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Kenmore Elite 22.6 cu. ft. Side by Side...
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LauraBelle's Review
Everything I'd hoped for
Budget-Conscious, mother of 2, living in area with terrible tap water, renovating my kitchen
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| Cons |
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DEC
4
2007
Kenmore Elite 22.6 cu. ft. Side by Side Refrigerator with PureSource Water Filtration —
The Water and Ice ChoiceFor years, I mean years, I've wanted a refrigerator with water and ice in the door. When we would stay at my in-laws' place with such a refrigerator, I would love it, drinking water all day long. I haven't ever been able to talk my husband into this before, as he's always used the adage "K.I.S.S. – Keep It Simple, Stupid," as he thinks the more complicated you make things, the more chance there is for something to go wrong. Redoing the kitchen in our home the past few months, this became a huge bone of contention. As long as we were updating, why not go this route? We all drink water all day long in our family, so why not make it that much easier? In addition, we have really hard water here, and the water from the faucet is pretty much disgusting. We happened to be relocating the refrigerator to right on the other side of the wall of our bathroom sink, so it only made sense. There was no reason not to get a refrigerator like this ... in my mind, anyway. In a weak moment, I got the guy to agree. I can be pretty persistent.
The Counter-Depth Choice
In the new look for our kitchen, the designer at Home Depot thought it would be best if we put in a counter-depth refrigerator. It would give everything a flush look and would provide more room. I had never even heard of a counter-depth refrigerator prior to this, and didn't even know there were so many choices for height, width, etc. Both our current home and our first home must have not had optimal spacing for the refrigerator or we must have been extremely lucky. I was a little hesitant to go this route at first, though, fearing that I would be sacrificing space.
The Brand Choice
In our first home we had Kenmore and G.E. appliances and loved them all. We never had any problems with our G.E. oven, none with our Kenmore refrigerator, and only a few that were fixed quickly on our Kenmore washer and dryer. Moving into this home, we chose all Frigidaire appliances because of a deal they had going on at Best Buy, and we were never happy with any of them. The dishwasher worked great for one week, until I needed repair for a tiny piece that had come off. It never worked the same again, and eventually didn't work at all. I've gone the last three years or so without the use of a dishwasher at all. The refrigerator broke shelves easily as we went through the years. It didn't seem to hold up to the stress my kids put it through. The washer and dryer were replaced with Maytags quickly, and I called and emailed repeatedly to get a manual for the stove and never got one. It was the most impossible thing to keep clean. The choice was easy for us this time; we wanted to go back to Kenmore and G.E.
The Decision
I researched my appliances online, and while I looked briefly at a few other places, I quickly went to Sears, just to get that Kenmore brand I wanted. I looked physically in the store, and saw a few counter-depth refrigerators out on the floor. I opened the Kenmore Elite 22.6 cu. ft. Side by Side Refrigerator with PureSource Water Filtration and liked everything about it. It had the water and ice option I wanted, was counter-depth, had a built in water filtration system, and it said the shelf space was the same as other refrigerators, allaying my fears. I searched sears.com, and found a few more options for counter-depth, and not only was this one the cheapest, but the others didn't seem any more better for the extra money. Eventually I bit the bullet and bought it.
The Size
After the refrigerator was installed, I found every claim they made about the shelving space being dead-on. I transferred all my food and seemed to have more space than my old refrigerator. It's so old I have no idea with the cubic feet was, but I know it was standard. I just seem to be able to fit so much in here, and this is my first side by side. I was always thinking before they would have less space. My husband had been to a turkey bowl the weekend before Thanksgiving and won two turkeys and a ham. We didn't cook them over the holiday, and while they were absolutely shoved into our old freezer, they all fit easily here, along with the vegetables, meat, hot dogs, sausages, etc. Before I made meatballs tonight, I had those, three party packs of bratwurst, the two turkeys, the ham, two packages of ground beef, a package of steaks, a package of beef stew meat, corn, green beans, three smaller packages of sausage and three packages of hot dogs in the freezer. Considering keeping turkeys and a ham in my freezer aren't the normal, I'll always have enough space. As for the refrigerator side, the crisper bins are extremely large, and I can't see running out of room in those either. The only thing where the size killed me was that it said it was 35-5/8" overall, and putting it into a 36" built space, the body will fit, but the doors wouldn't. We pushed it back so that only he doors were sticking out. It's not bad, but I wish they would have included that information in the specs.
The Usage
Of course, the water and ice filtration system works terrifically. It was very simple to set up. The time that was spent was mostly tapping into the water from the bathroom and pulling it through. After that, the actual hookup was literally nothing. Following the directions, we got rid of the first water and ice dispensed to clear the lines, and it's been great since. It does great work filtering out this water and making it drinkable. I will save so much in bottled water.
Conclusion
Research always pays off. I researched my choices for a refrigerator fully and knew what I wanted before making my choice on the Kenmore Elite 22.6 cu. ft. Side by Side Refrigerator with PureSource Water Filtration. Despite being slightly larger than it said, the pros overwhelm this, and I haven't regretted my choice once. I did keep it simple, as that's what the research allowed me to do.
Kenmore Elite 22.6 cu. ft. Side by Side Refrigerator with PureSource Water Filtration is recommended by LauraBelle
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