486843 Wed Feb 06 07:09:59 -0800 2008 4 41 Cookware 0 3369584 Refrigerator died over the weekend (it gave warning with a prolonged death howl, so the food was safely transferred to friends' houses), so I'm now in research mode. I'm looking for a no frills (for example, no icemaker - I'd rather have the space it occupies) top or bottom freezer. I'd like to hear your praise or horror stories to help me narrow down brands and to choose between top freezer or bottom. My old one was a side-byside, and I never really liked that layout. Any thoughts? Thanks! Wed Feb 06 07:10:00 -0800 2008 11647 Warthog 1 3370094 I think top freezers are not user friendly -- always hard to keep track of where things in the fridge ARE and forces you to spend a lot of time squatting and reaching. The bottom freezer units typically give up a bit of space (the compressor is buried back there in most) but with a pull-out things are MUCH easier to enter/retrieve. The best bottom freezers have multiple organizing racks and sliders so that you are not digging through load of frozen food to get want you want. Wed Feb 06 09:41:28 -0800 2008 3369584 87093 renov8r 1 3370139 We recently replaced our old (and second) side-by-side with a top freezer Whirlpool. While I like the wider space in the freezer, I often whack my head on the freezer door when I'm trying to get stuff out of the refrigerator! Given the choice, I'd prefer a bottom freezer now. We couldn't find the model we liked without an icemaker, so we just didn't activate it (no water piping nearby). Wed Feb 06 09:55:36 -0800 2008 3369584 10926 mnosyne 1 3370599 I was also looking for a no-frills model, I ended up with a Whirlpool with french-door refrigerator on top and pull-out freezer on the bottom. I heartily recommend the top-fridge arrangement, it's so much easier to not have to bend at the knees every time you open the fridge. It's hard to find one without an icemaker, but it's easy enough to just remove it and plug the water hose hole with a little insulating foam. Just stay away from models with water and ice dispensers in the door. They rob a lot of space from the inside, impair energy efficiency (there's less insulation in the door with a dispenser there) and the majority of refrigerator repairs are necessitated by a broken dispenser. One thing I wasn't able to find was a top french door fridge, bottom freezer, no-dispenser model with real temperature settings, from a good manufacturer. Mine just has settings 1-9 for fridge and freezer. I'd rather be able to set the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit, but couldn't find one that had that. I researched brands first to get an idea of reliability, it's kind of hard since some brands are now owned by bigger manufacturers. Kitchenaid fridges, for example, are made by Whirlpool but have a longer warranty. Whirlpool seemed to be the most reliable brand in my research. Wed Feb 06 11:33:59 -0800 2008 3369584 29811 Buckethead 1 3372478 What with mergers and outsourcing, experiences with brand names don't seem to matter so much any more. I prefer a top freezer because I don;t want to squat down to dig through the goods. FWIW, Consumer Reports top-rates the Whirlpool E71FTEXS {Q}, a best buy. The other best buy is the Hotpoint HTS22GBO {QQ}. These are both top freezers. Wed Feb 06 22:08:36 -0800 2008 3369584 55316 mpalmer6c