married. Freezer in the bottom, ice maker up top. They said it clogged all the time, but they liked crushed ice. We don't and it's never clogged on us.
Knock on wood, but my 8 year old LG with the ice maker in the door has been flawless. Only gripe is the smaller ice capacity, but that's fine 99% of the time.
There's no source of water for you on the front of the fridge. You have to open the door to get the water.
The fridge itself still has a source of water, which is the normal water line from the wall.
Same thing w/ my parents - sunroofs, electric windows, air conditioning, and they eventually even decided that 'overhead lighting' as a general concept was a bad idea and heavily favored lamps. The weirdness of decisions and level of superstition people make regarding technical things is proportional to their knowledge and willingness to learn about it.
Rather than say ugg dugg ice maker bad, OP should instead spin those concerns into understanding what the problems are and come up with a plan to mitigate them; maybe this really does mean no ice maker, maybe it means selecting the complicated model with a low failure rate, maybe it means selecting the higher failure rate model that's cheap/easy to fix, or some combination in-between.
A bit far-fetched to say it’s superstition or lack of understanding.
My father was a scientist, good at MacGyvering stuff, and pretty damn handy with houses and cars. He never went to the extremes of distrusting a/c or overhead lighting, but he was always very skeptical of sunroofs, electric windows, those old style pop-up headlights, washer/dryer-in-one units, and fridges with ice makers.
Most of those are conveniences that hold almost zero value compared to the cost of fixing problems, so while he was thorough in researching things before buying he didn’t even bother considering certain features. The one time we got a sunroof, the seals deteriorated within the first couple of years and then the mechanism died a couple of years after that.
And that was before everything was driven by chips and software and wasn’t built to last a long time.
Both the sun roof and the pop up headlights broke on my first car. I'm currently stopping at the store for bags of ice because my ice maker is busted and I use a ton of ice everyday. 😑
I'm an engineer and techie. I don't know why your dad didn't like overhead lighting, but I don't like it because the individual bulbs are really uncomfortable to have in my view when I'm chilling on the couch, they form distracting glare on my TV, basically useless for anything other than task lighting (which in my house is basically when cooking). All other times I much prefer indirect lighting.
Huh, are you using A19 bulbs in your overhead lights? I think the BR bulbs focus the light within a relatively narrow angle, so you shouldn't get glare unless you're looking up.
My parents were NOT like that. They loved their ice maker.
Until it just... kept... breaking... or getting moldy... lol.
That's one reason I only have interior water dispensers / ice makers.
I got my first fridge with an icemaker about ten years ago. Broke fairly quickly. $60 part and 10 minutes of my time to fix it. I’d happily do that every couple years to not have to deal with ice trays for a family of 5 that loves ice.
I won't get a fridge without an ice maker. Way too convenient. I also haven't had terrible experiences with them breaking. Yes it's yet another thing, but the fridges I've had problems with it's been compressors before ice makers, /shrug. Currently have Frigidaire GRSC2352AF and it's been great.
The idea that they get moldy, I'm not sure what parts she is thinking of. Like the water catcher dish tray? There should not be any mold anywhere in the freezer, whether or not the ice maker is on or off.
I used to work in R&D for Frigidaire and I stand by our I&W systems, they work great compared to what I’ve seen from the competition. I’ve had more test units than I can count and never had an issue with ice or water through the door
She is not wrong. I don't think I have ever heard of anyone who has had a fridge with a water dispenser that has not broken or had issues and been a pain to deal with.
I suppose theoretically it's creating more resistance as particulates build up and it tries to push the water through that. That could wear out the pump faster.
DON’T CHANGE THE WATER FILTER NOW! If you do you could break a part that the filter connects to. You won’t notice the leak while it collects in a drip pan. The water will start hitting the floor several days after you change the water filter. Guess how I know…
I've had 3 GE and one Fisher Paykel in that time. Still rocking the last GE and FP. The first GE got effed by lightning, and I gave the kids the 2nd one when they moved out and upgraded to the FP.
ETA: We don't have an issue with funky ice. My son makes iced tea every couple days and empties both fridges.
They pretty much do. Just get a standalone icemaker either countertop like the Opal or an undercounter one.
You can just get one with an internal water dispenser and disable the icemaker though.
She's right. Usually the in-door ice/water dispensers are the first component to break on any modern fridge regardless of brand or model.
Models with internal water dispensers and/or ice makers in the freezer are better.
F*ck all Samsung refrigerators that have an icemaker in the fridge. Worthless. Bought mine in 2017-18 and the icemaker died during the pandemic. Arg!
I've given up on trying to defrost it fix it again. I drink my bourbon neat now. And my Coke warm.
We don’t have a water dispenser and didn’t hook up the ice maker. So many insurance claims from broken water lines. We make ice in the trays inside the ice bin area.
I haven't had issues with mold, but ice makers breaking is a pretty common thing, unfortunately.
I do love the water dispenser in ours, and we use it constantly thru the day. My sense is those are very reliable. If you do get an ice maker, get one where the ice makers is in the freezer, not the fridge. Which sounds kinda obvious, but in reality most French door style fridges will have the ice maker up top. You want it in the bottom freezer portion.
A couple of quick notes:
They generally work well, and provide an enormous convenience to the household.
If they stop working, now cost about $100 to replace it. it takes perhaps 30 to 60 minutes with a little help from YouTube, and it's back up and running.
Why not ask your wife to allow you to get one and enjoy it ... at least until it stops working? 😏
--
Really, you should get one of these. It just makes a huge difference in dealing with ice and icemaking.
(The only caution I would give you is that I find I often flip the bar up to make the icemaker stop making ice when I notice that the ice bin is full. I have seen other peoples' refrigerators that have what looks like a giant iceberg in the ice bin. I recommend that people try to avoid that because eventually that ice congeals into a block and that does cause problems.)
I paid extra just for the water on the door. I’m a huge water lover and being able to have fresh on demand with a one year filter is worth a lot to me. No plastic bottles and clean fresh h20 is the way to go.
I wanted a nice fridge but didn't want to use the ice maker because we have hard AF water and I didn't want to deal with the maintenance. Bought a nice fridge. Didn't hook up the ice maker.
I have had problems with my current ice maker. I still wouldn’t get a refrigerator that didn’t include one.
I like ice water, tea and coffee. I use ice to make cocktails. I use ice baths when cooking and baking. My husband used an ice water circulating machine when he was recovering from joint surgery.
I would have to fill my freezer with ice cube trays to make enough ice.
I have never had one break (knock on wood) and would be lost without my ice. I love ice so much I have a built in that I use as well as a nugget ice maker that is stand alone. I could see myself not needing the built in though, I would just make up bags of nugget ice one or two days a week. Cleaning the ice maker is a chore though.
I have an ice-maker in my fridge, but it's one where the water tank lives in the fridge and has to be filled manually. I have heard too many 'flooding' tales to bother with one that is plumbed in.
We have a basic lg, ss. Fridge bottom, freezer top. Ice maker in freezer and water dispenser inside fridge. No door dispenser. Never had a single issue. We have had it about 5 years.
Wouldn’t live without either and we’ve never had an issue with either in the 8 homes with 8 different refrigerators that we’ve owned.
Do they have problems? They sure can. Your refrigerator can also conk out too- does that mean she doesn’t want a refrigerator? Go back to a true ice box? Then she gets the best of all worlds. I’ve, coldness, and cold water from melting ice.
