[Aroy]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

I'm looking for a big refrigerator in the 600-700L range. Budget it around 100k, a bit stretchable. Any suggestions?

Was browsing websites and found this to be pretty good in terms of space, organization and looks.

French Door Refrigerators, French Door Fridge, Big French: Hitachi Home & Life Solutions (India) Ltd

My current 300L whirlpool is on its deathbed and I want something that lasts me at least 8-10 years. I need as much space as possible as I shop for groceries only once every two weeks. I'm too lazy to go to the market often.

If you have the space, consider keeping two refrigerators of around 400L each. The advantages are

1. One refrigerator is used for daily needs, hence will be opened pretty often. This raises the temperature and vegetables may loose the crispness. If you are a non vegetarian, the freezer will also maintain lower temperature.

2. Use the second refrigerator for long term storage. As it will be opened at the most once a day, the vegetables will remain crisper, meat products will be at a lower temperature and you will be using less electricity as the refrigerator will not have to recoup every time you open it.

3. Two refrigerators have redundancy built in, and in case of failure at least one is operational.

4. 500L+ sizes are priced disproportionately high - they are all imported, which may entail higher repair costs in case of any problem. For example a 400L will be 35K at the most, I got my Whirlpool for 30K, while a 600L will be upwards of 80K.

5. Another thing. Most of the high capacity refrigerators have a lot of gizmos - ice maker, butter warmer etc which you may not need (at least I do not).

I have two refrigerators - 400L for day to day use and a 300L for long term storage, and the combination works flawlessly.

[khoj]

This is the only french door model in the market that does not have the dividing central wall. This results in its interior cavity being the widest and deepest of all the models, french or otherwise. The freezer on this machine is rated 4 stars (not our ISI electric consumption but this is a different rating related to how slowly a freezer warms up) and the model itself has been selling here since Hitachi introduced their refrigerators here. Is therefore a proven and stable model. Current price is a shade over 100K.

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

Was browsing websites and found this to be pretty good in terms of space, organization and looks.

French Door Refrigerators, French Door Fridge, Big French: Hitachi Home & Life Solutions (India) Ltd

I want something that lasts me at least 8-10 years. I need as much space as possible as I shop for groceries only once every two weeks.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by khoj

The freezer on this machine is rated 4 stars (not our ISI electric consumption but this is a different rating related to how slowly a freezer warms up)

4* actually means that it will reach -18C fast which is optimal for keeping food frozen with a fast freeze function. This is an excerpt from Wiki

• [∗[∗∗∗] : min temperature = −18 °C (−0 °F). Maximum storage time for pre-frozen or frozen-from-fresh food is between 3 and 12 months

Although both the three and four star ratings specify the same storage times and same minimum temperature of -18°C, only a four star freezer is intended to be used for freezing fresh food, and may include a "fast freeze" function (runs the compressor continually, down to as low as -26°C) to facilitate this. Three (or fewer) stars are used for frozen food compartments which are only suitable for storing frozen food; introducing fresh food into such a compartment is likely to result in unacceptable temperature rises. This difference in categorisation is shown in the design of the 4-star logo, where the "standard" three stars are displayed in a box using "positive" colours, denoting the same normal operation as a 3-star freezer, and the fourth star showing the additional fresh food/fast freeze function is prefixed to the box in "negative" colours or with other distinct formatting.

[anuragn]

The magnetron of my 9 year old LG microwave conked off.
Now I am in the market for buying a new one, a convection model.
Usage would be mostly reheating with occassional cooking/baking. Need 25-26 litre capacity and budget is 10-12K max.
Any suggestions which brand and model to buy? I would prefer something other than LG & Samsung.

[sgiitk]

Just picked up an LG MC2641SPS a couple of days ago in Udupi for 12k for my son. I hear it is on Flipkart a few hundred rupees cheaper. Why LG - Infrared grill.

