Reading up a bit on the internet, it seems the Whirlpool Side by Side refrigerators have a tendency for the fridge side light and temperature control panel to go out, with this unit being the culprit. (You'll find it in a small white plastic box, near the compressor, in the back of the fridge on the lower left side). Our fridge was a 2005 model, and the equivalent unit was on a white circuit board, with a slightly different arrangement of the capacitors and resistors compared to the picture here. But, this replacement does indeed work and fit in the white box. It is a fairly quick and simple fix, so well-worth just buying the unit and trying it yourself. Here's hoping with the redesign it lasts a little longer than 7 years.
I installed this a few days ago. It seems to work fine. The appliance guy wanted $430 for this repair. Take a look at this for instructions
I received the correct part quicker than expected. When I checked the part out, I realized that it was refurbished. I thought I had ordered a new part. It does work fine, though.
I love this fridge. I don' t know how much you've been researching refrigerators but I've noticed that there just aren't any 5 star models with more than 10 reviews. It seems like most people don't post reviews unless they have issues, which means only bad reviews.
On this model I think people mostly complained about the ice drawer and ice dispenser. Both work fine for me, just make sure you put your glass right up to it and ice won't fly everywhere. As for the ice drawer, I have no issues removing it and I haven't had any freeze ups for the months I've had it. It looks great and stays nice and cold, what more do you want from a fridge? If I find I start having issues I'll update my review.
My husband would have preferred purchasing a similar model where we live (at a much higher price but this was from my account), so that he wouldn't have to set it up himself (which didn't take very long :-)
We have an older home, so this frig gave us more capacity but still fits into a small space. I like the layout of the shelves, bins, etc. We haven't yet hooked up a water line for the ice maker, but hopefully that will go smoothly.
I like the stainless steel front, but I didn't realize that the sides would be painted in a matching color. Still, for the price, it looks fine. However, I believe the product description should note this.
Delivery was fast and easy and the vendor and shipper communicated well with me.
I'm satisfied with the product and this transaction.
I should have known by looking at the instruction manual that this refrigerator was sub par. There are a series of categories under the "Before you call for service..." section that mention excessive noises and prolonged run cycles. To all, the manual says "normal" condition. This thing makes an incredible amount of noise, and it runs almost constantly. When it does shut off, you can open the door and quickly grab something (maybe 5 seconds), and it will then run for an hour. Cooling--it's prime function--is sub par. For all its effort, the interior temperature rarely gets below 50 degrees. I've had unopened yogurt (!) spoil in 2 weeks. Any drinks that one enjoys cold need ice.
As for design, the interior is not only very small, but very inefficiently designed. There are 2 small bins for produce about 1 cu.ft. each. Put in one head of romaine lettuce and it's full. The door compartments are a joke. There is no butter compartment and nothing for eggs. Instead, there are 6 little 6" x 5" shelves that each hold 3 cans of (warm) soda, and one huge shelf on the bottom for tall items. All in all, the door takes up 6" of the interior depth. The depth of the interior shelves range from approximately 13 to 15 inches. There are 3 adjustable shelves, but shelf space is no more than perhaps 750 square inches.
I live in an apartment unit with a small hallway, so getting anything large into it is a challenge. The unit this refrigerator replaced was European and designed for small spaces. It had a 10 cu.ft. capacity, but it felt like 20 compared to this new piece of crap. I've had this thing for a month, but I'm already thinking about tossing it.
This is the worst product. I feel that it was designed to fill a size niche for energy efficient refrigerators, with no other considerations. Certainly none was given to putting food in it--other than canned soda.
I needed a small fridge for a "granny" apartment, and I always try to buy Energy Star. In a rare fit of supporting the local independent mom-and-pop store, I bought one of these in July. It took them over a month to get one from Frigidaire.
When first plugged in, it would run for maybe 15 minutes and then stop for at least that long. Took it over a day to get the fridge section down to 50F. With normal food inside, it won't go below 39F even on the very coldest setting. The off-to-on hysteresis is 10F, so at the coldest setting it cycles between 40F and 50F. The freezer will go to -18F if you turn its knob cold, but the refrigerator averages around 45F. If you take out all the liquids and heavy stuff, the fridge will freeze your lettuce to death before shutting off, while still waiting for about 50F to come back on.
