Buying A New Big Refridge In Chiang Mai

[westbounder]

I'm buying a new BIG size fridge this weekend.

What brand is the best with good warranty here in Thailand?

I figured at buying at Siam TV or Niam Panich because I am tinking they both have good service.

Any recomendations?

Thank You

[JeffreyMcCollum]

What do you mean by "BIG" ?

Like for a mini mart kind of like a big double door we would get in the states ?

[Greenside]

What do you mean by "BIG" ?

Like for a mini mart kind of like a big double door we would get in the states ?

You need to look carefully to see just how big a "big double door" US style fridge really is. We have one and in terms of usability it really is a step down from our old single door Mitsubishi, Having an ice maker also takes up a considerable amount of space (although it's a great convenience).

[Happyman108]

Big fridge? Try Subzero fridge .... subzerothailand.com

[noise]

I am not saying this is the best one to buy, just expressing our satisfaction.

2005: bought a 25 cu ft Whirlpool side-by-side with ice maker. Had a 5 year warranty but didn't need it.

Ran plumbing to the ice maker; love it and it gets lots of use.

Caveat 1: 2012 ice dispenser door would not shut correctly, warm air entering, ice melting and freezing jamming the ice maker. Repair guys admitted they had no experience in fixing as the average refrig buyer opts for the smaller Japanese models. They had a heck of a time trying to figure out what part number had to be ordered from their overseas provider. I finally did the research, found it was a kit, not just the door, and gave them the info. Then I had to watch and make sure they used the whole kit because there was a very subtle difference in some of the parts. The old parts did not seal off the outside air when used with the new door. HOWEVER: I would buy this type and size of refrig again (with ice maker) though any brand as long as one well known to me.

Caveat 2: Neighbor bought a Whirlpoor with ice maker also, but bought the model with all the controls on a circuit board and a display panel on the door. Power fluctuations burnt out the board and it had to be replaced (which the repair guys figured out easily). I guess I would recommend less electronic controls when/where possible.

[ignis]

Any recomendations?

That is a bit difficult, big fridge price range is just under 30k to over 160k

My just under 30k Panasonic is 9 years old, still work fine, but appear motor runs most of the time and the freezer part appears to freeze but much slower and not as cold, so but much better is my 36k Samsung now 7 years old..

Edited December 21, 2012 by ignis

[worgeordie]

I have one of those big 4 door fridges like they have in 7-11, had it about 5 years

at the time it was the best value for capacity and usefulness,with plenty of shelves.

The draw backs are its noisy so we have it outside,and it is not very energy efficient,

the plus is you get get a lot of stuff in it,I make a lot of jam,chutney, so a couple of

shelves get taken up by that, and have large plastic box for the vegetables.

The frozen stuff goes in a separate deep freezer,so this combination works for,me just

wish it used less electric.

regards Worgeordie

Edited December 21, 2012 by worgeordie

[circusman]

I noticed that Tesco and Big C have mostly Panasonic in the smaller sizes. Must have cornered the market in Thailand. Never looked at the bigger ones. I figure more trips to market is better than having a huge fridge in the house.

[hellodolly]

Don't know what big is to you. We have a Sharp 18.2 cubic foot refrigerator with a large door on the top for the freezer compartment. We also purchased it at Siam as we like the idea they can service what they sell or make sure it is done,

[NancyL]

We had a big 25 cu ft double-door refrigerator in the U.S. and, like noise, I absolutely hated it. The actual usable space was much smaller than I expected and we never did run the plumbing to hook up the ice maker, because the last thing I wanted to do was constantly clean up the mess on the kitchen floor when people used the water and ice dispenser in the door. Plus, the veggie drawers were on the bottom and I get dizzy when I have to bend-over, straighten-up quickly (heart valve problem)

Here, we got a three compartment Mitsubishi that I find much more user-friendly. I'm looking at the manual and can't find the size, but I would estimate it at around 18 cu. ft. The top section has a door and is a conventional refrigerator. The bottom two sections have drawers, not doors. The freezer is on the very bottom -- which makes so much sense since it's the area you don't use very often. The section I do use often, the produce drawer, is at waist level and I like the way I can rummage around for ingredients without opening the door to the main refrigertor compartment.

Plus it has what I'd call a "third world" ice maker. We fill a tank in the refrigerator section about once daily with a liter of water and scoop out wonderful ice from the bottom, freezer section. No plumbing and great security in knowing your water source.