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by anuragn

The magnetron of my 9 year old LG microwave conked off.
Now I am in the market for buying a new one, a convection model.
Usage would be mostly reheating with occassional cooking/baking. Need 25-26 litre capacity and budget is 10-12K max.
Any suggestions which brand and model to buy? I would prefer something other than LG & Samsung.

If not LG or Samsung, then Panasonic would perhaps be your best bet. Would not suggest brands like Onida, etc.

[groom]

we picked up a Panasonic 400Ltrs frost free, two door, refrigerator very recently, MRP is 35500 and got a deal for 29500 with old 7yr old fridge returned.

this is three star fridge. was bowled over with bottom freezer design.
has two separate compartments in the refrigerator section for vegs and fruits. which was good.

as per research .. the order of power consumption from lowest to highest for the same design type as per Consumers Energy -- Bottom Freezer -- Top freezer and then side by side.

bottom freezer consumes 4% less power than top freezer of same design.

this guy is super silent and work brilliant so far.
i havent got any spike in my e-bill. my old direct cool 165 with no rating was probably consuming more or less same as the new one.

happy shopping!!

[LonelyPlanet]

Originally Posted by groom

we picked up a Panasonic 400Ltrs frost free, two door, refrigerator very recently, MRP is 35500 and got a deal for 29500 with old 7yr old fridge returned.

Can you share the model details and shop from where you got this deal.
I am on the lookout for upgrading my fridge to 400 lts - only difference being that my current box is 220 lts.

[anuragn]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

If not LG or Samsung, then Panasonic would perhaps be your best bet. Would not suggest brands like Onida, etc.

Just what I was thinking.
We (i.e. incl my better half) also liked one Panasonic model. The physical buttons looked more durable than the feather touch buttons which are in vogue nowadays.
An invertor model was also there in Panny lineup. Is it worth spending 4K extra over 12K?

[sgiitk]

I have had an LG Micro-cum-grill for over 12 years. Then membrane keypad is still going fine. Maids also operate it.

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by anuragn

Just what I was thinking.
We (i.e. incl my better half) also liked one Panasonic model. The physical buttons looked more durable than the feather touch buttons which are in vogue nowadays.
An invertor model was also there in Panny lineup. Is it worth spending 4K extra over 12K?

I too have heard that the rotary dials and physical buttons are more durable. In fact the shopkeeper told me that older folks may find the membrane type programming buttons too daunting to use. Lol! But personally I like the mod look of the membrane keypads with lots of options and programs, hence bought an LG with membrane keypad. And as prophesied by the shopkeeper, I earned a lot of flak at home for buying complicated stuff. Don't know if they last less or more than the mechanical knobs and buttons but that flak was fairly long lasting. I guess it depends more on the quality or how they are handled.

Actualy, I too was inclined to buying a Panasonic, but wasn't ready to shell out the premium they demand; esp. when I'v heard that some/many LG and Sammy MWs also last over a decade. Not sure what Panny offers extra for the premium they demand. Build quality wise also, I failed to notice any significant superiority. I found the enamel (or is it porcelain?) coated (internally) Sammys the best looking and best build quality of the lot. No idea about the inverter model.

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by Aroy

If you have the space, consider keeping two refrigerators of around 400L each. The advantages are

I have two refrigerators - 400L for day to day use and a 300L for long term storage, and the combination works flawlessly.

This is what I had thought of as well initially - Get a new 400L or so and keep the old one after repair. But it turns out that our generator power during power cuts trips if two refrigerators are simultaneously in use. This was reported to me by a neighbor recently who ended up buying a single one after struggling with two.

The generator power is capped to roughly 1kW per apartment and seemingly that is not enough for two reasonably big fridges. However a single large fridge has much lower power consumption and doesn't cause trouble.

Originally Posted by khoj

This is the only french door model in the market that does not have the dividing central wall. This results in its interior cavity being the widest and deepest of all the models, french or otherwise. The freezer on this machine is rated 4 stars (not our ISI electric consumption but this is a different rating related to how slowly a freezer warms up) and the model itself has been selling here since Hitachi introduced their refrigerators here. Is therefore a proven and stable model. Current price is a shade over 100K.

