American fridge freezers?

[Crispyduckandpancakes]

I am tempted to buy a frost free American fridge freezer as we never seem to have enough space in the fridge and I am always battling with the freezer drawers, which are overflowing and stuck with ice.

Are American fridge freezers worth buying and which brand would you recommend? I don't have a budget as such, but part of me thinks that the technology must be quite similar, so that £1000 should be enough to buy a decent model.

All suggestions gratefully received!

We have just bought a Samsung, and honestly, it's life-changing! I don't quite know how, but Samsung seems to have mastered Tardis technology, it is huge on the inside, but doesn't take too much space.

I have a Fisher and Paykel with freezer in drawers underneath. It's lovely and holds a lot. The freezer has a really shallow drawer in the middle which looked a bit odd but is great for small things which hpget lost in a bigger freezer space.

We've got this one which I think was somewhere in the region of £6-700 from Boots.
www.beko.co.uk/american-style-fridge-freezer-asl141-black-silver-stainless-steel-white
I love it. It fits pizzas in (standard size) although we do have a big freezer in the garage too.
I wanted white and no water dispenser/ice maker as they take up so much room, which limited options. The freezer has built in ice trays which are useful. Both the fridge and freezer have an internal light and alarm if the doors are left open.
The first few shops I struggled to fill it and I wondered if I'd made the right choice but now it's regularly full and I don't need to shuffle things around.

Oo and I forgot to say it has a really easy fast freezer function and you can easily alter the temperate.
Shame it's discontinued really; I would hope there is a similar replacement.

We've got a side by side and I've never once defrosted it!

We initially had a Maytag, and that was gorgeous - really solid drawers, shelves and easy to take apart to take clean. After 14 years it broke, and we replaced with a Samsung which is an absolute heap of crap in comparison. It wasn't cheap (around £1400), but the stainless steel doors are full of dents; we've replaced all the drawers at least twice, the water filter needs replacing every 3 to 4 months, and the ice maker constantly clogs. It also makes the most horrendous bleeping racket whenever the door is open for more than 10 seconds. I actually have to unplug it to load the weekly shop in as it makes me murderous.

It's one of those appliances where you get what you pay for, IMO.

www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household-appliances/refrigeration/fridge-freezers/samsung-rf50k5960s8/eu-fridge-freezer-silver-10192402-pdt.html

We have had this a year and love the layout. We had to opt for a narrower model due to boxed piping to the side and didn't want it to protrude out into the kitchen. I think it is taller and there is plenty of room in both the fridge and freezer. Some of the pizzas I do take out of their boxes but rarely. I didn't want the water filter as it takes away space from the fridge.

I like our Samsung one except for the freezer being fairly small and annoyingly having shelves rather than baskets/drawers but we have another separate freezer in our cellar anyway. We like the water and ice dispensers. When it comes to replacing it we'll look at getting separate full size appliances instead I think.

Thank you everyone. That's really helpful.

I've just bought this... totally crazy price and I'm definitely not rich but I love it so I thought sod it!!

I found this at John Lewis & Partners. What do you think?  https://www.johnlewis.com/fisher-paykel-series-7-rf540adux5-freestanding-70-30-french-fridge-freezer-stainless-steel/p5553577?tmad=c&tmcampid=7&sshare=jlappioss_Y29tLmFwcGxlLlVJS2l0LmFjdGl2aXR5LkNvcHlUb1Bhc3RlYm9hcmQ=

They're huge but small at the
Same time. The freezer side is white and most of the fridge is water / ice dispensing.

I have just bought this and OMG it is amazing! Not quite as wide as some so perfect for me.
I recommend going into Currys to have a good look at the display to get a good feel for them.

ao.com/product/rq563n4ai1-hisense-american-fridge-freezer-stainless-steel-71426-27.aspx?&ef_id=Cj0KCQiA47GNBhDrARIsAKfZ2rAsgXZJQ7r6B1BnZHLZpvOXRLem97eJibVyHf1sk_D6RB_9pFAnxa4aAnXkEALw_wcB:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!8149!3!483972278860!e!!g!!hisense%20rq563n4ai1&gclsrc=aw.ds&&&WT.srch=1&WT.z_MT=Search&WT.z_RTM=Google+PPC&WT.z_DT=m&WT.z_KT=Product+Code&WT.z_PT=MDA-Cooling&WT.z_CN=Codes+-+American+Fridge+Freezers+-+API&WT.z_AG=Hisense+-+RQ563N4AI1_SS&WT.z_KW=hisense+rq563n4ai1&WT.z_AT=American+Fridge+Freezer&WT.z_MAT=e&utm_medium=search&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=codes+-+american+fridge+freezers+-+api|hisense+-+rq563n4ai1_ss&utm_term=sku|exact&utm_content=kwd-820793381440&gclid=Cj0KCQiA47GNBhDrARIsAKfZ2rAsgXZJQ7r6B1BnZHLZpvOXRLem97eJibVyHf1sk_D6RB_9pFAnxa4aAnXkEALw_wcB

A friend has the type with double doors at the top for the fridge and I personally find it a bit annoying to have to open 2 doors to look in the fridge, esp if holding something as well but I suppose it might not be an issue for your own fridge where you know where things are and don’t need to open both doors every time!