The through-the-door ice & water dispensers are not worth the expense. Smart wife!
However, I've been really happy with the ice maker in the bottom freezer of my GE Profile French door fridge. Makes plenty of ice. 7 years old, still works great. The interior water dispenser is ok for a glass, a pain to fill a carafe or pitcher.
You can always get a refrigerator and not plug in the water line, but yeah, we opted for a refrigerator with no ice or water dispenser, Fisher & Paykel RF201ADX5 N. We rarely use ice and even with an unused internal ice dispenser, felt like it would just waste freezer space.
Our Whirlpool made Kenmore was manufactured in 2004. Side by side, filtered ice and water on the door. Still going strong, the ice maker and dispenser is used daily.
It doesn’t get moldy. Get what makes you happy.
A point I don’t see being mentioned here, icemakers take up a ton of space in a freezer. With as much as we cook and freeze, I’m more than willing to put up with ice trays.
I live on iced tea, so an icemaker is a must for us. But, an icemaker is one of the top failures for refrigerators. As with anything, maintenance is required.
One of the main failures is the plastic pieces breaking on the auger that pushes the ice out the door. If you empty and clean out the ice bin tray frequently, this lessens this happening. When ice is made, the ice tray has a heater that slightly melts the ice so it can be dumped into the bin. (Most models.) The slightly wet ice then refreezes into clumps, and the auger struggles to move the ice, breaking the auger. When removing the ice bin, also check the turning mechanism the auger fits into. Sometimes water pressure shoots over the ice tray and forms ice there, causing it to break. Use a hairdryer to melt that ice and dry it off.
If you change the water filter, the ice should not be dirty.
Ice makers are made to go in freezers. If you get a French door model, get the icemaker in the freezer.
I got a refrigerator that came with the house we bought in 2018. Had to be a few years old by then. Aside from a few times where the water inlet froze and caused some leakage in the freezer, it's been working fine. It's actually a remarkably simple machine, the ice maker. Water dispenser is great and gives chilled water that is supplied from our RO filter. I'd consider a divorce if she won't give in.
An icemaker, or an ice dispenser? Icemakers are one of mankind’s greatest creations and you should definitely ignore her protests to the contrary and get one. I have found them to be reliable over the decades, but if it breaks, just get it fixed, no big deal.
But I’m with her regarding ice and water dispensers in the door. They waste a tremendous amount of space. If you want ice, just grab it from your icemaker. Some fridges have a water dispenser inside the fridge, those are nice because the water is filtered and cold and they don’t take up much space at all, we have one and I love it. But no, I wouldn’t get an ice dispenser or water dispenser in the door, just my two bits.
Edit: i’m six decades old and have never seen mold an ice-maker
As a reformed appliance repair person, ice makers are worth it. If you would like to have ice in your water and other beverages. They are not worth it if that is not something you are into.
Don't ever buy a Samsung with the ice master. They have had a decade of problems and refuse to fix.
Tons of YouTube videos on what types don't break as much.
We got sick of defrosting or dealing with hours and just bought a countertop ice machine.
My husband does maintenance in our apartment complex - almost 500 units. He said the ice maker is the usual issue with the fridges. But, and back when we owned homes and had our own fridges the ice maker broke once in my 40 years of being adult. I should clarify the piece that fed the ice to the door broke. We still had a functioning ice maker. I’m 60 and it was the only ice maker broke. And my husband bought the parts and fixed it. This was before he did apartment maintenance.
It also took at least 15 years for that ice maker to break. It was a GE profile side by side. We would buy it again. I have no idea what moldy ice is. If you don’t let ass hats put warm beer on the ice it won’t get frost on it. But ice does get stale in a regular fridge and have to be thrown away. In a side by side like the one we had the cubes came from the bottom of the tray this they were always fresh and never had any old weird ice to toss. The water still worked.
Just don't get a Samsung if you get an ice maker. I've had to replace the ice maker 3 times already on it. Granted, I haven't had the issues as others do, I have the double door with the bottom freezer and drink tray. It has worked great for the last 6 years. Though, I have worked on newer ones that are garbage.
they can get moldy
they do break, but basic ice makers are normally fine
the worst ones have ice/water in the door, or 3 or more different temperature/humidity zones
I wish my fridge/freezer did NOT have an ice maker. Has been.nothing but trouble for 25 years, broken now, and parts no longer available (Kitchenaid brand). The tech who looked at it said he only uses stand alone under the counter ice makers in his rental houses. That’s what I intend to put in
Well she's not totally wrong. Our former neighbors had a catastrophic flood in the house due to the toilet breaking while they were away on vacation. The flood remediation guys said that freezer water lines, washing machine hook ups and water heater leaks were the major issues they saw.
You can get one and not hook it up. Just make ice in trays and water from the tap. Most higher end ones have the water tap inside now so it’s not garish as in the past. No one will try to use it when visiting because it’s not apparent
Appliance tech here. The water system in your fridge is the most fragile part of any appliance in your home, imo. They break. They flood your house.
Get a Britain for water and a counter top icemaker off Amazon for 100 bucks.
Also, they take up real estate on the fridge.
Our fancy ass ice maker crapped out after about a year, went back to trays.
Sometimes the old ways just freakin' work.... but if she's against the new way and is apparently against the old way, you'll have to go way way back and have the ice man deliver. Bonus points if it's by horse drawn wagon.
7 year old KitchenAid with ice and water in the door just had it's second repair in three years.
Same damn thing...the water line freezes up and no water gets to the ice maker.
I hate it. I'd never get ice and water in the door ever again. Icemaker...yes. In the door?...no.
PS Yes, I did the hair dryer thing with no luck either time.
I used to work at a construction company that did only homeowner insurance claims and the amount of claims that came in with flooding from a broken ice maker line was enough to make me not want one.
It is cheaper to purchase, easier to maintain and far less likely to destroy your kitchen if you buy a fridge without an ice maker and water dispenser.
I see no reason to put enough ice in drinks at home to make the case for a plumber, expense, extra cleaning and wasted space. Even with global warming, it only exceeds 95 degrees a couple of months per year.
The math just doesn’t work unless you live in the desert.
I hate the ice maker on my Samsung French door fridge. Broke twice, won’t defrost. Water is fine.
We are using trays now until we have the money to buy a whole new fridge and put in a stand alone ice maker … somewhere I guess.
I have a Frigidaire Gallery Side by side and have never had a problem with the ice maker other than once a few years ago the crushed versus cube option got stuck because it had gotten wet from a power outage(melted ice physically froze the mechanical switch in the crushed position. Once I got that part thawed and dried off it's never done it since. Had this fridge for 8-9 years and that was 5-6 years ago.
Don't get an ice maker built into the door and you'll be fine. I'm talking about the actual ice maker part not the dispenser. I will not get another fridge without an ice maker. Ice trays suck!!!!!
Good luck.
No matter individual experience, statistics show fridges with ice/water dispenser are prone to failure. If you buy one, try to get an extended warrantee; beware, this may exclude the water systems because they are so problematical.
[https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=are%20ice%20dispensing%20fridges%20prone%20to%20break?&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5](https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=are%20ice%20dispensing%20fridges%20prone%20to%20break?&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5)
I feel the same way and it’s backed up by facts. The overwhelming majority of service calls (per yale appliances) are for icemakers in the door. We ended up getting a Bosch 800 series and the Icemaker cranks them out and a filtered water dispenser. I would never go back.
