Westinghouse French Door Fridge - Anyone?

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Hey guys and gals,

Missus and I are in need of a new fridge. Old one just can't hack it during the warmer months anymore, and then starts to over work during the colder months.

Due to limited space (standard hutch width of 800mm), we're looking at a Westinghouse french door fridge.freezer. Specific model is the WHE5100SA which has the slide out freezer drawer.

Was interested to see if any in the AFF community have one (or one similar) and what your thoughts are on it. I've read through some forums on line, and it gets a bit of a mixed review. But it is relatively economical, it matches the other appliances we have in the house and, best of all in my mind, is Australian made.

Any feedback welcome.

Craig H

[PHANTMXR6]

Not sure of the Westinghouse, but the missus pestered me for ages to get an LG French door jobbie.
We ended up with a GR-1219CPL.

She loves it, I hate it for many reasons.

1. French doors suck due to having to open them both all the time so the efficiency goes out the door. From memory ours had a 1 star rating. And you have to close them in sequence or they don't close.
2. The 2 freezer sections are not full depth of the unit, due to compressor and all the other parts that make the fridge work being located directly behind that compartment.
3. Weight. 140kg of fridge is a bugger to try and move on your own. Even with a fridge trolley.
4.Stainless finish. Looks good, but is a pain to keep clean with the kids around.
5. Price. It costs lots when you start looking at anything with 2 doors and options.

I hope I haven't put you off. lol

[AU Mont]

the wife and i were thinking of getting a french door fridge due to not having enough space for a side by side. But then i thought, how annoying would it be to have to open 2 doors everytime i want something, unless i knew of course what side its on. Some french door jobbies develop sealing probs between the 2 doors as well

What about this.... 515L LG fridge, has 2.5 star energy rating, 78cm width... $1087
http://www.harveynorman.com.au/lg-51...dispenser.html

[AU Mont]

or if your specifically looking for a bottom mount, this looks the goods
http://www.harveynorman.com.au/fishe...nt-fridge.html

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by PHANTMXR6

1. French doors suck due to having to open them both all the time so the efficiency goes out the door. From memory ours had a 1 star rating. And you have to close them in sequence or they don't close.

The missus has been in to the store to have a touch and feel of the Westinghouse and I mentioned this issue to her, and she said she didn't have any indication of the need to open both doors at once or open/close them in sequence? Perhaps the Westinghouse has been designed different to the LG in this respect? The missus will be in the shop again today to look at this issue once more. Thanx for the heads-up. The reason we have gone for the french door is that the fridge alcove is situated right next to an internal sliding door that opens/closes onto our main hallway. The existing fridge blocks this doorway whichever side it hinges. We are hoping the french door will reduce this problem somewhat.

Originally Posted by PHANTMXR6

2. The 2 freezer sections are not full depth of the unit, due to compressor and all the other parts that make the fridge work being located directly behind that compartment.

We also have a chest freezer that we store most of our stuff in. The freezer in the fridge will only be used to store the things we use most often, so I don't think this will be a big issue for us.

Originally Posted by PHANTMXR6

3. Weight. 140kg of fridge is a bugger to try and move on your own. Even with a fridge trolley.

The Westinghouse only weighs 110kg (hard to find that spec though!), and we'll probably get the shop to deliver and install for us anyway, but point taken!

Originally Posted by PHANTMXR6

4.Stainless finish. Looks good, but is a pain to keep clean with the kids around.

We already have a couple of Westinghouse stainless appliances (cooktop and oven) and find them pretty reasonable. Plus we only have one 8-year old daughter, so kiddie finger prints is not quite such an issue for us.

Originally Posted by PHANTMXR6

5. Price. It costs lots when you start looking at anything with 2 doors and options.

Thankfully for us, the Mother-in-law has offered to get us this one, so it's not quite as big an issue as it may have been. Having said that, I was looking at this fridge before the MIL made the offer.

Originally Posted by PHANTMXR6

I hope I haven't put you off. lol

Not yet What you have given us is some more things to think about. Thanx again for your thoughts, PHANT.

