Tell Me About Your Fridge

So...for Christmas, my lovely mother has offered to buy us a new appliance for the house. All of our appliances are at least 25 years old and waaaay overdue for an update. After a lot of thought, we've decided on a new fridge. Ours is a horrible, off-white, 80s side-by-side that shudders in the summer and doesn't have the kind of space we need in it.

So...of course I immediately thought of stainless steel. I thought it was out of our price range (we're keeping to $600-700 MAX, so it has to be a budget fridge), but there are actually a few stainless steel fridges out there in our price range. However, I'm constantly hearing that steel's a nightmare to maintain - it gets covered with fingerprints and you need a special cleaner to get them off. I've also heard that most aren't magnetic, so you can't put up school schedules, kids' artwork, etc. with magnets. Anyone out there with kids have a stainless steel fridge? What's your experience been like?

So instead I started looking at those gorgeous shiny black fridges instead. The salesman told me they're easy to clean - just a simple wipe. However, I started looking online and found that they scratch super easily. Apparently just putting a magnet on them is enough to leave a permanent scratch. I also read that it's almost impossible to clean them without leaving streaks. Anyone have this type of fridge and can you tell me if this is true?

Anyway, so I guess that leaves textured black (I don't want white - I need a change). It doesn't look as sleek, but I'm starting to think it might be the best choice for a household with 3 (and soon to be 4) small children.

Thoughts?

We have a high gloss black smeg fridge.
It is easy to clean I just use window cleaner but the dust shows up really obviously if you don't dust it often and it really shows up little finger prints. It does show have a few light scratches and swirl mark (like you get on car paint work) on it I googled it at one point and you can get these out/to show less with car wax. I went to get some but the choice was huge and when I asked advice from the saleman he advised against using it on non-car paintwork. But I may still give it a go on a test patch like on the top where it wouldn't matter too much if the product wasn't compatable.
We don't put magnets on it as we have a magnetic chalk board in the kitchen that I made just using the magnetic chalk board paint and ply board you need a good few layers to make really magnetic though. But you can also paint a sheet of steel with magnetic paint. Or in our old house we had a magnetic notice board from ikea.

We have a stainless steel oven and hob and the hob has scrated really easily just from cleaning it. and you can get the scratches out with very fine sandpaper and lots of patience but it doesn't bother me that much to give it a go.

At my work they have a massive stainless steel comercial fridge and it looks awful always covered in grime and finger prints I had a go at giving it a good clean with brasso because it was really bugging me and looked ok for about a day and then looked awful again:D

Good luck on finding your perfect fridge.

Thanks for the info, lavenderlime!

That's a good idea about just having a separate magnetic board, but we also have magnetic letters and toys on the fridge the kids like to play with. I guess they'd have to go elsewhere too...

Do you notice the scratches come from normal wear and tear? I'm worried about what my 3 crazy boys could do to it if they were running past and scratched it with a toy or something.

The swirl marks come from cleaning it same as on a car I think you could minimise this from happening by using a microfibre cloth or something. I only really noticed these when we had to move the fridge and the direct sunlight was shining on it. Where it usually lives this isn't really a problem or that noticeable.
On smegs the coating is like a super thick plastic so you they don't dent easily on the doors so that's a huge plus with kids. Our fridge isn't actually in our kitchen it's in a small open utility area just slighty off of it, hard to describe the layout of our house. So they don't really play in there so not much chance of wear and tear. I wouldn't let my kids play with magnets on it thought as think it would get scratched over time. The light scratches I think came from moving it.

If you made you own magnetic board you could make it tall and thin like a full length mirror so the kids could still use it to play on or even paint a whole door or wall with magnetic paint! Saw this in a magazine once a larder door painted in chalkboard paint and it looked amazing:)

We have a black fridge. It is textured, not glossy, but it still looks really good. It has been easy to keep clean for the most part, and doesn't scratch easily at all! My kids pull magnets off all the time, nothing has happened. Plus, the black appliances are cheaper than the stainless steel! Ours is a Kenmore, but I don't necessarily recommend that brand--we got all Kenmore appliances when we built our house, because they offered a discount if you got all of them at once. The fridge has broken once, and all the other appliances have broken at least once too--some multiple times! I can't say if any other brands are better, though. We may have just got ours in a bad year (2007).

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Originally Posted by Lavenderlime

If you made you own magnetic board you could make it tall and thin like a full length mirror so the kids could still use it to play on or even paint a whole door or wall with magnetic paint! Saw this in a magazine once a larder door painted in chalkboard paint and it looked amazing:)

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Now THERE'S a good idea! We have a pantry door just about a meter from the fridge - we could paint it with magnetic paint.

Viva sells packets of stainless steel whipes, they are good and work well leaving a kind of oil on the surface which makes it super shiny, but it is true no magnets stick to steel fridges.

I have a stainless steel kitchenaide fridgerator, I love everything about it, its big double door with ice and water on door but HATE the stainless steel part, you can't use magnets so we tape :/ and its horrible in keeping it clean, lots and lots and lots of finger prints, they have wipes that you can buy so its not difficult but its something you have to wipe EVERY single day, its the double doors so they put their hand on one door to help them open the other door(since just pulling on the handle alone they cant get it open so they put their hand on the other door and pull on the handle to get the door to open) so there's hand prints all up and down it, it doesn't really scratch I don't notice scratches but I do have small dents close to the bottom from hot wheels or other trucks and cars crashing into it, you cant really notice them unless you point them out BUT my other refrigerator never got dents so I don't know if that's just my boys getter rougher over the yrs or stainless steel dents easier :/ but I will not ever own another stainless steel refrig and I don't recommend people with children to get one lol

I have a gorgeous SubZero fridge. Like 48" wide. Its stainless and I love it. I wouldn't put any magnets on it so I have no idea if its magnetic. We use the handles and my kids don't put their hands all over it. They are 4 and 5 and I've trained them LOL!!! You are supposed to clean it with the grain. If you look really close there is a direction of grain to it. You will know what I mean when you look closely! I'm thinking black would be the same in terms of fingerprints. I know dark countertops are a nightmare in that sense that you leave streaks if you don't also dry it.
I hung beautiful thick ivory satin ribbon down a stone wall and clip the kids art and bday invites to it.