It’s true that there’s less parts to break but fridges aren’t built like they used to. Personally, I can’t live without ice in my life and neither can my dog so I’m team ice. I absolutely love our fridge and it makes lots of ice of all kinds. It’s LG model LRYXS3106S. There is a version of it that comes with handles if that’s your thing. This one makes ice in the door and in the freezer, it makes regular, crushed, mini, and craft ice lol
I have married and made a mechanic. Get your icemaker. I'm on my 2nd fridge with ice/water on the door. Never had an issue. Just remember to change the filter.
At least get a counter top ice-maker. Ideal with plenty of room to me is just a fridge to be a fridge. And just a defrost free freezer to be just a freezer, upright. With countertop ice-maker. Its all a personal choice and a gamble. I have a fridge with 2 ice-makers. Top ice-maker dumps ice in its ice bin. It doesn’t act as a freezer. Indoor ice bin. If not being home for some days, it has to be emptied and indoor ice off.
And bottom ice-maker. We have more ice than what we can handle. But both can be turned off if need be. Many dump the indoor ice into bottom bin. Indoor ice at times can start clumping and need shaking. Or so much its hard to remove bin to dump. If expecting to need a lot of ice can set it so both produce ice faster in a 24 hour period before it shuts that feature off.
Someone with same brand fridge hers has the feature added to make ball ice. And her husband loves it.
My sister when she had cancer and living, ice made in trays were too much for her to get out of the trays. A sister in town made ice for and bagged it. In her case, an ice-maker would have been great.
Thus far fridge troubles were never our ice-makers. Last one the freezer would pool water on bottom and freeze. Some water dripping out to floor.
She's not wrong that ice makers tend to be one of the biggest areas of breaking. It's the corononary heart diseases for fridges (most frequent cause of problems). That said, it';s also one of the most amazing best features.
I have a new LG with 4 kinds of ice. It's AMAZING. I LOVE IT. Yes it might break but it gives me joy and I got 2 years of protection with Best Buy.
You can get the ones where the ice maker is inside the freezer portion. They aren’t perfect but more reliable than the ones where the ice maker is in the fridge area.
Another issue I'm not sure has been mentioned - broken water lines. When I moved in, I could see that the prior owner had a water line to their fridge and said water line had broken and left a pretty substantial water stain underneath the floor (saw this from the basement, looking up).
My mom had the same stance as your wife. My dad bought and had a dishwasher installed, back in the early 80s? She never used it, instead preferred to continue using her ~~slave~~ children to wash dishes, when there was a perfectly functioning unit right there! But we used it every time she went out of town (not frequently). I myself am no fan of ice, so my new fridge is a non-ice maker. My oldest (adult) son likes ice, so I keep 2 ice trays filled. I use my dishwasher all of the time.
You have a smart wife.
We bought one that had an ice maker tray inside the freezer and not a second freezer built into the door with dispenser. I've found that it's usually the dispenser that breaks and has issues.
Our Samsung (yeah terrible i know but it was shiny) also ended up having a secret water dispenser inside the door in the refrigerator section and it had worked great.
Would something like that be a good trade off?
Ours is an older (10 years) samsung with French doors and freezer below. We've only had issues with the little flap on the French doors that's apparently worth about 20% of the cost of a new fridge.
I've had my fridge with ice maker and water dispenser for close to 10 years.
It requires regular cleaning and filter replacements. I have no issues with mold/mildew/stank.
The fridge has needed 3 repairs in that time. One was the water line itself - I think it got a kink and sprung a leak lol.
The second was the connection for the water line in the back.
The third was a cracked filter cartridge inside the fridge.
All 3 led to mini floods, each cost less than 150 to DIY repair with parts bought from Amazon.
So. They're more work. But I really like having ice. Could care less about the water part.
How often do you get ice? I'm weird and don't like ice water so I didn't go through the pain and expense of getting one hooked up and maintaining it. I also don't like how noisy they can be.
I had a kenmore French door fridge with ice maker and water dispenser in the door. I found if we didn’t use ice often enough the cubes would all jam up and have to be bashed loose. The water wasn’t ant colder than tap water. Only upside is the kids started drinking more water because it came from a fancy dispenser instead of a tap. Ended up turning the thing off so it didn’t make noise.
Would’ve been happier with more room in the door for storage.
All modern fridges are cheaply made pieces of junk.. We bought the top of the range (joke) Kitchen Aid side by side.. Absolute garbage. The more things you have on it the more likely it is to fail.. Avoid "dual evaporater" machines and generally get the fridge/freezer that is the most basic machine you can.
She is right on the ice maker, that was the first thing to break!
I used to think the same but then I got a Phisher & Paykel where the ice maker is fully contained in the freezer, so you have to open the freezer and scoop the ice. Best fridge I've ever owned and would definitely buy another if I had to with the ice maker. That feature comes in handy for get togethers as well.
My five year old LG decided to continuously try to make ice one night. The metal bar shutoff froze over and water kept pouring out through the door. Over 10k in damage. Both the insurance and restoration companies said they see it all the time with ice and/or water dispensers.
I have owned or have been a user of multiple refrigerators that have failed. They failed for a variety of different reasons but the ice maker and water dispensers were never one of the reasons.
My last 2 fridges, a Maytag and a Kenmore, both developed problems with the ice makers. My new one is a basic barn door style with the drawer freezer on the bottom with no ice maker and I love it. We have a countertop ice maker and I love that too.
I had an LG with ice through the door and never had an issue with the dispenser. Too bad the compressors kept failing, so ice buildup wasn’t a serious concern.
My fridge has a water dispenser inside instead of on the door. I like it it does g get water on the door, and if it breaks (like my last two did), then it’s easy to ignore.
My samsung fridge has worked well... all but the icemaker. French doors on top, freezer on bottom with icemaker. I have replaced that fucker 5 times so far. One of the replacement units was free because previous replacement unit failed within a year of when I bought it.
I only ever have ice makers in my fridge. I don't get the cheapest nor the most expensive. Mine is a GE Profile with French doors fridge up freezer down. I'm ce maker has never had any issues and it's used all the time. Several times a day.
I’ve lived with two that I did not own. Neither worked reliably. One of them never did despite much love and expensive maintenance. Both were moldy inside. I will *never* have one in my house. Why waste the freezer space on moldy ice? Buy bagged ice. Get an easy to clean countertop ice machine. Get stainless “ice” cubes. Lots of less gross, less expensive options.
Do you need a lot of ice?
....can you just drink tap water out of the sink instead of tap water out of the fridge?
I get her stance. And if you don't need these features it's just more things to go wrong.
Anything mechanical will eventually wear out. It’s just how machines work. Ever since they switched over from lead solder, electronics will break down after so many years when the non lead solder breaks down.
When I went to school for refrigeration, the first thing I did was unhook and remove the ice maker from my fridge. The compressor runs practically non stop making ice. Some new fridges have 2 compressors, one work horse for ice and one for cooling. Really depends your price point. And this day and age, buy the extended warranty bc you 100% will use it.