I've seen this type of refrigerator at Siam, but we ended up getting one at Central KSK. They always stood behind service on other appliances we've bought and they deliver immediately after purchase. Actually, they loaded it up on a dolly and walked it home behind us. No waiting around forever for a delivery and set-up guy like our friends who buy from other stores.

Edited December 21, 2012 by NancyL

[hellodolly]

We had a big 25 cu ft double-door refrigerator in the U.S. and, like noise, I absolutely hated it. The actual usable space was much smaller than I expected and we never did run the plumbing to hook up the ice maker, because the last thing I wanted to do was constantly clean up the mess on the kitchen floor when people used the water and ice dispenser in the door. Plus, the veggie drawers were on the bottom and I get dizzy when I have to bend-over, straighten-up quickly (heart valve problem)

Here, we got a three compartment Mitsubishi that I find much more user-friendly. I'm looking at the manual and can't find the size, but I would estimate it at around 18 cu. ft. The top section has a door and is a conventional refrigerator. The bottom two sections have drawers, not doors. The freezer is on the very bottom -- which makes so much sense since it's the area you don't use very often. The section I do use often, the produce drawer, is at waist level and I like the way I can rummage around for ingredients without opening the door to the main refrigertor compartment.

Plus it has what I'd call a "third world" ice maker. We fill a tank in the refrigerator section about once daily with a liter of water and scoop out wonderful ice from the bottom, freezer section. No plumbing and great security in knowing your water source.

I've seen this type of refrigerator at Siam, but we ended up getting one at Central KSK. They always stood behind service on other appliances we've bought and they deliver immediately after purchase. Actually, they loaded it up on a dolly and walked it home behind us. No waiting around forever for a delivery and set-up guy like our friends who buy from other stores.

Also tho most people do not realize it. The freezer makes no difference for economy where it is located but when it has a door as soon as you open it the cold falls out and it has to work again to bring it back to the temperature you have it set at.

Where a drawer when you open it the cold remains in it.

A little bit of unknown trivia.

[DaamNaam]

Siam Tv have some of the best prices but be prepared to wait an hour or more (last wait for us was 90 minutes) for the salesman / cashiers to do all the paperwork. Shocking in that department. To save time and heartache LG in Airport Plaza are a sister shop to Siam TV, same prices, same deals, one cashier, hardly any customers. Done deal in under 10 minutes.

BTW, we just purchased an LG side by side, 19.5 ltr fridge, white with pink / purple coloured lotus on the front, looks nice. 26,500.

Edited December 21, 2012 by DaamNaam

[NancyL]

Siam Tv have some of the best prices but be prepared to wait an hour or more (last wait for us was 90 minutes) for the salesman / cashiers to do all the paperwork. Shocking in that department. To save time and heartache LG in Airport Plaza are a sister shop to Siam TV, same prices, same deals, one cashier, hardly any customers. Done deal in under 10 minutes.

BTW, we just purchased an LG side by side, 19.5 ltr fridge, white with pink / purple coloured lotus on the front, looks nice. 26,500.

Yeah, plus the few times we've bought appliances from Siam TV, they call to change the delivery time a couple of times and then don't come when they promise. Plus, the installation people don't speak a word of English. They came to install our TV/sound system and didn't have the proper cables. Fortunately the in-house IT dept (Hubby) has an entire drawer full of random cables and they were able to get it working from his cable collection.

Neighbors weren't so lucky. The Siam TV installation guys also arrived without proper cables and said they'd be back with the right ones -- or at least that's what our neighbors thought they were saying since they don't speak Thai well. Anyway no one ever returned from Siam TV.

If they expect you to supply the cables, then their English-speaking sales people should tell you and sell you the proper cables to hook up a sound system/TV while you're still in the store.

Edited December 22, 2012 by NancyL

[shepsel]

If you are not in a hurry to purchase a large fridge, keep going back to Amorn Electric at Icon Plaza on the north

side of the moat. Once in a while they get in some large size refrigerators which are either discontinued models,

have some slight exterior damage, or such at large discounts. A couple of years ago I purchased a front load

washing machine there for 6000 baht for the same model that was selling at Power Buy at Central for 21,990 because

the instruction plate was in English only.

[hellodolly]

Siam Tv have some of the best prices but be prepared to wait an hour or more (last wait for us was 90 minutes) for the salesman / cashiers to do all the paperwork. Shocking in that department. To save time and heartache LG in Airport Plaza are a sister shop to Siam TV, same prices, same deals, one cashier, hardly any customers. Done deal in under 10 minutes.

