Anyone own a Maytag Side by Side fridge?? Good/Bad experiences? (1 Viewer)

[Alf S]

My wife and I are awaiting our new Maytag MSD2454G side by side fridge with water/ice which is due in Saturday.
I'm getting buyers remorse early I think. Consumer Reports has flagged Maytag side by sides as extremely poor as far as repairs go. I don't always take their word as gospel, and was hoping since their report only mentions 1994-1999 models, the newer 2001 models have been tweaked and are much better than the previous models listed.
However tonight while at Lowes I saw the model we bought and the size larger, and was checking them out, reading the owners manual etc. and I noticed both models had a extremely warm area when you touch the middle divider section betwen the fridge and freezer.
This is not a comforting thing, since other brands on the showroom floor didn't have this "problem" just the Maytags.
Our current Kenmore fridge (top freezer type) had a similar problem in that it was hot to the touch around the exterior portion of the freezer section. it turned out to be a blown compressor and once replaced, all is well.
Does anyone have any first hand knowledge of these type of fridges? Should I bail while I still can and go for a Whirlpool, or Kenmore?
The main reason for the Maytag was Best Buys No Interest till 2003, Maytags supposed problem free brand (hence the Lonely repair guy ad's) and it had some nice features for the price AND fit's nicely in our kitchens fridge cabinet space.
Thanks in advance folks
Alfer
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[Todd Hochard]

quote: However tonight while at Lowes I saw the model we bought and the size larger, and was checking them out, reading the owners manual etc. and I noticed both models had a extremely warm area when you touch the middle divider section betwen the fridge and freezer.[/quote]I can't speak to the reliability of Maytag refrigerators, but this warm ares between the two compartments is by design on many units.
If the area is not kept warm, condensation forms there, and can drip onto the floor. By warming it, no condensation.
My Whirpool (top freezer model) has a switch to turn this feature on and off. I keep it off, since the condensation that gathers there is minimal (in my house anyway), and it saves a bit of energy.
Todd
P.S. I have no reservations about buying a Maytag unit. In fact, my wife and I would like all Maytag appliances in our next home.
[Edited last by Todd Hochard on September 04, 2001 at 07:11 AM]

 

[Jay H]

quote: P.S. I have no reservations about buying a Maytag unit. In fact, my wife and I would like all Maytag
appliances in our next home.
[/quote]
Yup, I loved the Maytag dishwasher my parents had when I was growing up... it lasted like 30 years, we had to replace the springs in the door like twice and the thing was really bombproof for the time. Eventually the timer died and we had to move the cycle over to drain and rinse manually but the thing held up very well considering it's age.
We recently had to replace our refridgerator which started to leak freon and replaced it with some Frigidaire. Unfortunately, the Frigidaire was louder than a NYC subway so we replaced it with a much more expensive KitchenAid. Nice and quiet, but pricey. But at that point, we'd of gotten anything else rather than deal with the noise from the Frigidaire anyway. And we tried two units two, not just one. Lesson learned: try to get one plugged in at the store to see how loud the thing is...
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[Edited last by Jay H on September 04, 2001 at 09:42 AM]

 

[Burke Strickland]

I have a Maytag dishwasher and Maytag clothes washer and dryer. They are superlative performers and have held up well. I do not have a Maytag side-by-side refrigerator since the dimensions didn't fit the space in my kitchen very well. (I've had a Fridgedaire upper-lower, a GE side-by-side and now a Whirlpool side-by-side in this space.)
However, my mother has had a Maytag side-by-side refrigerator for a number of years. While it keeps the food at the right temperature and has a fairly versatile shelving system, the ice maker "spits" ice from time to time without anyone even being near the unit, and if you use the through-the-door cold water tap, it freezes up and clogs the icecube output chute. Her icemaker was serviced several times and even replaced more than once under warranty, but now that has expired and she just has to keep a mop handy to clean up the water where ice has been ejected when no one is around to pick it up in a frozen state.
The dealer who sold her the Maytag refrigerator insisted all along that "nothing is wrong" with the design of the Maytag ice maker for that model refrigerator, but I've seen it do its little tricks -- so at least HER Maytag has gremlins in the ice machine (but no "slime" in the ice machine, for you Marvin Zindler fans.) :>)
Good luck -
Burke

