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First Person

Woman Vs. Machine, Part 2 (Refrigerator)

Posted July 9, 2009

Whiner-in-Chief’s relationship with appliances is iffy at best. Often, it seems to boil down to: Buy them (only when absolutely necessary). Pay for them (usually in some state of emotional duress, since there are so many things W-i-C would rather be spending money on than machines). Hate them (since, for reasons beyond understanding, W-i-C’s appliances almost invariably seem to let her down, usually sooner rather than later). Finally, replace them, thereby starting the same depressingly predictable cycle all over again.

Whiner in Chief is apparently incapable of owning a machine that actually works right. And keeps working right. Some costly disaster or another is always lurking just around the corner.

Occasionally, W-i-C manages to get the machine fixed instead of replacing it, usually by selling her soul to the devil in order to get a repair person to actually show up at her home. In that case, the end to the predictable and depressing cycle just gets delayed a little bit. The tradeoff is usually more bills to be paid, more decisions to be second-guessed, and more heartache and remorse tied to a machine that is really just more trouble than it’s worth.

As Longtime Whiners know, Whiner-in-Chief has been battling her heart out with different machines for months now. Recall the epic, smelly breakdown of her clothes washer. The stove that died right before Christmas dinner. Most recently, there was that fender-bender with the Batty Old Lady From Hell. (Update on that sorry situation: The cost of Batty’s little problem with the gas pedal ended up being $1,000 rather than $750.) And then, of course, there’s the longstanding, agonizing, fight-to-the-death with the worst dud-of-a-dishwasher that might have ever been assembled on this planet.

Naturally, the refrigerator chose this particular moment to go on the blink. We suspect that the machine knew that W-i-C was in an emotionally weakened state of mind. And so, the floodgates opened.

Think Noah and the Ark, except, in this case, all that water left us with a different set of goals. Things like, save all those vegetables from getting saturated with (dubiously sanitary) water and then freezing up, in the cold refrigerator, before W-i-C & family could drain the fridge and dry out the vegetables before the next round of flooding took place. Shelter the milk and juice containers, which somehow started leaking themselves (perhaps because they kept getting so wet, perhaps because of their intuitive identification with the goal of driving W-i-C into yet another appliance-induced breakdown).

There was that one soggy chicken, waiting to be roasted, which might or might not have set in motion a food-poisoning-related epidemic (ok, mini-epidemic) by spreading bad stuff to everything that touched the water that sogged the chicken that flooded the refrigerator that, oh well, you get the idea.

Naturally the leak started right at the beginning of a holiday weekend, during which there was No Way In Hell that any repair person would even contemplate coming to W-i-C’s house to evaluate the prospects for getting the damn fridge back on its feet.  No clues about when someone would come, whether the machine could be repaired, how long it would take, and — even if the answers to all those other questions were favorable — how much it would cost.

Yet again, W-i-C was faced with this quandary: Fix or buy? After all, this fridge (a Kenmore) had never been a favorite in W-i-C’s household. It was too small. It was too noisy. It was ugly (okay, that’s a low blow — but ugly is ugly).

With some regularity, The Guru has had a tendency to point out that this was the worst refrigerator he’d ever seen since the shelving was all wrong and you could never find anything that you were looking for without unloading it and reloading it.

And we’re talking seriously noisy. It was relatively old, or at least old-ish, or at least old enough that the warranty that W-i-C had foolishly invested in and never used had expired (of course). It certainly wasn’t as energy-efficient as a new model would be.

And let’s not overlook the obvious: The damn thing was flooding every couple of hours.

Those were all positive reasons to think about replacing the machine. But, but, but. W-i-C remains hard-pressed to buy any new appliance until after she can finally manage to replace the worst dishwasher that has ever existed. And, the EconoMess being the EconoMess, there are a heck of a lot of other things that Whiner in Chief would like to spend money on — and isn’t spending money on — which take precedence over the refrigerator, which she prefers not to think about, so long as it just isn’t flooding.

And so, W-i-C bit the bullet and decided to keep making phone calls until a repair person would come to at least check things out. She threw out the soggy chicken. Moved the vegetables out of the refrigerator. And set up a nifty little system with rags and dishtowels to try to at least keep those drips under control. We’ll keep you updated.

The Whiner wants to know: What do you think — should W-i-C have replaced the refrigerator or just kept waiting for help? What do you look for in a refrigerator? Any shopping suggestions, just in case the repair route dead-ends?

Reader Comments

  1. Helene P

    What do I look for in a refrigerator? Lots of good food-preferably prepared by someone else!
    But seriously, it seems like time to replace this frig, just based on the amount of time, energy and angst involved. I try to factor in my time and energy as part of the equation when faced with such tough decisions–it’s worth something, too. Then I canvass friends for suggestions on their experiences–good and bad–with different makes and models.
    I’m pulling for you, W-i-C. I swear machines have their own personalities, too-and often grumpy ones at that!

  2. Diane

    My advice: Ask an appliance repairman what he recommends. They are the BEST source of info on what to buy. You’d be surprised at what they recommend. In my experience, it usually isn’t the high end appliances with all the bells and whistles. Good luck.

  3. Kathy G

    Before I buy an appliance I go to the library and make a copy of the Consumer Reports article on the topic. I usually end up purchasing something they consider a “Best Buy”. I’ve never been steered wrong; my appliances work well for a long time.

