Samsung refrigerators -- should I avoid?

[Cranky]

You’ve bought more appliances that I have. LOL I’ve bought two fridges in 25 years, both cost well under $1k. Current fridge came with new house.

We’re looking for a basement fridge (big family) and there are still plenty of basic, new, refrigerators available at less than $1k.

[Metalcat]

You’ve bought more appliances that I have. LOL I’ve bought two fridges in 25 years, both cost well under $1k. Current fridge came with new house.

We’re looking for a basement fridge (big family) and there are still plenty of basic, new, refrigerators available at less than $1k.

Yes, I've bought two old condos that had old appliances that all eventually needed to be replaced. So I've saved thousands by buying barely used appliances for about a third of retail, and they've all been very nice appliances.

If new $1000 fridges work for you, then go nuts. But I stand by my statement that I don't understand why more people don't buy used because even compared to the "basic" new appliance, the price savings for a premium appliance are significant.

Granted, they're only so incredibly cheap because no one buys used appliances.

[Dancin'Dog]

I forgot to mention... Our first Samsung fridge had a layer of ice gradually build up on the bottom of the freezer. This must have been condensation from somewhere because there was no water connection to the appliance. Every month or two the bottom drawer in the freezer would stop closing all the way and that was my cue to take out the drawer and use a screwdriver to pry up the big ice chunk underneath.

Ditto.  That's the one we have.


After we first got it the circulation fan in the back wall froze up a few times.  After a couple of years, somebody posted a YouTube fix for that.  Seems that the factory placed a sensor on the wrong end of the condenser coil, which I simply unclipped and moved to the correct side.
The electronic temp display crapped out, so we have to "guess" at it and use a thermometer to confirm the setting. 


We thought we were "lucky" when we found this fridge for 50% off at Lowes.  It was a $3000 unit for "only" $1500.  And it's so "pretty".  What a turd it's been.


It's time to pull it out and remove the 2" thick slab of ice.....again! 


Samsung fridges suck.



Edit: I just read the rest of the posts and see that there's a "simple" fix for my ice slab issue.  So, I guess I'll keep the damn thing a while longer. 

[Cranky]

You’ve bought more appliances that I have. LOL I’ve bought two fridges in 25 years, both cost well under $1k. Current fridge came with new house.

We’re looking for a basement fridge (big family) and there are still plenty of basic, new, refrigerators available at less than $1k.

Yes, I've bought two old condos that had old appliances that all eventually needed to be replaced. So I've saved thousands by buying barely used appliances for about a third of retail, and they've all been very nice appliances.

If new $1000 fridges work for you, then go nuts. But I stand by my statement that I don't understand why more people don't buy used because even compared to the "basic" new appliance, the price savings for a premium appliance are significant.

Granted, they're only so incredibly cheap because no one buys used appliances.

I was moved to take a look at refrigerators available on Craigslist, and I’m guessing that demand is currently up, because the few available there are not all that cheap.

But again - I think for many people, the issue of how to move a refrigerator on your own is going to be a significant barrier to buying used. You’ve got to have access to a truck and labor, and that can get expensive, too.

[reeshau]

I was moved to take a look at refrigerators available on Craigslist, and I’m guessing that demand is currently up, because the few available there are not all that cheap.

But again - I think for many people, the issue of how to move a refrigerator on your own is going to be a significant barrier to buying used. You’ve got to have access to a truck and labor, and that can get expensive, too.

Given the scarcity of new models, that's not surprising.  I had a neighbor who was promised delivery of a new order by *September 2022* (not a typo)

[nereo]

But again - I think for many people, the issue of how to move a refrigerator on your own is going to be a significant barrier to buying used. You’ve got to have access to a truck and labor, and that can get expensive, too.

And again - it's easy to rent a truck and hire movers, and it still comes out far, far cheaper.  UHaul partners with companies that will supply the labor, or you can literally call any moving company and ask to hire a couple of movers and a truck for two hours.  This is literally what they do.  But unless there are stairs involved, a good quality hand truck (also available as a rental) will move large appliances around no problem.

When appliance stores advertise "free delivery" - it's not free.  It's part of the cost. And that cost is so substantially higher even after factoring in renting a truck (if you need) and movers (if you need).

[Cranky]

It’s easy to rent a truck and labor, but it’s also $200, so there goes your savings. ( And I just rented labor as part of my move, so I’m not pulling numbers out of the air.)

I completely agree that if you find the right deal at the right time, second hand appliances can save you money. I just can see why people, including myself, don’t do that. It is much harder to arrange for a lot of people than marching into Home Depot.