It also makes a wide repertory of amazing noises, loud enough to be heard all over the house. Sometimes it is a "boink-boink-boink" sound from the compressor or the gas bubbling. Way louder than the normal soft boiling sound refrigeration sometimes makes. Other times it is a loud buzz from the air circulation fan you can tell because it stops when you open the fridge door. And sometimes it is normally quiet, but totally unpredictable.
The local repair guy keeps replacing fans and sensors, and the behavior changes a bit each time, but there doesn't seem to be a real fix. I'd love to hear from anyone else who has one of these, working well or not! Frigidaire, if you're listening, I'm not very hopeful about hauling this back to the store on my dime and waiting another month to see if a replacement would be any better. I'm thinking serious design flaw...
I bought the CS 1360 a couple years ago. I live in Manhattan and was initially impressed by it's compactness and storage space. In the 2 years i've had it, the fridge has broken several times. The heating tube broke, then the sensor broke (twice!), then the ice maker broke.
Liebherr contracts out servicing to a servicing company in Arizona, this company then in term sub contracts to local repair shops, many of whom were not trained properly. I was told by one of the service guys that it broke again because the part was never installed properly by the previous service guy.
The ice maker broke again after the warranty runs out the customer service was not helpful at all, and flat out treated it like it's not their problem. He did recommend a local repair shop, who told me Liehberr services in generally is much more expensive than other appliances. Flat $175 just for the guy to come take a look, any parts or installation fees will be on top that.
All in all, this is a terrible fridge and i would not recommend to anyone. Will never purchase any products from the company again.
This review is for CS1301, the previous generation of the same Liebherr refrigerator which I bought 4 years ago. 2 1/2 years after my purchase, the freezer failed to freeze. Since it was out of the short 1-year factory warranty I had to paid for the service referred to by the Liebherr customer service hot line. That service call was $850 to replace a sensor and fan. For that much money I could have bought a brand new stainless steel LG fridge of a larger capacity!
A few months later the icemaker broke. The replacement ice tray assembly (which I ordered directly from Liebherr) cost $110. The new tray lasted about 2 months before it broke again.
I am totally disappointed with Liebherr product quality. I wish I had not chosen the product solely by its good looks. But the fact is, Liebherr is a niche player in the US and there is very limited review of its product quality. I simply did not have much data to base an informed buying decision on and took a chance on Liebherr. That turns out to be an expensive mistake.
Extremely expensive product that stops working properly after 2 years. Frost started to build up in the back panel of my freezer, called the customer service who said the warranty is only 2 years and only the closed loop system is covered up to 5 years. He promptly said the problem is unlikely the closed loop system because the freezer is cooling and said good luck. You pay 5 times the price to have things break in 2 years with no warranty. HORRIBLE.
Purchased and finish would not clean. We were told, by Liebherr customer service, the unit only had a partial factory finish and it was necessary for us to use the small bottle included to do the final finish.
It really is as insane as this sounds.
Have tried a dozen different cleaners and the unit will not hold a clean finish. Despite having paid $3000+ for this unit (Canada where they screw you) I look forward to replacing it.
This unit and the brand was a big disappointment, if I ever bought this brand again my wife would surely leave me.
Will give this fridge to some unlucky person at Goodwill, it is not something I would sell given the problems.
We got a CS 1350 and have thus far spent multiple times what it cost to buy fixing it. Liebherr service are totally uninterested in helping, always have been. If you leave the freezer door open for longer than intended (accident etc) it frosts up, the frost / ice breaks the evaporator sensor and voila hello a $500 service call.
This model is newer inside than the larger, non-counter depth model RS275ACRS. I returned that model to get this one and am very glad I did.
