Fridge freezer - replacement

[Galaxy01]

I need to replace my 25 year-old fridge freezer.  This F&P unit has served me well for the past years.

Is F&P still a good and reliable brand?  Or what other brands do you people recommend? 

Due to space limitation, the existing space can't take in anything larger.   W: 710 x D: 710 x H: 1700

Recommendations, please.

[king1]

we've always had F&P and had a good run with it. Last freezer we bought had an annoying hum/rattle when new, but they came out the next day and sorted it. That was at least 10 years ago... BIL is a whiteware appliance repairer and he still recommends the F&P when we've asked about it...

[Kenj]

Yes, we bought a new one recently after son's one broke down. very happy. Have had 3 F&P in 55 years.

Ken

[Praktica]

We replaced our f&p fridge freezer with a samsung - this one https://www.harveynorman.co.nz/whiteware...white.html

It works fine.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I love my Samsung. Her name is Blanche. She has a very cold heart...

[R2x1]

We went through a patch of "Other" brands. Without fail, the other brands seem to have been designed to look a lot bigger than they are - the internal space is highly impractical for storing and accessing food in normal packaging. From tinkering with neighbours' fridges over the years I tend to think that foreign fridges are like European cars: quite nice looking while they're new, and pleasant to drive for a while. However, they do not age gracefully and when they start to fail they reveal that assembly was not intended to be reversible.Fasteners when accessible are rapid wear items that self destruct on removal, and accessibility is not easily revealed. F&P are IMO much better value for people that wish to use their fridge for storing and accessing the goods of their choice, and when after many years they need service the difference is stark. For some fridges you have more chance of repairing used milk than the appliance meant to store it.
Samsung may have their good points, but sharpness has never been high on my list of desirable fridge features.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

We went through a patch of "Other" brands. Without fail, the other brands seem to have been designed to look a lot bigger than they are - the internal space is highly impractical for storing and accessing food in normal packaging. From tinkering with neighbours' fridges over the years I tend to think that foreign fridges are like European cars: quite nice looking while they're new, and pleasant to drive for a while. However, they do not age gracefully and when they start to fail they reveal that assembly was not intended to be reversible.Fasteners when accessible are rapid wear items that self destruct on removal, and accessibility is not easily revealed. F&P are IMO much better value for people that wish to use their fridge for storing and accessing the goods of their choice, and when after many years they need service the difference is stark. For some fridges you have more chance of repairing used milk than the appliance meant to store it.
Samsung may have their good points, but sharpness has never been high on my list of desirable fridge features.

I think it is often a matter of use too. My Samsung replaced a not very old f&p that had survived three housemoves in a shortish space of time before developing an iceberg habit. Blanche is in a tiny flat, serving one old lady who has few bad habits so wearing out isn't an immediate threat. She might not enjoy such a calm life in a family household, but she fits the space available in this one. And believe it or not, it was those dimensions plus competitive price that made me choose her. 

And she is easy to clean... 

[piroska]

The former New Zealand Company Fisher & Paykel is today a 100% owned Chinese Company, with the Haier Corporation of China’s acquisition being very much about hiding the Chinese ownership and benefiting from the strong consumer sentiment associated with Fisher & Paykel.

China’s Haier to took complete control of NZ’s F&P Appliances whose traded as Fisher & Paykel back in 2012 and very few people know this.

Initially they acquired 90 percent of New Zealand’s top white-goods maker, they then bought out the remaining minority shareholders to complete the NZ$927 million (A$766 million) takeover.

The Company was then delisted from the New Zealand stock exchange.

Haier Group Corporation is a multinational home appliances and consumer electronics company headquartered in Qingdao, China.

The home appliances business, namely Haier Smart Home, has seven global brands – Haier, Casarte, Leader, GE Appliances, Fisher & Paykel, Aqua and Candy.

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Mitsubishi actually have great consumer reviews, 10 years plus, not just bought it 5 minutes ago.

[SueDonim]

We had F&P 17 years then Westinghouse 12 years. It broke down not long ago and we were glad to see the back of its noisiness - which had been a problem from day 1.

For the current fridge I looked at Canstar https://www.canstarblue.co.nz/appliances/refrigerators/ and read reviews. Some of the "good" brands had complaints about noise which was a primary driver for our new choice, along with expected trouble-free longevity and fitting the space. We chose Mitsubishi but had to downsize one size or wait 6 weeks+ for delivery (which we thought would likely end up being longer). The difference was just a sacrifice in the height of the actual fridge space so we decided going smaller was better than having no fridge over Christmas.

Each new generation of fridge is bigger on the outside and smaller on the inside - they call it efficiency. Each new generation of fridge has less flexibility for arrangement of internal shelves. Each new generation of fridge has more features, some of which are good, and some of no interest to us but maybe somebody wants/uses them.

For the new Mistsubishi, the freezer is a drawer with 2 layers. Works well and is easier to get things out. The fruit/vege drawer gives us more/better space for fruit/veges and I like it. The main fridge has next to no flexibility in shelf arrangement. There's a "half" shelf that would be good at the top back but can't go there, it only fits the middle shelf, which I do need as a full shelf. The door arrangement is similarly annoying.

I was able to remove the ice-maker and that made a convenient pocket to keep the big block of cheese. It also has a couple of funny drawers that are intended for things like a couple of small packs of meat and can be cooler than the rest of the fridge. I left the extra cooling turned off and took out the lid and they work well for things like eggs and small containers.

The door is not counterbalanced to automatically close, but does have an alarm if you leave it open. The alarm is so high pitched that anyone with age-related hearing-loss won't hear it (I can hear it, DH can't).

I should add that the Mitsi is extremely quiet. You only hear it if you stand right next to it.

So with some changes in work flow I'm happy with it. For someone looking to buy, I certainly recommend thinking about some of that sort of thing before committing. The days of an open space where you can put shelves anywhere you want seem to be long gone.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Which probably explains the new products designed to add storage to fridges. KMart has heaps, including a rather neat lazy susan I have my eye on...

And, popping separated fruit and veg into a sistema clickable container and then into the cool drawer is a trick I picked up from a nutritionist on tv and boy, does it extend the life of the produce, especially leafies...

[R2x1]

As long as you can buy a fridge that suits you, things are good. It's the ones that don't that stick in the memory.

Fortunately the English language has a section of vocabulary that (at least a little) eases the stress of dud fridges. oral de-stressing is a traditional remedy that sadly cannot cope with after-sales service stresses common to dealing with appliance dealers with double-barrelled names, Australian parents and investment group owners. Their business is not about appliance dealing, it is much more focused, being devoted purely to maximising the short-term return per square cm of display space. Naturally enough, well paid knowledgeable staff are totally eschewed when they can simply use overseas retrained buffalo herders for phone "help lines" and import mean spirited parsimonious obfuscaters that have a highly developed ability to work for peanuts while driving away customers that have delusion that customer service is not an oxymoron in this workplace or warranties can be honoured without recourse to legal assistance. Total inability to converse in English is an essential staff skill. Common sense is bred out of these people over many generations.

The saddest thing about all this is that for young people today, these will be their "Good old days".