Just looking for feedback or to vent or I don't even know what I want. Advice, I guess.

We have a GE Profile counter-depth refrigerator - bought it new when we moved into this house in 2002. So it's pretty old for an appliance. It was very expensive at the time but was literally the only thing we could get that fit in the kitchen - the house had been built by the previous owner and the kitchen was custom fit around this model fridge which she was taking with her, so we had to buy the same thing.

Over the years, it has been fairly reliable - we had it repaired once because it was hard freezing all the produce and things in the deli drawer - repair guy said it was some kind of baffle that controlled how much cold air went to the freezer vs. the fridge. But it has never been the greatest at cooling - we keep a fridge thermometer in there and it is usually in the 45 -50 degree range. Since we haven't died yet, I figured maybe the thermometer was off.

Anyhow, yesterday I noticed that the fridge seemed a bit warmer than usual and everything in the freezer was melted/thawed. Like the ice in my ice bin was water. The ice cream was liquid. I'm talking complete thaw. But the fridge still seemed to have some cool air blowing so I tossed or moved everything out of the freezer (except a couple lunchbox icepacks, which were totally thawed) put the most perishable fridge stuff in the basement fridge, and left stuff like drinks and veggies in the fridge overnight to assess. This morning my icemaker is making ice that is staying ice and the freezer seems appropriately cold - the ice packs have refrozen. The fridge thermometer which was reading 55 yesterday is back to low-to-mid 40s.

I have an appt with an appliance repair guy to come look at it tomorrow. But I'm not sure how much point there is to trying to fix an 18 year old fridge. Plus he tells me that since it seems to be working fine now, he's not sure he will even be able to tell what happened.

I don't think the door was left open - we are pretty careful about that. It has been refreezing the produce again on and off for the past month so maybe it's that baffle again? Or is there just a lifespan of a compressor and ours is nearing the end????

The good news is that GE does not seem to have changed the size of their fridges (unlike every other appliance which all seem to have grown enormous over the last few years - have you shopped for washers lately????) so I think I can buy a new GE counter depth fridge and fit it right into the spot - we'd be looking at $1800-2200 depending on whether we want the basic model or the upgrade. We are limited by the opening size and kitchen layout and pretty much have to stick with counter depth and either side by side or french door and GE seems to give the most interior cu ft and still fit in the kitchen. Guy at the appliance store told me the average lifespan of a new fridge is 10 years so our current one is almost double that. Then again, maybe quality was better back then?

I dunno - anyone have any advice? Would you buy a new fridge now (keep in mind that delivery time is mid-May anyway thanks to Covid), let this one go as long as it seems to be working, or have the appliance guy out to see if he can figure out what happened to a fridge that seems to be working fine. I'm afraid to load this back up with food and lose it all if it decides to stop freezing again. Any and all advice welcome!

The symptoms you describe sound like either a bad defrost timer or perhaps a bad defrost heater. Neither one is very expensive. If it turns out to be something more expensive than that I think you would be wise to consider a new one. 20 years is a long time for a refrigerator

If you are feeling handy, you can generally tell if the defrost cycle isn’t working correctly by removing the back panel in the freezer to see if everything is iced up. If it is all iced up then you know the problem. If the problem seems to have corrected it self it may well be that the defrost timer works intermittently.

There are lots of YouTube videos that show where that timer is located and how to operate it manually if you need to while you wait for a new part. I have yet to see a refrigerator that does not have a video that talks about it.

Thanks Steve! I am not feeling handy, LOL! -- Actually I can't even begin to fathom how to get the back panel off the freeze r (are you talking from the inside or the back?) and so I've decided to just the appliance guy come today and see what he can figure out. REmember when I mentioned the fit issues with buying a new fridge - part of the problem is the fridge is jammed into the end of a cabinet run so you can't open the right side door more than 90 degrees without hitting the wall. And it actually touches the cabinet opening on the sides - there is truly ZERO clearance. And when you pull it out, you have to get the angle JUST RIGHT to fit it just perfectly between the kitchen island and the wall. Moving the refrigerator out is in itself an olympic sport and I think I'm just going to leave it all up to the professional!