1. This model has interior LED lights when you open the refrigerator instead of the hotter old bulbs like the 275.
2. I am somewhat compulsive about temperature control. I have two precision thermometers, one in the fridge and one in the freezer compartment. On the RS275ACRS, the temperatures were nowhere near what the external display was reporting them as. On this model, however, the refrigerator is usually within 0.2 deg F of the reported temperature (at coldest setting of 34F, thermometer reports 34.1 whereas the 275 would be all over the place, never lower than 37 or so). In the freezer, this model is rock solid at -10 F when the external display is -14 F. I consider this excellent, as most freezers can't get this low. The 275 was lucky to get to -7 F with the display at -14 F. And yes, I allowed plenty of calibration time and took multiple readings over weeks. So, in my testing anyway, they have definitely upgraded the innards since the 275.
3. This model has the icemaker on the freezer door, not hogging the upper shelves of the freezer, which I love.
4. It is, obviously, slightly shallower than the RS275ACRS, but the markedly improved performance is well worth it to me.
5. Fridge very quiet.
6. External display slightly improved vs RS275ACRS.
We purchased the Samsung RSG257AARS a week ago to replace our old Whirlpool (around 25 years old) that chugged along like a locomotive and sounded like one too.
It's still early, but thus far I have to give the Samsung a big thumbs up.
Pluses:
1) Very attractive design inside and out.
2) The interior theatre lighting is a nice touch.
3) Very effective cooling.
4) Exceptionally quiet.
5) Simple-to-use controls
Minuses:
1) The shelving has limited adjustment capability.
2) The crisper drawers pull out only half-way, so access is a little compromised.
3) The freezer should have a special slot for pizza boxes to be stored upright.
Side note: This model has a stainless steel finish and a great cleaner to use is Weiman's Stainless Steel Cleaner and Polish.
EDIT: (7/18/12) We've now owned this Samsung for nearly three years and are very happy with the purchase. The 5 stars rating remains accurate insofar as our experience is concerned. We've had zero problems with this product. It's super quiet. Keeps food consistently cold. And, for us at least, the ice maker works well.
EDIT (3/27/13) Still lovin' the fridge. Zero problems. Quiet. Nice.
Just got this after my old whirlpool died. It is very attractive, shallow in depth, and I love the inside LED lighting. The only thing I don't like so far is that the produce bins don't open all the way. You can lift the bin and pull it out more but then you risk the entire bin falling out.
I am really impressed with how much storage space there is inside this counter depth refrigerator.
UPDATE: The ice maker is SUPER slow. I run out of ice all the time if I have more than 4-6 people over for dinner and drinks.
I really wanted a counter-depth side-by-side refrigerator. After researching a few minutes, I realized that Counter-Depth units are rare and cost much, much more for the same quality. Everything I put my hands on at the retailers (in my price range) felt like garbage, until I found this Samsung (one of the few brands I didn't research). The local store offered me a killer deal, so I had it delivered.
After going through all the procedures in the manual, and procedures on the phone with tech support, the icemaker didn't work. I have no issues with the water line, and my old, cheap refrigerator quickly churned out buckets of ice (old school interior style with no exterior dispensor) until the moment they hauled it off for this Samsung. I researched online and found all the Samsung icemaker horror stories. Many brands have icemaker issues but Samsung models seem to have quite a bit more?
I called the repair center and they said the first available time for a tech to arrive was 2 weeks. I did not want to get into the endless loop of "wait for repair wait for part to arrive wait for repair with part wait to see if part works rinse and repeat", so I called the local store I bought it from, and returned it. Plus, I believe that when you buy something new, and spend this much money, it should work. If not, they should send someone out immediately so you at least get up-and-running with what you paid for.
I gave up on the "counter-depth dream" and decided to buy a standard depth (in another brand) and will have to deal with the extra bulk. The price jumps too high for reasonable quality.
On the bright side, I will say that this Samsung model is beautiful and has rock solid feel to it (like the 3000-4000+ models). The LED tower lighting is amazing. Tons of space and features. I love the computer and it cooled super fast to requested temps. To me, it was like an expensive, high-end fridge and very impressive. Aside from a few minor flaws, I was blown away at the quality/price ratio. If they could only get the icemaker on par with the rest, it would be the best deal around (assuming you know how to haggle for a great deal).
In the year 2010, what is so difficult about making something as simple as an icemaker? Don't they know that this is what typically makes or breaks a refrigerator?