If you use fridge space then it’s so, so good. But like anything there are compromises. Americans tend to have seperate freezers so freezer space is minimal. If you need both then French style fridges (the smaller ‘american styles’ with drawers) give the best compromise.

I've had this one: CDA PC870BL American Style French Door Frost Free Fridge Freezerfor over 6 years and I'd recommend it.
No rummaging through the drawers because they aren't deep enough to
lose anything in there. And the drawers are lined so you can lift them out to clean.

I have a Samsung with 2 drawers for veg & one for meat. I find it incredibly annoying as I can’t fit a whole head of broccoli or cauliflower in the veg drawers. I keep hoping I’ll win enough on my Premium Bonds to replace it.

I'm sorry I haven't time to read the full thread but I have an American style FF. It's a Samsung I think and I HATE it! The fridge is fine but the freezer is teeny. We have ice and water 😡 which is handy for ice but (15 years on) is not worth the space sacrifice. The freezer barely fits a frozen pizza and it's shelves so you cannot fill it because everything falls out when you open the door. If I was to replace it I would get a double door fridge with freezer drawers.

Ice and/or water take up a huge chunk of space

We have a Samsung American style fridge freezer. I have come to really dislike it as it's side by side, making the freezer side annoyingly thin. Things constantly fall off the shelves when I'm having a rummage, not helped by the freezer door being very unwieldy to reach past due to the ice maker and it having fitted units next to it so only opens so far.

If I had my time again, I'd go for a horizontal split with a freezer below with drawers. Sadly (although not really on a money basis), it's still going strong after 11 years...!

We've got a Samsung one which was under a grand when we got it from ao last year. It doesn't have a water chiller or ice machine(we didn't want one). Pizzas need to go in at angle but go in. Has built in ice trays which is nice.

We don't struggle for space but we do have a chest freezer in garage as well and would do if we didn't have that. Would struggle to fit in full size fridge and freezer in kitchen though and need the big fridge the american style one provides

Thanks for the tips, sounds like Samsung is not a good choice! Perhaps, on reflection, I don't need to go the whole hog and buy an American fridge freezer, but one like Ozanj suggests, a bit bigger than the one we have, but with a frost free function.

I’ve got a Samsung where the freezer is underneath but it and the fridge opens as a quadrant with separate doors. Bottom right part of freezer can be used as a fridge, it also has a compact ice maker and water filter

It was an indulgence but I bloody love it, every part of it is so well designed you dont Lose any space (I did weeks of research..)

That sounds like the one I have too. The right hand side can be fridge, freezer or a very cold fridge.
There have been problems with the ice maker, which Samsung deny but if you search the. Internet there are many reports of it & even a class action law suit.

@Cookerhood

That sounds like the one I have too. The right hand side can be fridge, freezer or a very cold fridge. There have been problems with the ice maker, which Samsung deny but if you search the. Internet there are many reports of it & even a class action law suit.

My fridge repair guy here in the US said very emphatically not to get a Samsung or LG. I've actually been invited to join one of the class action lawsuits.

We now have a Whirlpool which has been fairly reliable other than the ice maker stopping making ice intermittently, and the water line initially feeding water at all, then detaching and leaking all over our (wood of course) kitchen floor.

It's a bit sad to say that I'm grateful this is all that's gone wrong.

TBH I don't think I would recommend any American fridge-freezers.

We have one, a Samsung, must have had it 10 years now, never had a problem with it.
It’s a side by side one, the left side is the freezer with the plumbed in ice and water machine, it takes up a fair amount of space in the freezer but our freezer rarely has anything in it other than a box or tub of ice cream and a bag of peas or sweet corn so It’s never been an issue for us. And it really has remained ice free for all this time. Until reading this thread I kind of forgot that freezers used to get all iced up, my mum used to spend a weekend every now and then defrosting ours! I also remember living in my first flat with dh and the dds and causing an evacuation situation when i aided the defrosting process with a knife 😳

We've got a frost free Saumsung with ice and water dispenser.I absolutely love it.

@wtfisthatspiderdoing

I've just bought this... totally crazy price and I'm definitely not rich but I love it so I thought sod it!!

I found this at John Lewis & Partners. What do you think?  https://www.johnlewis.com/fisher-paykel-series-7-rf540adux5-freestanding-70-30-french-fridge-freezer-stainless-steel/p5553577?tmad=c&tmcampid=7&sshare=jlappioss_Y29tLmFwcGxlLlVJS2l0LmFjdGl2aXR5LkNvcHlUb1Bhc3RlYm9hcmQ=

I think you'll be forever cleaning it!!