Thanks for the feedback. Looks like this is the model to get in a reasonable budget. There are a couple of sharps too that are worth a look I guess. I did see a few even larger GE french door fridges but I don't think I need an industrial sized fridge.

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Actualy, I too was inclined to buying a Panasonic, but wasn't ready to shell out the premium they demand; esp. when I'v heard that some/many LG and Sammy MWs also last over a decade. Not sure what Panny offers extra for the premium they demand. Build quality wise also, I failed to notice any significant superiority. I found the enamel (or is it porcelain?) coated (internally) Sammys the best looking and best build quality of the lot. No idea about the inverter model.

My LG microwave died after 7 years of service last year. I ended up buying a Sharp Mid Convection R-888R

Sharp

It cost me exactly 11k. It was bigger and better built than the panasonic. The inside cavity is stainless steel and it cooks way faster than the previous LG even though both are rated at the same power. Also it has two grills - one at the bottom, other at the top and this causes grilling to happen more evenly. This is basically the JDM model being sold in India as is without modification. Comes with Japanese cookbooks and manuals . Haven't had any trouble in the last 10-11 months. Highly recommended!

Also insist on a stainless steel cavity. Enamel coated ones rust bigtime - atleast my LG had started rusting at the bottom.

[Raccoon]

^^^Regarding your LG MW, how would you rate your usage? I mean like low/medium/high? Ours sees low usage. I hope it will last a long time, else I'll LG will find me a rather sulky customer, lol! I like things that last and don't need repairs...

Further, was your LG a low end MW only model?

Hope you are not confusing the ordinary enamels used in low-end MWs with Samsung's ceramic enamel. I doubt if you will see any rusting there. The finish looks really good... in fact better than stainless steel IMO. No idea if it will last as long as stainless steel though. There was a discussion on this in this thread several months ago. Please do a search if interested. Some call it a marketing gimmick... but IIRC there was no clear conclusion regarding its superiority/inferiority compared to stainless steel.

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

^^^Regarding your LG MW, how would you rate your usage? I mean like low/medium/high? Ours sees low usage. I hope it will last a long time, else I'll LG will find me a rather sulky customer, lol! I like things that last and don't need repairs...

Further, was your LG a low end MW only model?

Hope you are not confusing the ordinary enamels used in low-end MWs with Samsung's ceramic enamel. I doubt if you will see any rusting there. The finish looks really good... in fact better than stainless steel IMO. No idea if it will last as long as stainless steel though. There was a discussion on this in this thread several months ago. Please do a search if interested. Some call it a marketing gimmick... but IIRC there was no clear conclusion regarding its superiority/inferiority compared to stainless steel.

I paid around 7000 rupees for the LG around 7 years ago. It was a 23L with grill and convection. It was used pretty much everyday for heating, making rice and grilling once in a while. This was not the first failure. It had failed after 4 years once - the power transformer had blown and it cost me 1200 to fix it that time.

This time round, the oven would work but there was no heating - the magnetron was kaput.

Since we do not know whether this ceramic enamel will last, its best to get stainless steel since we know it lasts for sure . Like everything else samsung, I'm more inclined to believe its a gimmick since the company seems to survive purely on gimmicks.

[StarrySky]

Bought a Samsung RT2735TNB refrigerator (255L) yesterday for Rs.23,300 (5* energy rating, 10-year compressor warranty). I hope the choice and price are right. I didn't have any time to research the purchase because our old refrigerator had stopped working (compressor issue). The rough estimate for fixing the old refrigerator was about Rs.4000-4500. Getting a new refrigerator has been on the back of our minds for some time now, so chose to go in for a new one immediately. The shop offers only Rs.750 as exchange for refrigerator in any condition, so chose not to go for exchange.