Thanks for the info, I am going Northland 18" all freezer and 30" all refer both stainless in and out and no ice maker, ice makers seem to be the biggest source of problems especially with sub zero

glad to help.

stei - are you sure that the AGA's management in London is driving the design at Northland in the U.S. ????

-or- Is it more likely that Northland itself is simply evolving itself like it's competitors? Sub Zero, Thermador, Liebherr, and GE have all made design changes in the same timeframe. With the exception of GE none were bought out in the period. And GE's refrigeration unit was really a purchase by them of their manuf. partner's operation.

guadalupe: I just realized that you were the person who started the thread re: Foremost Appliances, so you must be in the metro DC area. We live in Montgomery County. I wanted to ask you from which store you are purchasing your Northlands. Thanks.

Don't know, looking at Cummings, Jarvis and not feeling the warmth, may have to take a trip north.

Was wondering about the pricing of Northland. Are they less expensive overall than Sub Zero and Thermador. Thanks

guadalupe: Send me an email, if you'd like, and I'll give you the number of the Northland distributor in Baltimore. He's the person to whom I've spoken several times, in part because I can't find a unit to look at before we commit to buying the brand. Lisa

question to all, who is the northland dealer in the dc area? I am in reston and i need to get a grill, a hinge bolt, a hinge cap, a kickplate, SS sidepanel and a few shelves to complete it. It's a new floor model 24" top mount stainlesss steel wrap door with white interior. something i thought i would never find or even afford but I found it for well under $2000 from an auction dealer, just purchased. the crown jewel of my kitchen reno. thanks

There is a Northland shown here among some others.

Here is a link that might be useful: speaking of beauties

Dino--I've been dealing with the area distributor out of Baltimore. Email me, and I'll give you his name and phone number. He suggested we go to ABW, which I think may be in Silver Spring, when we are ready to order (we're in Montgomery County). I imagine the distributor will be able to direct you to a retailer if not directly to Northland. I've spoken with customer service at Northland several times, and I've found the staff to be well-informed and pleasant. I am dying to find out where you got a 24" Northland for such a fantastic price!

bump

While Northland products do use more energy than other models, in my experience they also keep food fresher for longer by maintaining a more consistent temperature. When you consider the energy it takes to grow produce, ship it to the supermarket, and the gas you spend getting there and back, a few extra kilowatts a year start to look like a bargain. Eliminating waste is just as important a part of being 'green' as conserving electricity.

Just so you know, I don't work for Northland; I am not affiliated with them in anyway. I have been designing kitchens and specifying Northlands for years (even wrote a book called Kitchen Appliances 101: What Works, What Doesn't and Why--which took two and a half years of research, testing, and interviews).

Hi there,

Short-term lurker, first-time poster.

I appreciate this thread, as this is virtually the ONLY information I've been able to find anywhere regarding reviews of Northland refrigerators. It seems like it would have most of the features I want: fully-customizable (i.e. no water/ice for me), robust white metal interior, not Energy Star compliant (and theoretically more robust as a result), easily replaceable compressor unit, cheaper than SZ, etc. As you can tell, I'm shooting for a greater probability of reliability.

It's almost like the company's purposely in stealth mode. Can anyone tell me why? Should I interpret the general lack of interest in this brand as lack of faith in the product/reliability, or is it just poor, poor marketing?

TIA

I have a Northland fridge bought new in 2003. I DO Not recommend them. The compressor runs non-stop and is LOUD. I have had it serviced a few times, and the tech said it is running with-in it's factory settings. I have also talked to the Northland customer service folks, and they said that the new models have the same compressor that mine does. I've decided that I've lived with the noise for to long now.I am hoping that mine is a fluke, and new compressor will fix it. No problems with the $500 GE in the basement, or the my 20+ yr. old quiet Kenmore.

Thanks for the follow-up Gregory. So does that mean you're actually going to get a new compressor for the Northland or are you ditching it entirely? If you're getting a new compressor, please post your opinions after it's installed!

Speaking with my appliance dealer (who doesn't directly sell Northland but can get it for me through his Marvel dealings), he did say that he wouldn't have recommended them several years back but they've apparently made some significant improvements the last few years (presuming Aga
has put some money into resolving some QC/design issues, but who knows).

I've got a friend that's also buying a Northland and should have it several months before I need to buy mine, so I get to use him as a guinea pig before I order. :)

Good luck with your situation!

Don't Do It ! Avoid the Northland Refrigerator -
Go With The Sub-Zero - Spend The Extra $$$
Northland = Nothing But Problems -
Freezer Condenser has gone out twice - very hard to get them to repair as there are only certain companies who are authorized to do their warranty work - Very Loud - Mine sits directly next to a SZ of the exact same size - all you hear is the loud Northland - stainless shelves are weak - door has never closed and sealed properly -
And do you think Northland cares ??? NO WAY

Gaudalupe: how's your northland treating you?