  4. CMP

    Oh, W-i-C, you make me laugh. Good thing you have a sense of humor, because the machines are clearly out to get you.

    My recommendation: Consumer Reports. I think you can sign up online for $5 a month or something very reasonable like that. They’re very thorough and I don;t feel like they’ve ever mislead me in a major purchase.

    My mother bought a Kenmore a couple of years ago with a two-door fridge on top and a freezer drawer on the bottom. It is really nice, no more bending over to try to see what you have, and the meat and produce drawers are really wonderful.

  5. Coastman

    Buy a new one. Go to Consumers Reports, pick the best value, and be done with it. No water/ice in door. In fact,I have never had a fridge with an icemaker, since that seems to be the weakest link of all. Really, you can live with ice cube trays. The Rule is: if you empty the tray, you fill the tray. For parties, just go down to the ice house and buy a big ole’ bag of ice.

  6. Damester

    First, believe it or not, it is extremely common for several kitchen appliances to give out very close in time to one another. I’ve had two friends who went thru the saga you outlined and as they pointed out, most go around the same time, not in sympathy, but because most appliances tend to be bought in clusters (as when you move in, etc.) So, believe it or not, it’s not you.

    Second, you didn’t say how old this machine is. But if it’s not energy efficient and probably over 5 years old, bite the bullet and go new. You’re wasting time and money with quotes…depending, of course, on how many features/bells/whistles you want in a new model.

    Best to scale down features. Forget about icemaker and water in door. Really not needed unless you do nonstop entertaining. Even then, it’s still cheaper to make or buy ice as needed.

    and focus on energy efficiency, size and interior with adjustable shelves. It’s hard to find new models with similar cubic capacity that still hold as much as older models. The new unit I got is great, saves us a bundle in electricity, but the interior. I hate it and it was the most flexible of the lot.

    Depending on where you live, there are some great places online that deliver for relatively low to no-cost for shipping.

    And absolutely check Consumer Reports and do some other online research.

    The toughest part: Accepting how expensive things are these days and NOT falling in love with some of the new models that promise all sorts of stuff you really don’t need.

    Also, make sure you take measurements of the area for the space you plan to put it in (Yea, sounds like common sense. You know how many people don’t do that? The delivery man told me stories about how people forget that and forget to check which way the doors can open–some are reversible, some not. Makes a huge difference.)

    Also, do get a five-year warranty if it’s reasonable and it covers what you need. And really, only get from a reliable retailer who will hopefully still be in business.

    Good luck. It’s no fun at all dealing with this kind of mess. When it happened to us last summer, we could only save half of our freezer and had to toss most of what was in the fridge. Getting sick would be way more costly than the price of tossing and replacing. Which is definitely NOT fun.

  7. Chris

    I have never bought a refrigerator but my personal rule with applicances is “keep it simple”. The less electronics the better, the less fancy extras that can break the better. I look for the VW Bug of appliances! Good luck.

  8. Hope

    Agree with those who recommend Consumer Reports. They have great ratings and advice and have been a good guide for us. CMP, the online subscription is only $26.99/yr, so actually less than you estimated. Well worth it.

    We ended up with a French door and a bottom freezer, which we love. Apparently the worst service issues on the new fridges tend to be water/ice in the door, so if you can live without them, do so.

    Good luck…hopefully your long appliance nightmare will end soon. Maybe you need to do an appliance ceremony in your home to change the energy. lol

  9. Van

    I wonder if you are having voltage surges in your home wiring. Have you lost other appliances or electronics (cordless phone, toaster oven, microwave, etc.) lately? Maybe a surge supressor on each (grounded) appliance outlet would help. My parents had a whole-house surge supressor installed recently because they were tired of ruined appliances and electronics. (The circuit board on my sister’s refrigerator burned out…with smoke…recently due to a power surge.) Good luck.

  10. Epicurienne

    The refrigerator is a necessity. The dishwasher isn’t. (Yes, hand-washing sucks, but it’s do-able.) Use the money you planned for replacing the dishwasher, to replace the refrigerator. And get the best one you can afford.

  11. Jen

    My library has back issues of Consumer Reports, so before signing up for a subscription you should see if you can read them at your library for free :)

    Good luck with your fridge and other applicances!

  12. Kris

    You need to replace the fridge, and there are three obvious reasons:

    - you possibly made your family sick by accidentally cross contaminating food
    - you could short out your apt’s electrical system (Van does have a good point about the surge protection)
    - your time is worth more than hanging about waiting for this to happen again (and next time it could be much worse – esp with the food related illnesses!)

  13. forkboy1965

    Buy a new one, simply for the sake of saving you time from having to post yet more entries about a dead/dying/repaired appliance.

    Your sanity must be worth the price of a fridge!

  14. Jane R

    Often if you are going to purchase more than one appliance at a time a store will give you a serious discount. Also, don’t be afraid of deciding what appliance you want and then ordering it online through a buying organization or a reliable 800#. Prices on items like a refrigerator or a dishwasher are seriously negotiable if you just hunt around and bargain a little. Be sure to ask for the old appliances to be hauled away as part of the deal. I’ve saved a lot this way. Local utility companies often have rebate programs for heavy usage appliances like refrigerators and dishwashers so be sure to ask about them, too.