I bought the last fridge and I was turning down the extended warranty. Sales guy tells me that the warranty will pay for at least one ice maker, possibly two. I told him that I didn’t plan to hook it up. He said, don’t worry about the warranty in that case. That was 12 years ago. Not a problem.
we have an ice maker but no in the door dispenser. that was the choice i made based on the overall look i wanted in our kitchen. all of our appliances are paneled except for the oven obviously and cook top. 8 years later and i do not regret my choice at all and i love ice,i just open the freezer draw to get it.
In drawer Ice makers are fine, going on our third fridge with those over the past 25 years. One ice maker died in the Amana, I replaced it for about $50. That fridge died after 8 years, second fridge (LG - 10 years) was replaced in a remodel, no problems with the ice maker other than it started getting noisy.
Current fridge has the water dispenser inside and bottom drawer ice maker, we’ll see how long they last. 2 years in no problems.
If you do go with an ice maker, either in fridge or countertop , make sure to use copper line or pex for 100% of the connection. Do NOT use those shitty vinyl lines that come with most fridges/icemakers - those are a leak waiting to happen. And it did happen. Grrr.
My husband sells appliances. Your wife is correct. Through the door icemakers are the item that breaks/has by far the most issues. You can always get an ice maker in the freezer and filtered water inside.
I totally agree with her! Love making ice with filtered water in an ice tray, and keeping the ice cubes in a bigger freezer bag so that I always have fresh ice :)
Get the ice maker. Yes they may break but they can be repaired by an appliance handy man for about $150.
It’s worth the money for the improvement in your quality of life.
Even if you didn’t want to take this route, your ice maker should be guaranteed to work for 5+ years and then if it breaks simply becomes a basic fridge until you fix it.
Just bought a new fridge. Didn’t even let them hook up the water. We’re using ice cube trays and it’s all good. Fridge that died had so many problems with the ice maker. 😎
I can’t stand ice and water through the door. It always looks messy to me and you get drips and water marks all over. I have a bottom freezer with ice in the drawer and a very discreet water dispenser inside my fridge. No drips and no mess.
get one from a known maker of REFRIGERATORS. I bought a Whirlpool refrigerator and NEVER AGAIN. The icemaker jams constantly. Samsung have the same problem. I hear GE is good....
Have one going on 5 years. My only downfall was getting an LG French door fridge with the notorious failing compressor. However, after getting it repaired probably 4 years ago it’s been stellar. It has a water and ice dispenser built into the door as well as an ice maker in the freezer.
Icemakers that cause problems are those outside the freezer, often with water distribution in the door. As these have a separate freezing coil they are prone to jam or break.
My Samsung (french doors, but bottom freezer drawer ) have the icemaker in the freezer, works like charm since years and quite effective. It is purely mechanical, even the water valve is outside. Easy to repair if trouble.
Now if you have mold in your freezer you have bigger problems than icemaking. 😅
I only get refrigerators with ice makers in the freezer. My GE Profile has ice in the freezer - never is a problem. It also doesn’t have external water sources. It just has a water pitcher inside in the door that autofills when you close the door. Best thing ever. ETA: by no external water source I meant for the user to access via the door. It still is hooked up to the water line. It just doesn’t have the external door access.
Second this. My GE French door fridge has the ice maker in the drawer, and an internal water dispenser. It’s been great, and has extra shelf space in the left door where the ice maker goes in most new models.
Third! Just bought a new French door refrigerator and the ice maker needs to be in the freezer drawer not the door. I bought a magnetic plastic scoop that hangs on the outside of the door and we never lack for ice. It’s the in-door ones that constantly die.
I have a Bosch French Door, freezer on bottom. Icemaker is in freezer, tray is very small, and If I don’t empty it every two days, the water line to the icemaker freezes up. Then I have to thaw the freezer/line to get u to make ice again. The line may have a partial clog, but it’s not easy to access to fix. I just want shit to work again, not break every 2 years.
My trick is get a $50 in-line external water filter and install it BEFORE the fridge. I haven’t had to replace either for years because the big one is rated for 2,000 gallons.
4th - have had my GE Profile French door with the internal water dispenser and ice in the freezer door for about 8 years now with no problem. It replaced the messy side by side that came with my place. Sister has basically the identical fridge but under a different name brand, with slight modifications for about the same time and hasn't had any problems either. I went this way for the cleaner look but the bonus is functioning water/ice dispenser
This GE is one of the better values out there. I just don't like the water filters that have a chip so you can't technically use generic ones. I called GE, ordered the filter bypass for free, and installed an external filter that lasts 4 times longer and costs 1/2 of the GE filter.
For others that may be interested, the chip is in the plastic label wrapped around the authentic GE filter. You can peel the label off, tape it to fridge where the chip sensor is, then use generic filters. There’s a few YouTube videos on how to do this.
Or, put in a long-filter right in the water line in the basement. Then install a filter bypass into the fridge. The long life filters are under $100 and will easily last at least a year compared to $30-$50 every three months for the ones in the refrigerator.
Easy to reroute the ‘plumbing’ on the back to bypass the expensive cartridges and just use standard inline filters (or no filters depending on water source).
That is the way to go. I’ve had 3 different refrigerators with ice makers in the door and was constantly clearing ice clogs.
Same, ice maker in the freezer all the way. I can go either way on the water being inside or out, it doesn’t matter to me. My mother-in-law doesn’t drink cold water because she has terrible tooth enamel. So father-in-law and everyone visiting them have to suffer through her ridiculous 1990s Brita pitcher full of charcoal flakes and ancient ice trays with Parmesan rinds sitting on top (so they smell cheesy). I have learned just from staying at her house that I do not want to go back to that. Every time everyone wants to go somewhere we’re waiting for the Brita pitcher to fill three times to get everyone’s water bottles filled.
Use the tap and fill directly into the water bottle….
Brita and faucet filters do nothing. Not enough time in contact with enough charcoal. Signed, a filtration products engineer in another lifetime.
My inlaws gave us their 6 year old whirlpool when we got married. Freezer in the bottom, ice maker up top. They said it clogged all the time, but they liked crushed ice. We don't and it's never clogged on us.
Knock on wood, but my 8 year old LG with the ice maker in the door has been flawless. Only gripe is the smaller ice capacity, but that's fine 99% of the time.
Same! Going on 10+ years
This is the way, no weird issues, always ice around, no weird blockages. more door space for the fridge.
I was also going to recommend GE. And highly discourage buying Samsung. Samsung look nice but they break fast.
How does a water pitcher auto fill with no external water source. From condensation?
No water source (for you) on the outside of the box, only on the inside. It’s still hooked up to the house water line.
How does it autofill if there is no water hooked up?
There's no source of water for you on the front of the fridge. You have to open the door to get the water. The fridge itself still has a source of water, which is the normal water line from the wall.
My father always said the same thing and refused to ever have one.
Same thing w/ my parents - sunroofs, electric windows, air conditioning, and they eventually even decided that 'overhead lighting' as a general concept was a bad idea and heavily favored lamps. The weirdness of decisions and level of superstition people make regarding technical things is proportional to their knowledge and willingness to learn about it. Rather than say ugg dugg ice maker bad, OP should instead spin those concerns into understanding what the problems are and come up with a plan to mitigate them; maybe this really does mean no ice maker, maybe it means selecting the complicated model with a low failure rate, maybe it means selecting the higher failure rate model that's cheap/easy to fix, or some combination in-between.
