How much is too much to spend on a refrigerator?

February 23, 2008

The closing date for my townhome is now 11 days away, something could still go wrong so I don’t want to actually buy any appliances yet. But I have started shopping around — the unit comes with only the stove and dishwasher. I have to buy the refrigerator and the washer/dryer.

The decision for the washer/dryer is pretty easy. I want something with really simple and straightforward controls, and I want front-loading washer since that is better in terms of using less water than top-loading. Judging from the models I’ve looked at so far, I’ll probably wind up spending about $1,500 for the pair.

But the refrigerator is turning out to be a much more complicated decision. First of course is whether I want to have an in-door ice and water dispenser. I do like the convenience, but the one I had in my Louisville home was a bitch to keep clean and running. The little metal screw that pushes the ice out would occasionally freeze. And when I first moved in it actually had some slime build-up I had to remove before using it. So that makes me a bit leery of those things, though my realtor says it’s a real selling point later on to have that.

Then the other question is where to have the freezer — top, side, or bottom. I’m leaning to bottom freezer for a couple reasons. First of course is that it makes sense to put the coldest part at the bottom, cold air tends to fall anyway so it’s more efficient. And it allows for full-width shelves in both the freezer and refrigerator section, unlike in a side-by-side design. I know it doesn’t happen often but it is nice to have that full width for large items like the occasional extra-large pizza that has to be refirgerated.

Then if I do go bottom-freezer, what style should the refrigerator doors be — single or french? I’m really liking the french door designs, like the ones from LG. The french doors are, again, more efficient because you don’t have to open the entire door and let all that cold air spill out just to grab the milk or whatever.

THe problem I’m having is that those french-door designs seem to be among the most expensive designs. I can’t find something in that design for under $2,000. Just seems like a lot of money, that’s a good $500 more than I’ll be spending on both the washer and dryer. I’m having trouble justifying it to myself. Though again the realtor says it’s a nice selling point to have an upscale refrigerator like that.

I don’t know, I have a couple more weeks to think about it.