Believe it or not, I'm trying to decide between a 30" all fridge and 30" all freezer northland or Gaggenau. I think the steel interior will help the food last longest- theoretically.

Price is not the biggest issue here, functionality is. And northland just seems to have great capacity and lots of customization.

Does anyone have any updated experience with northland?

Tks!

We bought a top of the line stainless steal 48 inch Northland 48SSWS refrigerator from AJ Madison in November 2010. This cost us over $6000 and we also bought the 5 year extended warranty.

This has been the biggest mistake of our lives. From the day we plugged it in we've had problems with it. First it made a lot of noise. So we called Northland and after a few months they agreed to replace the motor/compressor. We thought this would solve it...but it didn't. It still sounds like a Mack Truck. We bought a similar size Kitchenaid for about the same price for our other home, and its so quite.

Second, we've complained to both Northland and AJ Madison... and despite our warranty...they both said tough luck. AJ Madison, kept us on hold for 45 minutes, then hung up. Too bad, we really liked AJ Madison.

Finally, we financed it with one of those paypal deals, but they said sorry because you didn't notify us within 60 days. Little did we know that Northland was stalling us past the 60 day window?

Unless you plan on putting this thing in your garage, don't buy it. It does look nice but it’s very noisy.

NEVER, NEVER AGAIN!!! Bought and installed a Northland when I designed/built our house, because I didn't want another SubZero, which seems to be the standard for "high end" units. Cost me $5K plus. I had over $1500 in parts/labor in the refrigeration unit before they finally replaced it under warranty. Now a year later, the freezer won't stay really cold again. I have to call them tomorrow and start all over with Northland. Biggest purchase mistake I made in our house.

Please...DO NOT BUY!!!
1. The motor runs non-stop and is LOUD.
2. Condensation builds up along the outside and edges then drips to the floor.
3. The freezer compressor failed within three months of purchase.
4. The refrigerator compressor failed within 5 months of purchase. (Guess it missed it's buddy). Both were replaced at no cost but who needs this?
5. The freezer does not stay super cold. Ice cream is always half frozen.
6. Customer service is awful.

There should be a "lemon law" for appliances...this one would qualify.
I build a high end home with construction cost of nearly $2million and spent over $80,000 on appliances. The Northland was my ONLY regret.

we are looking at northland 30" all refrigerator and freezer (30ARWS) vs the Electrolux icon 32inch, also looking at the Thermador, but not in love with the price on thermador. HELP, when did you purchase those noisy Northlands? Could they be improved and quiet now ?

Arrived here looking for reviews of Northland Refrigerators. About the best info I've found yet. For whatever it's worth, concerns about Northland energy efficiency and/or noise may be, from a cost-over-time perspective, pointless. I am currently experiencing a several year nightmare with my GE monogram built in all refrigerator. $4k plus 8 years ago, and it has been nothing but trouble since about 2 years after purchased. Something at least 2 repair techs (so many repair "attempts") have told me is that in an effort to make fridges more energy efficient, things have been done from a design standpoint, that, without becoming technical, have made them basically disposable. ie, if you get more than 3 to 5 years out of them, consider yourself lucky. And, as in my case, amount spent is irrelevant. I wish the salespeople had told me what the repair techs tell me. I say great if northland's are built to an older or more robust or whatever standard. It would take decades of extra electricity expense to equal the amount of money I'm gonna have to spend to replace a 8 year old fridge--that by the way will go into a landfill for you enviro people. Meanwhile, my 20+ year old frigidaire will probably get sold (still working)with the house in 40 years.

We had a Northland all-refrigerator in our old kitchen in DC and I miss it. A year ago, we installed a new kitchen in our house in California and we got a Thermador integrated refrigerator. We got the Termador because our kitchen is very sleek and the door of the Thermador is flush with the cabinets. I think the Gaggenau is the same unit but in all stainless (inside, too). The Thermador is a lot quieter than the Northland and unlike the Northland the door swings closed without having to push it. But I loved that Northland! It was huge and it was so cool (no pun intended). I really loved the stainless interior. I would say that it's not for everyone but if you love the SS interior, go for it. BTW, we coupled both of our refrigerators (Therm and Northland) with SubZ freezer drawers and love that thing. It's a great combination IMHO.

I am also looking into the Northland Refrigerator - specifically, all fridge 36" and all freezer 36". Can anyone provide an update.

The Sub-zeros I am looking at are ~$6,000 more. Anyone recently buy these (say within the last two years) and could you provide any feedback?