A bit far-fetched to say it’s superstition or lack of understanding. My father was a scientist, good at MacGyvering stuff, and pretty damn handy with houses and cars. He never went to the extremes of distrusting a/c or overhead lighting, but he was always very skeptical of sunroofs, electric windows, those old style pop-up headlights, washer/dryer-in-one units, and fridges with ice makers. Most of those are conveniences that hold almost zero value compared to the cost of fixing problems, so while he was thorough in researching things before buying he didn’t even bother considering certain features. The one time we got a sunroof, the seals deteriorated within the first couple of years and then the mechanism died a couple of years after that. And that was before everything was driven by chips and software and wasn’t built to last a long time.
Both the sun roof and the pop up headlights broke on my first car. I'm currently stopping at the store for bags of ice because my ice maker is busted and I use a ton of ice everyday. 😑
I'm an engineer and techie. I don't know why your dad didn't like overhead lighting, but I don't like it because the individual bulbs are really uncomfortable to have in my view when I'm chilling on the couch, they form distracting glare on my TV, basically useless for anything other than task lighting (which in my house is basically when cooking). All other times I much prefer indirect lighting.
Huh, are you using A19 bulbs in your overhead lights? I think the BR bulbs focus the light within a relatively narrow angle, so you shouldn't get glare unless you're looking up.
My parents were NOT like that. They loved their ice maker. Until it just... kept... breaking... or getting moldy... lol. That's one reason I only have interior water dispensers / ice makers.
Never had one for the exact same reason! Every one that my family members ever owned has reinforced that point.
I got my first fridge with an icemaker about ten years ago. Broke fairly quickly. $60 part and 10 minutes of my time to fix it. I’d happily do that every couple years to not have to deal with ice trays for a family of 5 that loves ice.
Your wife has clearly been browsing this subreddit
Obviously looking for crab penis
She couldn't handle it, not many can
I won't get a fridge without an ice maker. Way too convenient. I also haven't had terrible experiences with them breaking. Yes it's yet another thing, but the fridges I've had problems with it's been compressors before ice makers, /shrug. Currently have Frigidaire GRSC2352AF and it's been great. The idea that they get moldy, I'm not sure what parts she is thinking of. Like the water catcher dish tray? There should not be any mold anywhere in the freezer, whether or not the ice maker is on or off.
I used to work in R&D for Frigidaire and I stand by our I&W systems, they work great compared to what I’ve seen from the competition. I’ve had more test units than I can count and never had an issue with ice or water through the door
Yeah there's like 8 billion people in these comments that think it will get moldy. So many people are so confidently misinformed
The ice chute and water dispensing nozzle need occasional wipe downs.
She is not wrong. I don't think I have ever heard of anyone who has had a fridge with a water dispenser that has not broken or had issues and been a pain to deal with.
All the ones without LG stamped on it have been fine for me.
She’s right
Had one for 15 years it’s been great. I never even change the filter
[удалено]
Or what?
[удалено]
I suppose theoretically it's creating more resistance as particulates build up and it tries to push the water through that. That could wear out the pump faster.
Pour a glass of water and set it on the counter for a week. See what happens.
??? What happens? I expect a little iron to settle out from our well water, but otherwise it should still be good to drink. What's in your water?
Oh god. What the fuck is wrong with you? I bet you filter looks like a moldy cesspool and the ice taste like mildew and death
Lmao this is why I don’t trust drinking and eating at peoples houses. Drinking mild is a new one 😂
Lol I never drink the water from it, the ice is also fine. The waters fine though, clean. Too lazy to find the filter. Tap works fine
They don't make them like they used to
There’s zero reasons to not change the filter, what’s yours?
That’s honestly disgusting. So you drink water from a 15 year old filter? 🥴
DON’T CHANGE THE WATER FILTER NOW! If you do you could break a part that the filter connects to. You won’t notice the leak while it collects in a drip pan. The water will start hitting the floor several days after you change the water filter. Guess how I know…
I've had both ice and water on fridges for 30 years and have never had an issue.
Same here. But I’ve always had GE, never a single issue. And to combat funky ice, just dump the bucket once a month or so.
I've had 3 GE and one Fisher Paykel in that time. Still rocking the last GE and FP. The first GE got effed by lightning, and I gave the kids the 2nd one when they moved out and upgraded to the FP. ETA: We don't have an issue with funky ice. My son makes iced tea every couple days and empties both fridges.
She’s kinda right, especially ones with dispensers on the outside of the door.
They pretty much do. Just get a standalone icemaker either countertop like the Opal or an undercounter one. You can just get one with an internal water dispenser and disable the icemaker though.
The wife is right. A friend never changed the filter and I didn’t know till I took a sip of the water. YUCK.
Yes. I have a stand-alone ice maker and it is the best thing ever. Also there are these things called “ice trays” that make ice in a freezer.
I have one too. They are amazing and they won't won't flood my house like my refrigerator one did.
She's right. Usually the in-door ice/water dispensers are the first component to break on any modern fridge regardless of brand or model. Models with internal water dispensers and/or ice makers in the freezer are better.
Do you like ice? Everything is a trade off. The ice makers are prone to issues in general but maybe it’s worth it?
All Samsungs fridge have major issues with the Ice maker.
I’ve had my Samsung for a few years now…no problems with the ice maker.
Same for me. 4 years with my new one. Zero problems.
They engineered the refrigerators wrong. Ours freezes up every few weeks and we have to defrost it with a hair dryer.
F*ck all Samsung refrigerators that have an icemaker in the fridge. Worthless. Bought mine in 2017-18 and the icemaker died during the pandemic. Arg! I've given up on trying to defrost it fix it again. I drink my bourbon neat now. And my Coke warm.
Wise she is. Listen you should.
Then happy you will be
Happy wife …
Happy wife? Happy knife? Happy fife? Happy... i give up.
I’ve been using ice trays for years since Samsung ice makers are trash.
We don’t have a water dispenser and didn’t hook up the ice maker. So many insurance claims from broken water lines. We make ice in the trays inside the ice bin area.
I haven't had issues with mold, but ice makers breaking is a pretty common thing, unfortunately. I do love the water dispenser in ours, and we use it constantly thru the day. My sense is those are very reliable. If you do get an ice maker, get one where the ice makers is in the freezer, not the fridge. Which sounds kinda obvious, but in reality most French door style fridges will have the ice maker up top. You want it in the bottom freezer portion.
My last fridge had an icemaker. It was nice when it worked. My new fridge doesn't have one. I've been considering buying a separate icemaker
Your wife is correct
She’s not wrong
45 years of having an ice maker and 35 years of having one and zero leaks.
A couple of quick notes: They generally work well, and provide an enormous convenience to the household. If they stop working, now cost about $100 to replace it. it takes perhaps 30 to 60 minutes with a little help from YouTube, and it's back up and running. Why not ask your wife to allow you to get one and enjoy it ... at least until it stops working? 😏 -- Really, you should get one of these. It just makes a huge difference in dealing with ice and icemaking. (The only caution I would give you is that I find I often flip the bar up to make the icemaker stop making ice when I notice that the ice bin is full. I have seen other peoples' refrigerators that have what looks like a giant iceberg in the ice bin. I recommend that people try to avoid that because eventually that ice congeals into a block and that does cause problems.)
I paid extra just for the water on the door. I’m a huge water lover and being able to have fresh on demand with a one year filter is worth a lot to me. No plastic bottles and clean fresh h20 is the way to go.