Originally Posted by AU Mont

the wife and i were thinking of getting a french door fridge due to not having enough space for a side by side. But then i thought, how annoying would it be to have to open 2 doors everytime i want something, unless i knew of course what side its on. Some french door jobbies develop sealing probs between the 2 doors as well

What about this.... 515L LG fridge, has 2.5 star energy rating, 78cm width... $1087
http://www.harveynorman.com.au/lg-51...dispenser.html

Thanx Mont. As you can see from the answers above, I think the french door offers us some advantages that a top or bottom mount don't. Tale on board your point re the sealing issue, that is why I'm after some first hand experience to gauge how much of a factor this really is. Also, I'm really keen on the Westinghouse side of things primarily because they are Australian made, but also because they match our existing products (which we are very happy with). I also understand that Choice's reviews constantly have Westinghouse products in their "Ones to Look At' category because of the relatively good after-sales service.

Craig H

[Yellow_Festiva]

After using the French Door style fridge at work I will certainly look at buying one when we move to a bigger place. I don't know off hand what brand it is but each door can be opened and closed independently.

Mum, on the other hand has a side by side fridge that is roughly the same size as the one at work but pretty much useless. The fridge always seems full due to the narrow width of the shelving and the ice machine / water outlet on the freezer door hardly gets used.

If I were buying, I would get similar to the work one. It has 2 top doors for the fridge section, and 2 bottom doors that swing out for the freezer. Would certainly consider the double draw set-up as well. No ice machine either.

Edit: This looks to be the exact one we have at work:

http://www.appliancewarehouse.com.au...FQVKpgoddHEASw

[AU Mont]

Originally Posted by psychobimbo

Tale on board your point re the sealing issue,

when we were researching french door fridges, i read this particular samsung doesnt have the seal wear problems due to the independant design of the door seals

http://www.harveynorman.com.au/samsu...or-fridge.html

but looks like just a little too wide so no good. Best of luck with the search

[jpblue1000]

How old is the current fridge?
We had a similar issue and replaced the seals and cleaned the heat exchanger before last summer and it effectively became a new fridge. for a total cost of 110 dollars...the fridge is 25 years old too.

JP

[sneaky]

Originally Posted by jpblue1000

How old is the current fridge?
We had a similar issue and replaced the seals and cleaned the heat exchanger before last summer and it effectively became a new fridge. for a total cost of 110 dollars...the fridge is 25 years old too.

JP

sorry to hijack the thread a bit, but did you do the seals yourself or get a fridge man to do it? my 8yr old fridge doesn't seem as good as it used to be

[jpblue1000]

Originally Posted by sneaky

sorry to hijack the thread a bit, but did you do the seals yourself or get a fridge man to do it? my 8yr old fridge doesn't seem as good as it used to be

Did it all myself, came with instructions and all up was a 20 minute job and has as mentioned made a world of difference...the old seals were shot after 25 years but still available form seal specialist

JP

[redxm]

Current fridge is a westinghouse. cant fault it. its a side by side freezer/fridge. i think its close to 10 years old.

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Hi all,

Thanx very much for all your thoughts and input, greatly appreciated.

Deed was done yesterday. Got the WHE5100SA (which has the slide out freezer drawer) for a great price. Was the floor stock and helps when you know the owner of the store. Even better that free delivery and installation was included.

Only hassle was that the breather cavity at the back of the friidge alcove had been covered up for some reason. So last night's job was to rip that out as the new fridge will be here tomorrow and the new fridge needs it.

Will let you all know how it goes.

Thanx again

Craig H

[AU Mont]

dont all bottom mount french/standard fridges have freezer drawers?

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by AU Mont

dont all bottom mount french/standard fridges have freezer drawers?

Hey Mont,

No, not in the Westinghouse range anyway. The WHE5000SA has a side opening door, as per here:

http://www.westinghouse.com.au/Produ...0-D063DBF8A1F7

Not sure about other brands though.

Craig H

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

For those who may be interested, I thought I'd leave some feedback.

The fridge has been in for a couple of weeks now. All in all, it is working quite well. There was some initial concern as the fridge would not fit under the architrave that I had trimmed for the previous fridge. Once that was trimmed, the fridge fits into the space quite well.

As intended, the half size doors really make access past the fridge much easier than the previous single door. Also, having the fridge up top instead of below as per the previous fridge is working really well for the wife who doesn't have the best back in the world.

The Westinghouse is definitely a little noisy, but nothing that bothers us at all. Perhaps summer will be a little different.

Glad we have the chest freezer, as the freezer compartment is not overly large or versatile.

So far, both the missus and I are very happy with our choice.

Craig H