Thanks,

Dan

Dan, I got your e-mail but thought I should post here so others can benefit too.

I COULD have gotten my 36" twin pair a few weeks ago, but since my cabinets weren't ready yet, I let mine go to someone else who had ordered the same pair. (I can't believe Elite Appliance actually asked me to give mine up!) I should be due for my pair soon.

I read a LOT of posts on Gardenweb prior to ordering my Northland twin pair, and most say the noise is no big deal. The ones who regretted buying were people with small New York apartments without enclosed refrigerators. Every brand has a few bad experiences, but some of the negative reports in this thread sound fake; too hyperbolic.

My kitchen is 20 feet square and my refrigerator pair are going to be completely enclosed in closets. The front of my refrigerator doors will be flush with the cabinet doors @28" from wall, leaving a 3-4" convection air channel behind the refrigerator and cabinets, and it will be fully enclosed by 28" deep refrigerator end panels and 12" and 21" high refrigerator cabinets above. The one potential issue is we have a VERY open floorplan, about 1500 SF of open space (kitchen, nook, dining, living, foyer) with all stone floors, so noise could reverberate throughout the space.

Theoretically I shouldn't have any issues with noise, but the proof is in the pudding, and I won't know for about 8 weeks when my whole kitchen is in. If I do hear noise, I'll add weatherstripping around the units and consider soundproofing the cooling units, which for Northland refrigerators are in separate pieces above the refrigerator/freezer units.

I'll try to check in here after they're installed, but I'm really forgetful, so if you don't hear back from me, you may have to shoot me another email.

David

Wow, I can't believe it's been over 4 months since my last post and we're STILL not in our kitchen yet. I just got an e-mail request for an update, so here's it is: we're still not in our kitchen yet. :( I don't know how much more delays and construction dust my wife can take!

But things are looking up! My cabinet guy is installing RIGHT NOW even as I write. He works alone and he works slowly, but he was 90% done installing as of this morning. So our Northland freezer and refrigerator twins are still in the garage at this point, but maybe by next week we can comment on the big question: are they noisy or aren't they? Are the current compressors as noisy as those from a few years back? If they are noisy, is it bearable? Will being completely enclosed help the noise? I sure hope the answers are good! (In my last post I said they would be enclosed in CLOSETS... what?!? Cabinets, not closets. Sheesh.)

Answers are coming soon... stay tuned!

This post was edited by davidahn on Fri, Feb 8, 13 at 15:14

Sorry about the late response. MAJOR PROBLEMS with my Northland twin pair. It deserved its own thread. Please see my other thread for a report/update.

Here is a link that might be useful: Other thread on MAJOR PROBLEMS

Update for those subscribed: my missing compressors are on their way, should arrive Monday. I'll comment on noise next Friday, as that's when we get home.

As for the other issue of the warped freezer door, still waiting to hear from Northland about what they're going to do for us.

Update: cooling units arrived today (I wasn't here Monday to receive them). Not installed yet; will report back on noise once they're installed. Thanks for your patience!

I bought the 24 glass door 6 mo ago. Loudest appliance this side of the Mississippi. It has hijacked my house and I hear it from every part of my 5000 sq foot house

Do not buy this !!!it is way to loud and drives me insane

Btw Cust service sent me a new one. And it is just as loud

I finally got the compressors installed... Sorry about the delay. But imagine us not having fridges for this long (except for our beverage center refrigerators).

I strongly disagree with the Northland haters. The compressors are definitely audible, but not objectionably so (at least to me and my wife). Even in my open floorplan, square walled, polished marble floored, 10 foot ceilinged kitchen, and even in the still of the night, they're audible but not loud. Definitely can't imagine any trouble hearing conversational speech over these. I would estimate it's 1-2 dB louder than any 36" refrigerator I've listened to. I don't have a dB meter, I might pick one up.

Do I wish it were a little quieter? Sure. But would I be willing to pay $5-8K more for a freezer/fridge pair for 1-2 dB quieter? No, thank you.

Incidentally, because the Northlands have separate compressors, someone on another thread mentioned the possibility of mounting the compressors in the attic space if you really must have absolute quiet. At this point, I'm focused on just getting our kitchen done, and the excess dB are the least of my concerns.

I do have other unresolved issues and a new one I discovered: please see my other thread.

Here is a link that might be useful: Northland Issues

We have had a Northland 48" fridge/freezer for almost 3 years and are fine with it. Yes, it is a LITTLE louder than a higher end 'fridge but is far, far from noisy. We have no problems with condensate around the seals and temperatures are responsive to the controls and can be made colder than you want. However, the icemaker never really worked well and does need to be replaced. We have it hooked to an RO unit so the uneven and low pressure may have played a role there.

Just my experiences.

