The Samsung Food Showcase 4-Door French Door Refrigerator

For all the stuff I choose to blog and blather about, it came as quite a surprise to me that I managed to make the incredibly major purchase of a new refrigerator back in February 2017 and never mention it in any post around that time. When I bought the house in 2003, it came with a Frigidaire side-by-side, which then transitioned from the old kitchen to the new one in 2009. This picture below is one of the few I took of that old kitchen:

But when it finally began to struggle just over six years ago, it was time for a replacement. With Consumer Reports once again as my unreliable guide, I went with a 28 cu. ft. Samsung Food Showcase 4-Door French Door Refrigerator in Black Stainless Steel.

Alas, unknown to me and most consumers at that time, this model suffers from a serious design and engineering flaw that renders the ice maker nearly unusable. The unit resides within the refrigerator compartment, but apparently it is also not well-sealed or insulated. Excessive moisture is able to intrude and contributes to a debilitating build-up of ice within and around the ice-making apparatus. For a house like this one, where the ice consumption rate is fairly low, the problem may be more pernicious.

Quite a few times now, I’ve used guidance from YouTube to force a defrost and de-icing of that ice maker, which would allow it to work for a while before once more becoming inoperable. That there are so many YouTube videos and at least two class action lawsuits might explain why, even though the warranty expired over five years ago, Samsung agreed to cover parts and repair and to dispatch the service technician once I finally contacted them about this.

I’ll be honest: it was the helpless laments of so many online commenters that stayed my hand from taking action sooner: Samsung refused for a very long time to acknowledge the problem, and they offered no good solutions. I figured it would be a nightmare for me as well and I did not look forward to that stress, which I do not always handle well.

Finally, when I reached out on May 28, Samsung’s appropriate response was a surprise and a relief. They scheduled an appointment with an appliance service from Raleigh, with a promise to cover all parts and labor. Austin came as promised last Friday morning (June 2) and went through what appeared to be a well-practiced oft-repeated routine. He also had some advice about how to minimize the issue going forward because, as he noted, the design flaws regarding this ice maker will never fully relent.

Accordingly, I rearranged the shelving and reassigned the various refrigerated goods to lessen the need to open the left door as much, a simple adjustment given that there will always be high and low-frequency items. Soon enough, the set cooling temps were restored and, by late afternoon, the ice bucket had refilled.

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed. I'll note, too, that after 20-25 years of being a faithful subscriber to Consumer Reports, I have let that subscription lapse because I do not think they offer reliable ratings and buying guidance anymore. The very expensive appliances I have bought specifically because of the high ratings they had received have proven to have major flaws that there has been no warning about, including an LG washer and dryer, a Samsung induction cooktop (with its absurd 100 rating), and this Samsung 4-door French door refrigerator. I'd rather depend on Google and Amazon reviews for future "research."