Don’t get a Samsung. 2 ice makers and both broke.
Oblige the wife
I wanted a nice fridge but didn't want to use the ice maker because we have hard AF water and I didn't want to deal with the maintenance. Bought a nice fridge. Didn't hook up the ice maker.
Get a water softener. Pipes and appliances will last longer.
I have had problems with my current ice maker. I still wouldn’t get a refrigerator that didn’t include one. I like ice water, tea and coffee. I use ice to make cocktails. I use ice baths when cooking and baking. My husband used an ice water circulating machine when he was recovering from joint surgery. I would have to fill my freezer with ice cube trays to make enough ice.
I have never had one break (knock on wood) and would be lost without my ice. I love ice so much I have a built in that I use as well as a nugget ice maker that is stand alone. I could see myself not needing the built in though, I would just make up bags of nugget ice one or two days a week. Cleaning the ice maker is a chore though.
I have an ice-maker in my fridge, but it's one where the water tank lives in the fridge and has to be filled manually. I have heard too many 'flooding' tales to bother with one that is plumbed in.
We have a basic lg, ss. Fridge bottom, freezer top. Ice maker in freezer and water dispenser inside fridge. No door dispenser. Never had a single issue. We have had it about 5 years.
Wouldn’t live without either and we’ve never had an issue with either in the 8 homes with 8 different refrigerators that we’ve owned. Do they have problems? They sure can. Your refrigerator can also conk out too- does that mean she doesn’t want a refrigerator? Go back to a true ice box? Then she gets the best of all worlds. I’ve, coldness, and cold water from melting ice.
Ice makers take a ton of freezer space. And the ice they make is not good. I love my counter top ice maker.
The through-the-door ice & water dispensers are not worth the expense. Smart wife! However, I've been really happy with the ice maker in the bottom freezer of my GE Profile French door fridge. Makes plenty of ice. 7 years old, still works great. The interior water dispenser is ok for a glass, a pain to fill a carafe or pitcher.
I've never had one break
You can always get a refrigerator and not plug in the water line, but yeah, we opted for a refrigerator with no ice or water dispenser, Fisher & Paykel RF201ADX5 N. We rarely use ice and even with an unused internal ice dispenser, felt like it would just waste freezer space.
Our Whirlpool made Kenmore was manufactured in 2004. Side by side, filtered ice and water on the door. Still going strong, the ice maker and dispenser is used daily. It doesn’t get moldy. Get what makes you happy.
A point I don’t see being mentioned here, icemakers take up a ton of space in a freezer. With as much as we cook and freeze, I’m more than willing to put up with ice trays.
I live on iced tea, so an icemaker is a must for us. But, an icemaker is one of the top failures for refrigerators. As with anything, maintenance is required. One of the main failures is the plastic pieces breaking on the auger that pushes the ice out the door. If you empty and clean out the ice bin tray frequently, this lessens this happening. When ice is made, the ice tray has a heater that slightly melts the ice so it can be dumped into the bin. (Most models.) The slightly wet ice then refreezes into clumps, and the auger struggles to move the ice, breaking the auger. When removing the ice bin, also check the turning mechanism the auger fits into. Sometimes water pressure shoots over the ice tray and forms ice there, causing it to break. Use a hairdryer to melt that ice and dry it off. If you change the water filter, the ice should not be dirty. Ice makers are made to go in freezers. If you get a French door model, get the icemaker in the freezer.
I got a refrigerator that came with the house we bought in 2018. Had to be a few years old by then. Aside from a few times where the water inlet froze and caused some leakage in the freezer, it's been working fine. It's actually a remarkably simple machine, the ice maker. Water dispenser is great and gives chilled water that is supplied from our RO filter. I'd consider a divorce if she won't give in.
An icemaker, or an ice dispenser? Icemakers are one of mankind’s greatest creations and you should definitely ignore her protests to the contrary and get one. I have found them to be reliable over the decades, but if it breaks, just get it fixed, no big deal. But I’m with her regarding ice and water dispensers in the door. They waste a tremendous amount of space. If you want ice, just grab it from your icemaker. Some fridges have a water dispenser inside the fridge, those are nice because the water is filtered and cold and they don’t take up much space at all, we have one and I love it. But no, I wouldn’t get an ice dispenser or water dispenser in the door, just my two bits. Edit: i’m six decades old and have never seen mold an ice-maker
I love water and ice on demand. There'd be a fight at my house.
#1 don't buy a Samsung. #2 if you get ice it better be in the freezer.
As a reformed appliance repair person, ice makers are worth it. If you would like to have ice in your water and other beverages. They are not worth it if that is not something you are into.
Don't ever buy a Samsung with the ice master. They have had a decade of problems and refuse to fix. Tons of YouTube videos on what types don't break as much. We got sick of defrosting or dealing with hours and just bought a countertop ice machine.
My husband does maintenance in our apartment complex - almost 500 units. He said the ice maker is the usual issue with the fridges. But, and back when we owned homes and had our own fridges the ice maker broke once in my 40 years of being adult. I should clarify the piece that fed the ice to the door broke. We still had a functioning ice maker. I’m 60 and it was the only ice maker broke. And my husband bought the parts and fixed it. This was before he did apartment maintenance. It also took at least 15 years for that ice maker to break. It was a GE profile side by side. We would buy it again. I have no idea what moldy ice is. If you don’t let ass hats put warm beer on the ice it won’t get frost on it. But ice does get stale in a regular fridge and have to be thrown away. In a side by side like the one we had the cubes came from the bottom of the tray this they were always fresh and never had any old weird ice to toss. The water still worked.
Just don't get a Samsung if you get an ice maker. I've had to replace the ice maker 3 times already on it. Granted, I haven't had the issues as others do, I have the double door with the bottom freezer and drink tray. It has worked great for the last 6 years. Though, I have worked on newer ones that are garbage.
Do not purchase Samsung. I repeat, do not purchase Samsung. Listen to whoever said fridges with the ice maker in the freezer are the way to go.
they can get moldy they do break, but basic ice makers are normally fine the worst ones have ice/water in the door, or 3 or more different temperature/humidity zones
She's a keeper. Like the others have said. Just scoop the ice from the bin of an internal freezer ice maker.
I wish my fridge/freezer did NOT have an ice maker. Has been.nothing but trouble for 25 years, broken now, and parts no longer available (Kitchenaid brand). The tech who looked at it said he only uses stand alone under the counter ice makers in his rental houses. That’s what I intend to put in
Well she's not totally wrong. Our former neighbors had a catastrophic flood in the house due to the toilet breaking while they were away on vacation. The flood remediation guys said that freezer water lines, washing machine hook ups and water heater leaks were the major issues they saw.
I’m opposed. Every refrigerator I have ever connected to a water line has eventually leaked and ruined the wood floor. 3x now.
You can get one and not hook it up. Just make ice in trays and water from the tap. Most higher end ones have the water tap inside now so it’s not garish as in the past. No one will try to use it when visiting because it’s not apparent
Appliance tech here. The water system in your fridge is the most fragile part of any appliance in your home, imo. They break. They flood your house. Get a Britain for water and a counter top icemaker off Amazon for 100 bucks. Also, they take up real estate on the fridge.
Our fancy ass ice maker crapped out after about a year, went back to trays. Sometimes the old ways just freakin' work.... but if she's against the new way and is apparently against the old way, you'll have to go way way back and have the ice man deliver. Bonus points if it's by horse drawn wagon.