I’ve never, ever spent $1k on an appliance though, because I look for basic models with less stuff to go wrong. So if I spend $600 on a Craigslist refrigerator and $200 to move it, I’m back to the price of a new fridge but with no warranty.

[Dancin'Dog]

This fridge thread just reminded me of a friend whose wealthy parents are moving into an independent living facility & doing a little remodel before moving in.  The husband proudly complained to me that his DW was getting a new $10K Subzero for a kitchen that she'll probably never even cook in.  Like he said, "What else are we going to spend it on at this point in life?".


At least they knew better than to buy a Samsung, right?!  ;)

[Metalcat]

It’s easy to rent a truck and labor, but it’s also $200, so there goes your savings. ( And I just rented labor as part of my move, so I’m not pulling numbers out of the air.)

I completely agree that if you find the right deal at the right time, second hand appliances can save you money. I just can see why people, including myself, don’t do that. It is much harder to arrange for a lot of people than marching into Home Depot.

I’ve never, ever spent $1k on an appliance though, because I look for basic models with less stuff to go wrong. So if I spend $600 on a Craigslist refrigerator and $200 to move it, I’m back to the price of a new fridge but with no warranty.

I'm not going to argue individual cases and circumstances.

I personally have never lived in a city where I couldn't hire a cheap, on demand dude with a truck for well under $100 cash for a small job. As I said before, my $400 fridge included delivery.

Perhaps US cities don't have as many enterprising folks with trucks willing to do low cost deliveries. I have no idea. But my personal experience doing this many times has resulted in enormous savings.

[Cadman]

Also: this is the MMM forums. Refrigerators are perhaps the greatest value in the used market. I come across nearly-new stainless refrigerators for around $200 on CL and Marketplace almost every week. Before you drop over $1400 after tax consider if there’s a better use for that extra $1k+ in your life.

I've always heard the opposite -- that the efficiency of refrigerators has been going up so fast that it's practically always a net win to buy a new rather than a 10-yr old used model because they use so much less energy.

As far as I know, there have been no great gains made in the last 20 years in refrigerator efficiency. ECM fan motors would be about it. Even a 90's fridge would be fair game, especially if you factored in the purchase cost compared to a new unit which you'll get less than 10 years out of.

Folks are always astonished that refrigerator efficiency was actually very good up through the 1950's. It's a combination of oversized compressors, vertical condensers (no fans needed), thick insulation and lack of heaters that make them so economical. Where efficiency took a nose dive was the introduction of frost-free refrigerators*; the designers went crazy with mullion and strip heaters, and the promise of electricity 'too cheap to meter' was right around the corner. Things really got out of hand as the 60's came to a close. Basically any frost-free fridge from '65-'75 is an energy hog. Post '75, manufacturers put an emphasis on efficiency, and the nameplate ratings settled down in the '80's.  The biggest trend I've seen in the last two decades has been undersizing the compressor and running it much more frequently. Yes, it will wear itself out prematurely, and the reject heat is crazy, but "average" power consumption is slightly lower.

*GE had a clever hot-gas design with a reversing valve that would melt the frost off the evap coils without any heaters. Very efficient and effective, but not as cheap to produced as adding a few more heater strips.

[bill1827]

Also: this is the MMM forums. Refrigerators are perhaps the greatest value in the used market. I come across nearly-new stainless refrigerators for around $200 on CL and Marketplace almost every week. Before you drop over $1400 after tax consider if there’s a better use for that extra $1k+ in your life.

I've always heard the opposite -- that the efficiency of refrigerators has been going up so fast that it's practically always a net win to buy a new rather than a 10-yr old used model because they use so much less energy.

As far as I know, there have been no great gains made in the last 20 years in refrigerator efficiency. ECM fan motors would be about it. Even a 90's fridge would be fair game, especially if you factored in the purchase cost compared to a new unit which you'll get less than 10 years out of.

There might not have been any significant novel technical improvements, but there's still a huge difference in performance of different models.

Last time I bought a fridge and freezer was in 2014 and I carefully compared the energy consumption of potential purchases. The consumption varied from 0.22kWh p.a per litre to 0.52kWh p.a. per litre, a 2.4:1 range. The 1990 fridge that was being replaced consumed 0.81kWh p.a. per litre.

[Metalcat]

Also: this is the MMM forums. Refrigerators are perhaps the greatest value in the used market. I come across nearly-new stainless refrigerators for around $200 on CL and Marketplace almost every week. Before you drop over $1400 after tax consider if there’s a better use for that extra $1k+ in your life.