We got a gorgeous black Samsung fridge, that lets us put important stuff on it. It's a French style ? I guess fridge, and is huge. I love it, I wouldn't trade it for stainless steel. Stainless steel is nice but I think it's a little overyhyped and they are extraordinarily expensive.

If you want the look of stainless but do not want to see all the fingerprints, look for a Satina finish- magnets will stick to that finish too- they will never stick to true stainless steel.

I had a stainless refrigerator and I will never have one again. We get cabinet fronts put on ours so it blends with the cabinets but that is not available in the price range you listed- try Satina!

Thanks for all the advice, ladies! Keep it coming!

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Originally Posted by Hobbermittens

We have a black fridge. It is textured, not glossy, but it still looks really good. It has been easy to keep clean for the most part, and doesn't scratch easily at all! My kids pull magnets off all the time, nothing has happened. Plus, the black appliances are cheaper than the stainless steel! Ours is a Kenmore, but I don't necessarily recommend that brand--we got all Kenmore appliances when we built our house, because they offered a discount if you got all of them at once. The fridge has broken once, and all the other appliances have broken at least once too--some multiple times! I can't say if any other brands are better, though. We may have just got ours in a bad year (2007).

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Thanks, Hobber. We were looking into Kenmores just because they have more options at the lower price level. It's nice to know the textured black is holding up well for you. I was dazzled by the sleek, shiny black, but I'm not sure it's practical for my lifestyle (and my subpar housekeeping skills) :oops:

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Originally Posted by Mochagirl

Thanks, Hobber. We were looking into Kenmores just because they have more options at the lower price level. It's nice to know the textured black is holding up well for you. I was dazzled by the sleek, shiny black, but I'm not sure it's practical for my lifestyle (and my subpar housekeeping skills) :oops:

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Well, I am not saying all Kenmores are bad. The last repair man who was out here told me that Kenmore just puts its name on other products, and the year we got ours, they were made by Whirlpool. I think he said this past year they were LGs. So maybe you can find out who is the current brand behind the Kenmore? Kenmore stuff is reasonably priced, and if you extend the warranty (which we thankfully did) they will just keep on fixing it for free. Good luck deciding!

p.s. I am a horrible housekeeper, and rarely wipe down the fridge door, and it still looks great. I'd say go with the textured finish!

I'm fairly sure the salesperson told me Kenmores are made by Frigidaire right now. Are they a good brand?

NBP - I've been looking into this satina stuff - it looks like a great compromise, though some have mentioned it scractches easily. It's also tricky to figure out which fridges have this and which are real stainless steel...online at least. It seems every brand has a different name for this fake stainless steel - Whirlpool calls it 'satina', GE calls it 'cleansteel', and I'm not sure what the other brands call it. I know in person I'd be able to tell the difference, but right now I'm just trying to scope out prices online! I also hate that most sites don't specify whether the finish of the black fridges is textured or smooth!

I'm thinking of visiting a local 'scratch & dent' warehouse tomorrow to see if I can find any deals. I figure the fridge is bound to get scratched or dented pretty quickly in my house, so if I get one that's already damaged it takes the pressure off! :rofl:

Oh, and Hobber - you're making that textured black fridge sound better and better. I am truly a lazy housekeeper, so if I get something that shows smudges and fingerprints easily, those fingerprints will be there a looooong time :oops:.

We recently purchased a stainless steel LG fridge and I love the space. It's got the double doors and two separate freezer drawers on the bottom with the ice and water dispenser on the front. I agree with others...it does stain with fingerprints and usually sticky hands opening the doors etc. I clean the outside when I'm cleaning the kitchen and it's not that hard to maintain. I don't do it everyday though but I would say by the end of the week it looks sloppy. we had all black appliances when we built our house 15 years ago and slowly as appliances die, we are switching to stainless. Our dishwasher and microwave are stainless as well and we stick to the same brand (I think the SS grain matches better when you do that). I say if you love the look, then it's worth the cleanup but not if you are the type to obsess about it and if fingerprints bother you that much. I use a microfiber cloth and stainless cleaner and wipe it down once a week or so, but then again, I clean all appliances every week or so, so it's not a big deal to me.

Sigh...I wish we could afford one of those double-doored fridges a lot of you have mentioned. We're going to have to stick with a freezer-top fridge because they're the cheapest. What we have now is a side-by-side that's about 20 years old, and I hate it - I find the freezer part so narrow it's almost unusable.

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Originally Posted by Mochagirl

Sigh...I wish we could afford one of those double-doored fridges a lot of you have mentioned. We're going to have to stick with a freezer-top fridge because they're the cheapest. What we have now is a side-by-side that's about 20 years old, and I hate it - I find the freezer part so narrow it's almost unusable.

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We have the freezer on top kind, and it is fine. I wanted a fancy side-by-side with the freezer on the bottom, but the way we built our kitchen, it wouldn't fit. I have been pretty happy with ours, though I do wish it was a little bigger--especially after trips to Costco!

The scratch and dent is an awesome idea. You can order a new panel if you need one!

I think the hardest part about appliance shopping is seeing all the stuff you CAN'T get. None of my friends has a fancy fridge, so fridge envy had never really hit me until I started going to appliance showrooms and seeing all those high-end models front and centre.