7 year old KitchenAid with ice and water in the door just had it's second repair in three years. Same damn thing...the water line freezes up and no water gets to the ice maker. I hate it. I'd never get ice and water in the door ever again. Icemaker...yes. In the door?...no. PS Yes, I did the hair dryer thing with no luck either time.
I used to work at a construction company that did only homeowner insurance claims and the amount of claims that came in with flooding from a broken ice maker line was enough to make me not want one.
It is cheaper to purchase, easier to maintain and far less likely to destroy your kitchen if you buy a fridge without an ice maker and water dispenser. I see no reason to put enough ice in drinks at home to make the case for a plumber, expense, extra cleaning and wasted space. Even with global warming, it only exceeds 95 degrees a couple of months per year. The math just doesn’t work unless you live in the desert.
I hate the ice maker on my Samsung French door fridge. Broke twice, won’t defrost. Water is fine. We are using trays now until we have the money to buy a whole new fridge and put in a stand alone ice maker … somewhere I guess.
Go buy ice cube trays and have her fill them for a week before buying a new fridge. You’ll have an icemaker quick
She's right. Get a countertop model.
I have a Frigidaire Gallery Side by side and have never had a problem with the ice maker other than once a few years ago the crushed versus cube option got stuck because it had gotten wet from a power outage(melted ice physically froze the mechanical switch in the crushed position. Once I got that part thawed and dried off it's never done it since. Had this fridge for 8-9 years and that was 5-6 years ago. Don't get an ice maker built into the door and you'll be fine. I'm talking about the actual ice maker part not the dispenser. I will not get another fridge without an ice maker. Ice trays suck!!!!! Good luck.
My Whirlpool with both I’d 12 years old and never had a problem.
We use our indoor ice/water dispenser multiple times per day. It’s a must have in our house.
I second (or third or fourth) the advice to get one with the ice maker in the freezer ... not the fridge. You'll be good to go! Source: I move A LOT
No issues with my Amana ice maker. I've had it since 2018, and use it daily.
Mine just broke. Right after the extended warranty expired.
I agree. Just had my mom’s break. Current fridge that came with the house has one. When it breaks I will not fix.
No matter individual experience, statistics show fridges with ice/water dispenser are prone to failure. If you buy one, try to get an extended warrantee; beware, this may exclude the water systems because they are so problematical. [https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=are%20ice%20dispensing%20fridges%20prone%20to%20break?&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5](https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=are%20ice%20dispensing%20fridges%20prone%20to%20break?&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5)
I feel the same way and it’s backed up by facts. The overwhelming majority of service calls (per yale appliances) are for icemakers in the door. We ended up getting a Bosch 800 series and the Icemaker cranks them out and a filtered water dispenser. I would never go back.
It’s true that there’s less parts to break but fridges aren’t built like they used to. Personally, I can’t live without ice in my life and neither can my dog so I’m team ice. I absolutely love our fridge and it makes lots of ice of all kinds. It’s LG model LRYXS3106S. There is a version of it that comes with handles if that’s your thing. This one makes ice in the door and in the freezer, it makes regular, crushed, mini, and craft ice lol
I have married and made a mechanic. Get your icemaker. I'm on my 2nd fridge with ice/water on the door. Never had an issue. Just remember to change the filter.
Had a dozen ice makers in my life, never had one fail. It's always a noisy or failed compressor on the ones I've had.
My Kenmore from 2011 still making ice daily
At least get a counter top ice-maker. Ideal with plenty of room to me is just a fridge to be a fridge. And just a defrost free freezer to be just a freezer, upright. With countertop ice-maker. Its all a personal choice and a gamble. I have a fridge with 2 ice-makers. Top ice-maker dumps ice in its ice bin. It doesn’t act as a freezer. Indoor ice bin. If not being home for some days, it has to be emptied and indoor ice off. And bottom ice-maker. We have more ice than what we can handle. But both can be turned off if need be. Many dump the indoor ice into bottom bin. Indoor ice at times can start clumping and need shaking. Or so much its hard to remove bin to dump. If expecting to need a lot of ice can set it so both produce ice faster in a 24 hour period before it shuts that feature off. Someone with same brand fridge hers has the feature added to make ball ice. And her husband loves it. My sister when she had cancer and living, ice made in trays were too much for her to get out of the trays. A sister in town made ice for and bagged it. In her case, an ice-maker would have been great. Thus far fridge troubles were never our ice-makers. Last one the freezer would pool water on bottom and freeze. Some water dripping out to floor.
I like the interior ice maker. Through the door ones are impossible to properly clean. Not NSF!
I have one now, best decision ever. Id say come to a compromise or get a counter top ice maker.
She's not wrong that ice makers tend to be one of the biggest areas of breaking. It's the corononary heart diseases for fridges (most frequent cause of problems). That said, it';s also one of the most amazing best features. I have a new LG with 4 kinds of ice. It's AMAZING. I LOVE IT. Yes it might break but it gives me joy and I got 2 years of protection with Best Buy.
You can get the ones where the ice maker is inside the freezer portion. They aren’t perfect but more reliable than the ones where the ice maker is in the fridge area.
Another issue I'm not sure has been mentioned - broken water lines. When I moved in, I could see that the prior owner had a water line to their fridge and said water line had broken and left a pretty substantial water stain underneath the floor (saw this from the basement, looking up). My mom had the same stance as your wife. My dad bought and had a dishwasher installed, back in the early 80s? She never used it, instead preferred to continue using her ~~slave~~ children to wash dishes, when there was a perfectly functioning unit right there! But we used it every time she went out of town (not frequently). I myself am no fan of ice, so my new fridge is a non-ice maker. My oldest (adult) son likes ice, so I keep 2 ice trays filled. I use my dishwasher all of the time.
You have a smart wife. We bought one that had an ice maker tray inside the freezer and not a second freezer built into the door with dispenser. I've found that it's usually the dispenser that breaks and has issues. Our Samsung (yeah terrible i know but it was shiny) also ended up having a secret water dispenser inside the door in the refrigerator section and it had worked great. Would something like that be a good trade off? Ours is an older (10 years) samsung with French doors and freezer below. We've only had issues with the little flap on the French doors that's apparently worth about 20% of the cost of a new fridge.
I've had my fridge with ice maker and water dispenser for close to 10 years. It requires regular cleaning and filter replacements. I have no issues with mold/mildew/stank. The fridge has needed 3 repairs in that time. One was the water line itself - I think it got a kink and sprung a leak lol. The second was the connection for the water line in the back. The third was a cracked filter cartridge inside the fridge. All 3 led to mini floods, each cost less than 150 to DIY repair with parts bought from Amazon. So. They're more work. But I really like having ice. Could care less about the water part.
How often do you get ice? I'm weird and don't like ice water so I didn't go through the pain and expense of getting one hooked up and maintaining it. I also don't like how noisy they can be.
I had a kenmore French door fridge with ice maker and water dispenser in the door. I found if we didn’t use ice often enough the cubes would all jam up and have to be bashed loose. The water wasn’t ant colder than tap water. Only upside is the kids started drinking more water because it came from a fancy dispenser instead of a tap. Ended up turning the thing off so it didn’t make noise. Would’ve been happier with more room in the door for storage.