I've always heard the opposite -- that the efficiency of refrigerators has been going up so fast that it's practically always a net win to buy a new rather than a 10-yr old used model because they use so much less energy.

As far as I know, there have been no great gains made in the last 20 years in refrigerator efficiency. ECM fan motors would be about it. Even a 90's fridge would be fair game, especially if you factored in the purchase cost compared to a new unit which you'll get less than 10 years out of.

There might not have been any significant novel technical improvements, but there's still a huge difference in performance of different models.

Last time I bought a fridge and freezer was in 2014 and I carefully compared the energy consumption of potential purchases. The consumption varied from 0.22kWh p.a per litre to 0.52kWh p.a. per litre, a 2.4:1 range. The 1990 fridge that was being replaced consumed 0.81kWh p.a. per litre.

Also of note, neither nereo nor I were referring to buying 10 year old refrigerators in our discussion of buying used appliances.

I've personally never bought a used appliance more than a year or two old. Most of them near new or even unused for a quarter or a third of the price.

I don't know why people assumed we were talking about decade old appliances.

[Wolfpack Mustachian]

Also: this is the MMM forums. Refrigerators are perhaps the greatest value in the used market. I come across nearly-new stainless refrigerators for around $200 on CL and Marketplace almost every week. Before you drop over $1400 after tax consider if there’s a better use for that extra $1k+ in your life.

I've always heard the opposite -- that the efficiency of refrigerators has been going up so fast that it's practically always a net win to buy a new rather than a 10-yr old used model because they use so much less energy.

As far as I know, there have been no great gains made in the last 20 years in refrigerator efficiency. ECM fan motors would be about it. Even a 90's fridge would be fair game, especially if you factored in the purchase cost compared to a new unit which you'll get less than 10 years out of.

There might not have been any significant novel technical improvements, but there's still a huge difference in performance of different models.

Last time I bought a fridge and freezer was in 2014 and I carefully compared the energy consumption of potential purchases. The consumption varied from 0.22kWh p.a per litre to 0.52kWh p.a. per litre, a 2.4:1 range. The 1990 fridge that was being replaced consumed 0.81kWh p.a. per litre.

Also of note, neither nereo nor I were referring to buying 10 year old refrigerators in our discussion of buying used appliances.

I've personally never bought a used appliance more than a year or two old. Most of them near new or even unused for a quarter or a third of the price.

I don't know why people assumed we were talking about decade old appliances.

Maybe they are thinking as mustachians and their initial assumption would be why would anyone get rid of an appliance newer than 10 years old....? It bumfuzzles me why people would, myself, but I understand that it happens and hope to find some good deals myself if I can find any when mine inevitably break.

[geekette]

I just browsed our local Craigslist.  Mostly "new" and over $1000, or ancient for $50.  Lots of Samsungs!  LOL

[Wolfpack Mustachian]

I just browsed our local Craigslist.  Mostly "new" and over $1000, or ancient for $50.  Lots of Samsungs!  LOL

This thread inspired me to take a look myself. I'm not seeing great deals - a few pretty new ones for like $900 and change, some ones that look around 7 years old for $400, and some super old ones for $100. Alas, it doesn't seem that this will work in my area.

[Sibley]

I just browsed our local Craigslist.  Mostly "new" and over $1000, or ancient for $50.  Lots of Samsungs!  LOL

This thread inspired me to take a look myself. I'm not seeing great deals - a few pretty new ones for like $900 and change, some ones that look around 7 years old for $400, and some super old ones for $100. Alas, it doesn't seem that this will work in my area.

It might be a temporary aberration. The supply chains are a mess after all. The price of used cars is through the roof, why not used appliances? If that's the case, in a year or 2 it should settle down.

[Metalcat]

I just browsed our local Craigslist.  Mostly "new" and over $1000, or ancient for $50.  Lots of Samsungs!  LOL

Not surprising right now, it's also a terrible time to try and buy a used bike or car.

You can't generalize about the market during a supply chain crisis.

I already acknowledged in previous posts that I don't know if it's any different in US cities, but I've lived in 3 major Canadian cities and over the past 20+ years, have been able to find excellent value buying barely used appliances.

People are constantly getting rid of perfectly good appliances, the same way they're constantly getting rid of tons of other perfectly good things.

[Wolfpack Mustachian]

I just browsed our local Craigslist.  Mostly "new" and over $1000, or ancient for $50.  Lots of Samsungs!  LOL

Not surprising right now, it's also a terrible time to try and buy a used bike or car.

You can't generalize about the market during a supply chain crisis.

I already acknowledged in previous posts that I don't know if it's any different in US cities, but I've lived in 3 major Canadian cities and over the past 20+ years, have been able to find excellent value buying barely used appliances.

