Best THREE-DOOR Side-By-Side Fridge????

[daveamkrayoguy]

Which do you prefer or most favor?

Norge/Admiral/Wards...?

Frigidaire/Gibson/Kelvinator/(White)Westinghouse...?

O'Keefe & Merrit/Tappan...?

Also: Why was this design discontinued? Did these brands ALL have Ice & Water Dispensers between the freezers, until the 3-D Design was phased out? (And could you get CRUSHED ICE like with the Americana by GE?)

Did Amana make one? (Other than having the Ice & Water Disp. between the two freezer compartments?)

Are any left & do any of you guys have one?

-- Dave

 

[countryguy]

I had a Kenmore 3 door side by side up until about 5 years ago.  It did not have an ice & water dispenser.  There was an optional ice maker available for inside the small 3rd door cavity.  Never had any problems with the fridge but I didn't like the narrow shelves.  You always had to remove stuff from the front of the shelves to get to the stuff at the back and the shelves were too narrow to hold big platters, etc. 

 

Gary

 

[goatfarmer]

Give me an old Frigidaire 3 door, in poppy, please. Probably a 206 or so. Vintage 1975 or therabouts.

 

[petek]

We had the 3 door GE, purchased approx 1987 and left with our house when we moved here back in 06.. it never had a problem.
The Danby all fridge in this house was bought new in 05 by the previous owners and has had one costly repair and broke down totally yesterday. I'm in the market now for a new one

 

[redcarpetdrew]

I liked the Amana 3 door. Heavier than all get out but a neat machine with that different looking glass shelving. They also made a version if that machine for Whirlpool back then.

RCD

 

[passatdoc]

Were these models the ones with the small door to access the fridge (usually only part of the fridge door contents) so you could remove milk or other drinks without opening the main fridge door? Anyone have a picture or photo?

 

[redcarpetdrew]

The ones being talked about here are mainly the models with a "split" freezer door. Most of them were not equipped with a front dispenser. It seems that the most common models were made by Admiral and sold thru Montgomery Wards. The theory was that you could open the smaller upper door to access the ice maker and cubes with out opening the whole door and letting all the cold out. It seems to me that the most common model I saw was harvest gold in color with wood trim accents on the door handles (vinyl tape) and wearing a Wards Signature badge. They were not bad machines, actually, but had a really bad design flaw where the door liner was concerned. The door gasket fit over the edge of the liner and then screws were sunk thru both into the door itself thereby "samwitching" the gasket in place between door and liner. It was VERY common to find the liner all broken out around the screws, most likely due to over tightening the screws. In fact one way of repairing this was to take metal strips and run them in between screws and liner.

The side by sides with the smaller access door on the fresh food side were not as common. IIRC, Whirlpool started that idea first on the Mark I or Mark II series. Wasn't it called the "Servi Door"'or something like that?

RCD

 

[passatdoc]

OK, I see what you mean by "three door". It's easy to forget that water-ice dispensers in the door were introduced in the mid-70s by (I think) GE, but they were super high-end and were considered a luxury feature for many years, as opposed to "standard equipment" as they now are for side-by-sides. Some manufacturers don't even offer a no-dispenser side-by-side in their model lineup. My folks had a 1969 Frigidaire side by side with an icemaker, but no dispenser. I wouldn't say all side by sides had icemakers by that era, but it was becoming commonplace and not really a luxury in the way that ice and water in the door were luxuries for many ten years after their introduction.

 

[appnut]

I think Frigidaire had a 3-door model didn't they?