I'm considering buying a refrigerator with a budget of up to 10k. I don't need more than 7 or 8 Q of space. (is Q = Cubic Ft/Liter?) 

Which brands are easiest to service or get parts for? 

Which brand is preferred for overall quality?

 

I see Electrolux, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, Mitsubishi Electric, Sharp, Hitachi.  Occasionally a Panasonic or Sharp.

 

Is an inverter type compressor really that much better than a conventional compressor?

 

From the past, the only thing I remembered was that Mitsubishi was preferred for the electric fans and air conditioners (very few problems) and Electrolux is also better quality parts.  Rice cookers almost any Japanese brand will be ok.   But not sure about refrigerator.

 

edit:  not sure if this was more of a general question or belonged in different sub-forum.

We are very, very, (did I say VERY) happy with our side-by-side Samsung inverter.  It is 20.8 something so I guess in the "large" category but certainly not huge.  (I really don't know how people get by with anything smaller.  We also have a chest freezer.)

 

Edit:  forgot to say... with a 10K budget you could go with just about any of the brands b/c there is very little difference and the local repair guys can fix whatever might go wrong.

How much freezer space do you want/need....that was our first concern. We settled for a Mitsubishi model that had been discontinued, but a third of it was freezer! We bought it off the floor and have loved it ever since and that was 8 years ago. pg

As noted the big names are pretty much of a muchness.

 

BUT, personal experience (not with fridges mind) is that inverter units are to be avoided if your power is, shall we say, "eccentric".

 

Our Samsung inverter washer is on it's 3rd controller board this year, they are 8k Baht a pop! Luckily we've only paid for one (the others were warranty units).

 

I was going to go with a Samsung 9.1Q and at the last minute i was convinced to go with Hitachi. 8.7Q.

The Mitsubishi is the #1 for overall quality.... But after that all of the major brands are 2nd place (for refriderators). He does have a bias towards Japanese brands.

I think having the full freezer shelf and wanting to try a Japanese brand made the difference.

Samsung/LG you can usually get more fridge space for the price. But seangTokyo had a bunch of promotions this week.

As noted the big names are pretty much of a muchness.
 
BUT, personal experience (not with fridges mind) is that inverter units are to be avoided if your power is, shall we say, "eccentric".
 
Our Samsung inverter washer is on it's 3rd controller board this year, they are 8k Baht a pop! Luckily we've only paid for one (the others were warranty units).
 

What about air cond? I would think inverter compressor is more efficient.

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IMHO, the problem that you have with inverter anything here is that the power supplied by the MEA/PEA is very "dirty".  The inverter control boards do not like dirty power and when they fail, quite often, the replacement parts are very expensive since the tech replace the board.  Just look back at Crossy's post about his washing machine, 3 control boards at 8k per pop. I kust bough a new Panasonic washing machine.  The non inverter model was 9k baht, the inverter model was 12k baht.  Guess which one I bought! There are many posts here about different inverter appliances with the same problems with the expensive inverter control boards.  The only inverter product that I buy here is ketchup since you have to invert the bottle to use it!

Have had a Panasonic fridge/freezer for about 10 yrs now and it's still going fine, although have been looking at inverter models (as is my new Mitsi aircon unit) for more efficiency.

 

Main problem for me is that I like the freezer unit to be on the bottom. I cook a lot and will be looking in the fridge vs the freezer on at least a 10 to 1 basis, so if the fridge unit is on the bottom it means a lot of bending down!!!

 

Wish more mftrs would make f/f units with the freezer at the bottom!