People are constantly getting rid of perfectly good appliances, the same way they're constantly getting rid of tons of other perfectly good things.

Absolutely. I know you weren't talking to me specifically in your post, but I wanted to say I wasn't meaning to criticize your post, because I knew you said that you were just talking about your situation. I was just a little disappointed that it didn't line up with what I was seeing now, lol.

[nereo]

Yeah, right now everything is wonky.  I wrote a whole thread about my quest to find a mid-tier bicycle in my size for anything even close to 2019 prices (spoiler: it hasnt’ gone well, and most shops have literally zero options.)

But excluding our current supply-chain crisis I’ve always fund new or ‘like-new’ appliances at screaming deals online.  New homes come equipped with appliances to match the fit and finish (and price-point) of the home, but a shocking number of buyers immediately renovate the kitchen to be more to their style.  Others seem oddly attached to their particular appliances and move with them from place to place (e.g. they love a particular frige for it’s color, door position or ice-making functions).  At the same time appliances last so long (often decades) that there’s normally a surplus of older-but-functional ones available for $25-50, which limits what one can sell barely used models for.

I’ve bought appliances in four different US states and two Canadian provinces, and I’m still baffled why frugal people would ever buy new (outside of COVID supply-chain times). Particularly when I also hear so many horror stories about how difficult it is to get a large appliance repaired under warranty - buying new just doesn’t seem to bring any real increased security.

[Metalcat]

Yeah, right now everything is wonky.  I wrote a whole thread about my quest to find a mid-tier bicycle in my size for anything even close to 2019 prices (spoiler: it hasnt’ gone well, and most shops have literally zero options.)

But excluding our current supply-chain crisis I’ve always fund new or ‘like-new’ appliances at screaming deals online.  New homes come equipped with appliances to match the fit and finish (and price-point) of the home, but a shocking number of buyers immediately renovate the kitchen to be more to their style.  Others seem oddly attached to their particular appliances and move with them from place to place (e.g. they love a particular frige for it’s color, door position or ice-making functions).  At the same time appliances last so long (often decades) that there’s normally a surplus of older-but-functional ones available for $25-50, which limits what one can sell barely used models for.

I’ve bought appliances in four different US states and two Canadian provinces, and I’m still baffled why frugal people would ever buy new (outside of COVID supply-chain times). Particularly when I also hear so many horror stories about how difficult it is to get a large appliance repaired under warranty - buying new just doesn’t seem to bring any real increased security.

This is my experience as well. I usually get things from newer subdivisions where the people who move in immediately replace all of the appliances.

I just picked up a brand new, unused range hood for $50 from someone who took it out of a new build because they wanted a stainless steel one instead of a black one.

I have particularly good luck with black appliances that people have swapped out for stainless steel ones.

[Cranky]

I just looked at Home Depot and there are multiple basic refrigerators for <$700.

[reeshau]

I have particularly good luck with black appliances that people have swapped out for stainless steel ones.

Tell us the truth now--you are looking to have your kitchen match your cat!

As it should be.

[Metalcat]

I have particularly good luck with black appliances that people have swapped out for stainless steel ones.

Tell us the truth now--you are looking to have your kitchen match your cat!

As it should be.

My avatar is not my cat.
My cat who has fur is orange, and yes, my entire house has decor that complements my cat, as it should be.

Nothing matches the hairless cat, he's just ugly.

[Rosy]

We love our Samsung, best fridge we ever had - great space and divider options.
We had a Kitchenaid before and it was nothing but trouble, leaks and what not.
Even the plastic pieces inside broke and the handle for the freezer was a huge problem.

[Just Joe]

We own two Samsung TVs - never a problem. Samsung range - no problems for many years at our previous address. Currently own a kitchen with Samsung appliances - no problems yet. Also have a Samsung laptop. No problem aside from a bad hard drive several years ago. Its about 6 years old now. The battery is even still pretty good. Runtime is about 3 hrs with Kubuntu Linux.

[Dreamer40]

When I bought my house last year, the kitchen came loaded up with Samsung appliances. I’m mostly happy with them but the microwave isn’t very powerful. The fridge seems fine overall, though the ice maker is a little weird and it’s easy to not close the freezer drawer properly, causing things to get a little icy. The gas range and oven work great. I hope they all last so I don’t need to replace them any time soon.

[trygeek]

Dont buy samsung refrigerators. Also don't buy any kenmore refrigerators that the model number starts with 111. these refrigerators are not made by kenmore they are made by daewoo and you have to wait 6 months for parts.