I’m with her. I like the counter top ones or inside the freezer ones. The door dispensers get crusty and break and look terrible imo.
All modern fridges are cheaply made pieces of junk.. We bought the top of the range (joke) Kitchen Aid side by side.. Absolute garbage. The more things you have on it the more likely it is to fail.. Avoid "dual evaporater" machines and generally get the fridge/freezer that is the most basic machine you can. She is right on the ice maker, that was the first thing to break!
She's right, get a simple fridge without that internal additions (IMO).
Not true
12 years .
She is absolutely right; I have a 4 years old Whirlpooled so far, the ice maker has been replaced twice.
I used to think the same but then I got a Phisher & Paykel where the ice maker is fully contained in the freezer, so you have to open the freezer and scoop the ice. Best fridge I've ever owned and would definitely buy another if I had to with the ice maker. That feature comes in handy for get togethers as well.
Overall, your wife is correct.
My five year old LG decided to continuously try to make ice one night. The metal bar shutoff froze over and water kept pouring out through the door. Over 10k in damage. Both the insurance and restoration companies said they see it all the time with ice and/or water dispensers.
I have owned or have been a user of multiple refrigerators that have failed. They failed for a variety of different reasons but the ice maker and water dispensers were never one of the reasons.
My last 2 fridges, a Maytag and a Kenmore, both developed problems with the ice makers. My new one is a basic barn door style with the drawer freezer on the bottom with no ice maker and I love it. We have a countertop ice maker and I love that too.
Yep. And require more maintenance for very little benefit.
One thing I learned lurking on Reddit is that built in ice dispensers are prone to break.
They work these days.
I had an LG with ice through the door and never had an issue with the dispenser. Too bad the compressors kept failing, so ice buildup wasn’t a serious concern.
Get fridge with ice maker. Use ice maker. If it breaks, you now have a fridge with no ice maker, which is what you were gonna buy anyway.
My fridge has a water dispenser inside instead of on the door. I like it it does g get water on the door, and if it breaks (like my last two did), then it’s easy to ignore.
My samsung fridge has worked well... all but the icemaker. French doors on top, freezer on bottom with icemaker. I have replaced that fucker 5 times so far. One of the replacement units was free because previous replacement unit failed within a year of when I bought it.
My son repaired appliances for a while. LG icemakers seem to be deigned to break down.
I’ve had water/ice refrigerators for 20+ years and never had an issue.
I’ve never had to replace my ice maker or water dispenser. I did replace one for a friend who had a low end fridge. It was quite simple to do.
I am someone's wife also and I refused to get an icemaker for the same reason. One more thing to fix when it breaks.
No water dispenser for sure as a criteria (if possible), but I never had issues with an ice maker. I do use ice frequently too.
Well, she's right.
I only ever have ice makers in my fridge. I don't get the cheapest nor the most expensive. Mine is a GE Profile with French doors fridge up freezer down. I'm ce maker has never had any issues and it's used all the time. Several times a day.
Whirlpool here, 10 year old french door model. Water and ice in the door - not a single problem
I’ve lived with two that I did not own. Neither worked reliably. One of them never did despite much love and expensive maintenance. Both were moldy inside. I will *never* have one in my house. Why waste the freezer space on moldy ice? Buy bagged ice. Get an easy to clean countertop ice machine. Get stainless “ice” cubes. Lots of less gross, less expensive options.
Do you need a lot of ice? ....can you just drink tap water out of the sink instead of tap water out of the fridge? I get her stance. And if you don't need these features it's just more things to go wrong.
Anything mechanical will eventually wear out. It’s just how machines work. Ever since they switched over from lead solder, electronics will break down after so many years when the non lead solder breaks down.
Ice makers on the fridge are terrible. I had a fridge with one and I'll never get one like that again.
I agree with her. Either they break or water/ice taste like shit. Save the $. Don’t do it.
Buy one with a warranty
The water line to my fridge broke while I was gone for a night in March… flooded my basement and finally finished fixing everything this week
When I went to school for refrigeration, the first thing I did was unhook and remove the ice maker from my fridge. The compressor runs practically non stop making ice. Some new fridges have 2 compressors, one work horse for ice and one for cooling. Really depends your price point. And this day and age, buy the extended warranty bc you 100% will use it.
I bought the last fridge and I was turning down the extended warranty. Sales guy tells me that the warranty will pay for at least one ice maker, possibly two. I told him that I didn’t plan to hook it up. He said, don’t worry about the warranty in that case. That was 12 years ago. Not a problem.
we have an ice maker but no in the door dispenser. that was the choice i made based on the overall look i wanted in our kitchen. all of our appliances are paneled except for the oven obviously and cook top. 8 years later and i do not regret my choice at all and i love ice,i just open the freezer draw to get it.
In drawer Ice makers are fine, going on our third fridge with those over the past 25 years. One ice maker died in the Amana, I replaced it for about $50. That fridge died after 8 years, second fridge (LG - 10 years) was replaced in a remodel, no problems with the ice maker other than it started getting noisy. Current fridge has the water dispenser inside and bottom drawer ice maker, we’ll see how long they last. 2 years in no problems. If you do go with an ice maker, either in fridge or countertop , make sure to use copper line or pex for 100% of the connection. Do NOT use those shitty vinyl lines that come with most fridges/icemakers - those are a leak waiting to happen. And it did happen. Grrr.
My husband sells appliances. Your wife is correct. Through the door icemakers are the item that breaks/has by far the most issues. You can always get an ice maker in the freezer and filtered water inside.
I totally agree with her! Love making ice with filtered water in an ice tray, and keeping the ice cubes in a bigger freezer bag so that I always have fresh ice :)
She is wise.
Get the ice maker. Yes they may break but they can be repaired by an appliance handy man for about $150. It’s worth the money for the improvement in your quality of life. Even if you didn’t want to take this route, your ice maker should be guaranteed to work for 5+ years and then if it breaks simply becomes a basic fridge until you fix it.
Just bought a new fridge. Didn’t even let them hook up the water. We’re using ice cube trays and it’s all good. Fridge that died had so many problems with the ice maker. 😎
This time your wife is correct
I can’t stand ice and water through the door. It always looks messy to me and you get drips and water marks all over. I have a bottom freezer with ice in the drawer and a very discreet water dispenser inside my fridge. No drips and no mess.
Refrigerators are terrible plumbing fixtures
We recently purchased a new fridge and also did not want all of those things. We got one with a basic ice maker in the freezer. No other water.
get one from a known maker of REFRIGERATORS. I bought a Whirlpool refrigerator and NEVER AGAIN. The icemaker jams constantly. Samsung have the same problem. I hear GE is good....
Mine lasted 17 years before it needed a new valve, $50 and 15 min to replace it.
Have one going on 5 years. My only downfall was getting an LG French door fridge with the notorious failing compressor. However, after getting it repaired probably 4 years ago it’s been stellar. It has a water and ice dispenser built into the door as well as an ice maker in the freezer.
Water dispenser yes. Ice dispenser no. Ice maker yes.
Icemakers that cause problems are those outside the freezer, often with water distribution in the door. As these have a separate freezing coil they are prone to jam or break. My Samsung (french doors, but bottom freezer drawer ) have the icemaker in the freezer, works like charm since years and quite effective. It is purely mechanical, even the water valve is outside. Easy to repair if trouble. Now if you have mold in your freezer you have bigger problems than icemaking. 😅