Meanwhile I've been monitoring the temp in the freezer and fridge - fridge is hovering in the usual range for it (45ish -- still in the "danger zone" on the thermometer) while the freezer (which has a different digital thermometer that I'm not sure is any more trustworthy - they're both old and have been kicking around our house for years) has been as low as LL (lower than the thermometer can read) and as high as 7. Right now it's -1.

I will ask him about the defrost timer/heater - that is something I hadn't thought of and it makes sense! I'll let you know what he says!

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jammed into the end of a cabinet run so you can't open the right side door more than 90 degrees without hitting the wall.

I hate this kind of problem. Our current refrigerator has double doors (french doors??) and one side, the fridge side, can't open more than 90 degrees. It drives me crazy!!!

If there are two doors on the top, and one drawer or door on the bottom, it's considered a french door unit.

If there are two doors that go the height of the unit, one for the freezer and one for the fridge, it's called a side-by-side.

We have the "next to the wall" problem with our french door refrigerator.

Pro tip when replacing a refrigerator that is next to a wall: Be sure to check the dimensions required when the doors are open. Some designs are such that the width required when the doors are open can be substantially wider than when they are closed.

Our doors don't do that. The hinge design and the slightly curved edge profile mean that the unit requires a smaller profile width-wise, not much wider than the box part of the frig.

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a side-by-side.

Ahh, ours is a side-by-side. And the side we use the most is the one without full clearance.

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Originally posted by Steve Miller:
20 years is a long time for a refrigerator

Maybe for one built within the past 20 years that is true.

We have a GE in our basement that is from 1980 and it is still going strong.

My brother had a Fridgadaire from the 1950s until about 5 years ago. It was still working when he got rid of it.

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Originally posted by markj:
We have a GE in our basement that is from 1980 and it is still going strong.

I had a geriatric Kitchen Aid side by side in my garage for a long time. It must have been one of the original side-by side fridges. Wood grain handles, etc.

I got rid of it when I figured out what it cost to run the beast. Newer boxes are a lot more efficient.

What's the prognosis, Lisa?

Heh. Not sure. Appliance guy thinks it could be the circuit board - there's apparently a solder joint on a relay that tends to fail and ours looks like it is starting to go. He said that could make it so the compressor doesn't turn on when it is supposed to - it will sound like its running because the fans will be on, but the compressor won't come on. And it starts failing intermittently so eventually it will turn on one of the attempts and the fridge will work again for a bit. He also said the same board controls the defrost timer so even if it was the defrost going haywire, it would be the same fix - replace the board. To fix that, all in, is $330 plus tax. But the freezing our produce issue may mean it needs the that baffle thing replaced again on top of that, which is another $150. Not sure I want to sink $500(or even $330) into an 18 year old fridge. So we decided to just watch it for a bit and see how it behaves - it seems to be working like a champ right now. He gave me a tip for how to better measure fridge temp and I ordered a new better thermometer for like $8 on amazon and I think I'm just going to monitor it for a week or two then make a decision.

I did have to go out and run some errands so I took a trip down the fridge aisle of Lowes just in case. I figure if I know what I want and I have a replacement exactly picked out, this fridge will last another 10 years just to spite me, LOL! On the other hand, I did just load the freezer up with new groceries so now it has incentive to die.....

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate circuit boards in appliances?

I saw this thing at Lowes today and thought it was super cool! Too bad it gets horrible reviews.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Hisen...teel-Look/1001107532

French doors for both the top fridge and the bottom freezer! (One of the things I'm not sure about is the drawer-style freezer on the french door fridges - I have a feeling things will just make their way to the bottom never to be seen again!)

And the one side of the freezer could be a fridge instead of a freezer if you wanted it to be. Neat concept. Apparently really bad build quality though!

Seems like a good price, but I have never heard of the brand.

One of the reviewers said he bought that fridge because he had a HiSense TV that he really liked. So maybe it's an up and comer like Samsung or LG??? Seems risky though.

I may just go with a side by side again.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/GE-21...ess-Steel/1000842434

This is basically my fridge exactly - like seriously, from the inside pics, I could not tell it apart from my 18 year old version - seems like they changed NOTHING in the last 18 years! I would prefer not to have the ice/water dispenser in the door because it takes up so much freezer space but for this price I guess I could deal. The corresponding counter depth GE french door models start at $1800 and as I said above, not sure how much I'd like the freezer-as-drawer business. Anyone have one of those and care to opine?