 

[Bill Catherall]

I have a Kenmore (built by Whirlpool) side-by-side refrigerator/freezer. We've had it for a couple years and love it. I think that Maytag once had a very good reliability rating on their appliances in years past, but since then that quality has been slipping. I say this because of an experience we recently had when buying a Maytag washer and dryer.
Just one week after buying the Maytag the washer stopped filling with cold water. A repairman said the cold water solenoid was dead and either we could replace the solenoid or the machine. We replaced the machine thinking that there were probably going to be other problems if there was already one inside of one week. Just one day later the second machine exhibited the same problems...no cold water. We called in another repairman...this time it was a Maytag repairman, not just a Sears technician. He spent 1.5 hours on it and on the phone with Maytag engineers working out the problem. It wasn't the solenoid after all. It was the main circuit board. Evidently, the models that had the temperature controller had bad main boards. There was no recall. The repairman told us the only thing we could do was to buy a Neptune (ha!) or downgrade to a model that doesn't have the temp control feature. No way were we going to throw away our money on a Neptune (return on investment shows payback in 10 years!) so we downgraded. No problems with the low end model. We have had no problems with the Maytag dryer and really like it much more than other dryers. We even tried the Kenmore washer and dryer and hated them.
I'm sticking with Whirlpool (or Whirlpool built Kenmore) for my kitchen appliances.
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Bill

 

[MickeS]

I don't know about the quality of Maytag appliances, but I gotta say that their Wide-By-Side refrigerator seems to be very useful. We were looking at that one, but it was too pricey ($1700), we settled for a GE with pretty much all the same features except the wide-by-side, for $600 less.
Is the wide-by-side the one your getting?
/Mike

 

[Micah Lloyd]

I just picked up the Wide-by-Side last week at a Sears Outlet store. 50% off the $1919 price! It was a returned unit with a tiny, unnoticeable, ding and a missing rear wheel. The wheel has already been ordered from the Sears repair center ($4.95). I really like the unit because of the wider upper refrigerator section. At 26.8 cubic feet total, it's a lot of fridge!
I have one tiny concern. The fridge part seems to only get down to 40F degrees. Optimally, the fridge should be between 32 and 40 (37 is ideal). The freezer does just fine at -10. I've been playing with settings and should know when I get home tonight and check the temperature if I need to make a service call.
~micah

 

[Shane Martin]

Oddly enough when we went shopping for our Maytag Washer and Dryer We found that the Actual Maytag Dealer(which is across the street from Best Buy in Tulsa) to be cheaper than Best Buy and Lowe's.
Something To Consider atleast. If you want to buy an extended warranty as well their warranties are longer(7 years I believe).

 

[aaron campbell]

Maytag makes a fine appliance. My only gripe with them on their refrigerators is the defrost system. They use glass tube defrost heaters that fail constantly. Hopefully with their acquisition of Amana, they correct this problem.
Aaron

 

[Alf S]

Well folks, I bailed out and cancelled my order. I just had this weird intuition that this wasn't a wise purchase right now..too many negatives vs. positives.
My wife and I are going to stick with our original plan...get a Kenmore or Whirpool.
I realize Whirlpool makes many of the Kenmore products, but the Kenmores seem to have the right size (height) that we need...Now we just need to wait until Sears offers another 1 year no intersest special
Thanks to all for the info.
Alfer
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[Edited last by Alf S on September 05, 2001 at 09:29 PM]

 

[Bill Catherall]

Now we just need to wait until Sears offers another 1 year no intersest special

Are you aware that you just missed one by 2 weeks? We just bought a new Kenmore range and a Kenmore microwave/hood combo that weekend.
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Bill