BTW, we just purchased an LG side by side, 19.5 ltr fridge, white with pink / purple coloured lotus on the front, looks nice. 26,500.

Yeah, plus the few times we've bought appliances from Siam TV, they call to change the delivery time a couple of times and then don't come when they promise. Plus, the installation people don't speak a word of English. They came to install our TV/sound system and didn't have the proper cables. Fortunately the in-house IT dept (Hubby) has an entire drawer full of random cables and they were able to get it working from his cable collection.

Neighbors weren't so lucky. The Siam TV installation guys also arrived without proper cables and said they'd be back with the right ones -- or at least that's what our neighbors thought they were saying since they don't speak Thai well. Anyway no one ever returned from Siam TV.

If they expect you to supply the cables, then their English-speaking sales people should tell you and sell you the proper cables to hook up a sound system/TV while you're still in the store.

We have never had a problem with Siam. all are speaker systems came with the cables to hook them up. 2 TVs 1 refrigerator and two washing machines.

[Thakkar]

Our experience has been that large fridges are:

less robust than smaller fridges;

more problematic in case of repairs;

provide less useful storage than you would expect from the advertised size;

consume more energy per useable unite of storage space.

We've found that Asian-made fridges are better at coping with electricity fluctuations and Thailand's climate, more robust and easier and quicker to repair if the need arises.

Two smaller fridges offer more capacity at about the same price, give you a backup fridge for perishables if one goes down, and, if organized properly with frequently-accessed items in one fridge and less frequently-used items in the other, save energy. When you have teenagers who often loiter in front of an open fridge before deciding what they opened it for, this arrangement saves quite a lot of energy.

T

[jingjoke]

The 'Number 5' stuck on an electrical appliance to denote energy conservation doesn't seem to cut it.

Try an Inverter-equipped appliance (Google it):

-Panasonic now markets refrigerators so equipped, along with others of its products.

-Mitsu water pumps, larger variety

-Samsung air-conditioners

My Sharp 12cuft fridge with bottom freezer drawer compartment, and dual swing door R&L, has been running well w/o a problem for almost 16 years. If Sharp brings out an Inverter-equipped refrigerator I will upgrade as needed. Cost new was 19K at Carrefour back when.

In-home maintenance consists of keeping it clean both inside and out, with a wipe every couple of days or so, with a half-yearly hose down outside the house to get rid of the accumulating dust under it and around the motor plus evap-coil grid on the back.

If you want your fridge to work efficiently keep the rear 2-3 inches from the wall to allow adequate air flow over the evap-coil grid: never keep it boxed in within a kitchen cabinet array - even if it may look good. FWIW.

Cheers

[scorecard]

We all have our desires / needs and ultimate experiences with these things

We bought an LG side by side (not sure if that's the correct terminology - I mean two full length doors in one cabinet, right full lenth door (normal compartment), slightly wider than left full length door (freezer).

We're quite happy with the size and the operation of the freezer but quite disppointed with the capacity of the normal fridge section, which looked big in the shop but in practical usage seems to be full very quickly.

On the other hand we've had it 18 months and it's never given any problems.

But because of the lack of space in the normal section we bought another small fridge which is devoted to drinks, yoghurt packs, water bottles, etc.

Family size: 3 adults, and two kids.

[kaptainrob]

No matter which brand or size of fridge one buys, your partner will fill it with perishables which, err ... perish, non-perishables that don't require refrigeration or waste-of-space bloody watermelons! (or similar).

I (sort of) fondly recall cleaning out my Ozzie Ex's fridge and finding ~3 y/o expired jams, chutneys, minced garlic and other jars with nasty green spores inside .... big fridge doesnt equate to good cook.

LG make great fridges, also Mitsubishi and many others. Don't buy Hitachi - built to a low price, or any model with plastic shelves, they sag and/or break ... budget stuff!

A suitable fridge must comfortably accommodate 2 days supply of almost-icy cold beer, a days supply of nibblies, and have a separate freezer big enough for Sausage King and British Night curries and Nestle icecream.

HomePro, as I've posted before (ad nauseum, perhaps), have excellent prices, delivery, set up and warranty service. Hang Dong store in particular.

[Thakkar]

<snip>

A suitable fridge must comfortably accommodate 2 days supply of almost-icy cold beer, a days supply of nibblies, and have a separate freezer big enough for Sausage King and British Night curries and Nestle icecream.

<snip>

Hey! You live like you're in my twenties!