We've had the refrigerator for 2 years now and I don't agree with most of the negative reviews. It's a perfect size for a frig that fits flush with your kitchen cabinets. The lighting in this model is perfect on ever shelf. It's cold on every shelf and bin. The ice dispenser is a bit slow but nothing to truly complain about. The stainless steel doors are a bit of a hassle with fingerprints, but every stainless steel appliance I've ever own shows prints. it's a beautiful design and super quiet.
The filters fit and at first the water tasted fine. After about the 4th week of use, the water tasted worse than not using any filter at all. In fact the water tasted awful. I noticed these were made in China and my next filter will either be made in the U.S. or Canada.
[Updated 3/11/13] I lowered my ranking from two stars to one. I had ordered two of these and after the first one went bad, I put in the second. The second filter only worked for a little over a week and then the water had a foul taste. Because the unfiltered water in our house doesn't taste bad like that I can only assume that something has been put in this filter that is not good. Whatever it is taints the taste of the water. I have thrown it away and will never buy one of these filters again.
The filter worked for 2 weeks, then the fridge warning came on to say replace the filter. Our other one worked for 6 months.
This item works as a replacement for my fridge water filter. I did notice that the filter light does not go off though. So I think this may be missing some sort of sensor to control the filter light.
This filter is obviously made for different models. It was a little difficult to install (took 3 times to get it seal and sprayed the inside of the fridge each time). Once installed it seems to work well and isn't leaking. I'll probably order the original next time.
I bought this for a Samsung RM255LASH refrigerator. The listed filter is a Samsung DA29-00012A. That has been superseded by the DA29-00012B. This SGF-DSA21 specifically and explicitly lists on its box that it is a replacement for both the DA29-00012A and B. It also lists on the box that it is meant for the RM255 series of refrigerators and includes all submodels by name, including the LASH.
They have lied.
The neck of the filter is shorter and perhaps wider. The shoulders are squarer. The body is shorter. It is NOT a replacement. In fact, I was able to get it into the filter holder (a spring-lock assembly), but it does not stay in position. I was foolish enought to've bought a 3-pack for nearly $90. 2 of the 3 exhibit the same failure to hold position. This is only after feeling like it may break the filter holder trying to get it in. After nearly 30 minutes of struggling, with all the attendant leaks and water cleanup inside my fridge, I can get the water dispenser to work. For about 45 minutes. Then it takes another 15-20 minutes of installing, removing, reseating, hoping, praying, and finger-crossing, to see if the filter will stay in position for another 45 minutes.
The third filter is still in its wrapper. Why throw good money after bad?
I have a Samsung refrigerator that I love, and can no longer find the water filter for it at our local home improvement store. So, I found this water filter on Amazon, and gave it a try. This product is actually shorter on the tip than the standard Samsung brand filter we normally use. And the manufacturer insists that this filter size is correct for my needs. It is not. I'll end up having to pay far more money for my water filter, but I certainly want a filter that actually fits my refrigerator. I will not buy this product again.
I bought two of these filters for my Samsung frigerator. I pulled the old filter out and pluged the new one in, great right? Wrong, I went to get a beer and found a puddle of water inside the bottom tray and cleaned it up. I hadn't put two and two together. Than an hour later there was water on the floor. I tried the second filter and it leaked right away. The original filter clicked when in was installed. The replacement did not. Waste of money and time. Do yourself a favor, stick with the original filter from Samsung.
This isn't the 1930's where we thought flouride was good protection against tooth decay!! Just as we know that lead fillings are one of the most dangerous substances we can have in our mouths. Make a filter that removes flouride. Its 2012! read your scientific facts NOT paid for or conducted by big pharma!!
Reading up a bit on the internet, it seems the Whirlpool Side by Side refrigerators have a tendency for the fridge side light and temperature control panel to go out, with this unit being the culprit. (You'll find it in a small white plastic box, near the compressor, in the back of the fridge on the lower left side). Our fridge was a 2005 model, and the equivalent unit was on a white circuit board, with a slightly different arrangement of the capacitors and resistors compared to the picture here. But, this replacement does indeed work and fit in the white box. It is a fairly quick and simple fix, so well-worth just buying the unit and trying it yourself. Here's hoping with the redesign it lasts a little longer than 7 years.
