Refrigerators that use inverter technology tend to offer better energy efficiency, using about 30 to 50 percent less energy than regular fridges. If you are looking to buy fridge online, LG, Samsung, Whirlpool, and Haier are some of the top brands to consider. And today’s fridges are much, much more efficient than models were 15 years ago and earlier. Judging by this list, the most efficient style of fridge tends to be a large top-freezer model, which should have plenty of storage for a couple but might feel cramped for a household of four.
They do tend to cost a little more than standard-depth fridges with similar specs, likely because they’re less popular and viewed in some sense as being more upscale. Small models from smaller brands, such as the Magic Chef MCDR1000WE, start around $400. The customer ratings for these lowest-end fridges tend to be decent, though some models (like this retro-styled Galanz) seem more prone to cooling failures than a typical fridge. You can find even cheaper fridges, but they tend to be very small, almost like mini fridges.
This style is more focused on an upscale design with sharper lines, bolder colors, or textured and accented handles. The doors can feel heavier , the shelves are more likely to have metal trim, and the crisper drawers might be glass instead of plastic. When you knock twice on the tinted glass panel of the LG LRFVC2406S, it lights up to display the contents behind the door-in-door.
Side-by-sides and top-freezer models were somewhat more prone to minor, nuisance-type problems like noise, broken shelves or handles, and flickering lights than French-door or bottom-freezer models. We can also tell you that just a small percentage of most fridge models we analyzed suffered from a major cooling failure—it’s uncommon. Similarly, in our reader survey, just 2.5% of respondents said that their current refrigerator had suffered a cooling failure. We think most counter-depth models from the brands we highlight above should work well for most people. Many people buy counter-depth fridges because that’s what fits into their kitchen.
You might be able to protect yourself by purchasing from a local store with good customer service, but that probably won’t work in all cases. Other high-end brands may make fridges with above-average reliability and longevity, whirlpool mini refrigerator too; we don’t know. And we do not think it’s possible to predict which major brand makes the most reliable fridges. They aren’t as popular in the US as other types, so we haven’t seen as much feedback about them.