Oooh. Irony strikes! As I am sitting here typing this, all of our food is packed in coolers with dry ice. Just after I posted the above the refrigerator totally failed. Apparently the some portion of the sealed system has failed. I'll post about how northland handles this.

Yikes. Sorry to hear about your Northland. I hope you get them resolved. They do have a 7 year compressor warranty, parts & labor, assuming it hasn't changed between the time you bought yours and I bought mine in 2012. See attached warranty image.

I'm still waiting to hear back on my repair issues. I just contacted the dealer again to remind them I'm still here, and so are my problems!

Wow David, what an adventure with the Northlands! Thanks for sharing. Your kitchen is gorgeous. I am currently still without the ability to refrigerate food. That makes the home feel a bit less homey. I've got a service appointment for tomorrow at 7AM. I will post how things turn out.

The Northlands have indeed been a hassle; it would have been a lot easier if 1) if the house were our primary home rather than our weekend home (it's hard to handle repairs and talk to customer service when we're only there on the weekends); and 2) if we weren't plagued by MAJOR construction delays. The refrigerators sat around for months before they were moved into place, then a few more months before the compressors were installed and we plugged them in. I'd still go with Northland again; assuming they make it right, I still think it was worth the trouble since we saved $7-10K for the twin pair versus, say, Subzero.

Thanks for the kind words on the kitchen. It will be beautiful when finished, and we're finally getting close! Hopefully just a few more weeks. It's been a long haul.

Just an interim update: The tech came out and diagnosed an inefficient compressor and recommended a warranty replacement of the compressor unit. As of now we are STILL waiting for the replacement to show up. It should be here this Wednesday.

Good to hear it's covered, sorry it's taking them so long.

We're still waiting to hear back on what they're going to do for our issues. I'm working with Elite Appliance, the dealer I bought mine from.

Update: the new compressor unit was installed last Friday. Overall we had there weeks between when the unit went down and was repaired. It was entirely covered by the warranty.

Update: the new compressor unit was installed last Friday. Overall we had there weeks between when the unit went down and was repaired. It was entirely covered by the warranty.

Good to hear they took care of you, though I must say 3 weeks without refrigeration is unacceptable.

Did you call your dealer or Northland directly? I'm not having much luck with Elite Appliance who is waiting for Northland to get back to them.

I still haven't had any luck with Elite following through. I will try to call Northland myself and see if I get any results.

I just lost my entire message when the wireless signal went out for a second. So I'll try again. I have owned a 24 x24 Northland fridge with freezer on top since 2001. It was not put in service until Feb of 2002. I have had to replace one small part three times in 12 years but otherwise it has worked as expected and is not noticeably noisy to us. But this is New York. It's noisy here. If it's not the kids next door practicing cello, it's the kids next door having a meltdown or it's the Fresh Direct truck idling in the street. You want noisy, that's noisy. We really can't hear the TV when Fresh Direct is on the street and on a street lined with six story apartment buildings full of people who can't seem to walk down to the local shops at the end of the block to buy groceries even as they sit for hours at the coffee shop in same vicinity, Fresh Direct is idling on our street a lot. You may gather that I don't have any particularly warm, friendly feelings for Fresh Direct. You gather correctly. My Northland I, on the other hand, get along fine. I live in an apartment with a kitchen the size of a walk-in closet. In this particular line of apartments the fridges were beside the sink and under the upper cabinet meaning no counter space and short fridges with little capacity and no units with frost free options that I could find. The fridge in the apt. when we purchased died soon after. We bought a new one--not an expensive one, just the same sort that was here when we got here thinking we could donate it to a charity or something when we finished the new kitchen. It died before we were able to complete the redo of the kitchen. I can't think of any refrigerators made these days that I'd swear my life on. Before moving to New York, we lived in Virginia and our first new fridge of married life was an Amana. It didn't last 10 years. I chose the Northland over subzero because of 3 inches. The Subzero needed 3 more inches of width and I didn't have it in the room. As it stands, I have a good fridge/freezer that defrosts itself quite competently, that holds all we need it to on a wall perpendicular to the sink and stove sitting opposite each other across a 3' wide traffic aisle. I have a full-size double bowl sink with 3' of counter beside it and opposite it a Wolf stove with Zephyr Firenze hood, and a nice little stove landing area to the left of the stove. There is a landing beside the fridge too. Not bad for a walk-in closet size space. So if you have acres of room you have many more options and maybe Northland isn't for you if you can choose something that isn't noisy to you or a brand your research turns up a better service track record for. I just couldn't find a better option in 2001. I suppose I could line the upper part of the cabinet where the power unit sits with mass loaded vinyl barrier to reduce noise transfer and I might do that as we prepare to put the apartment on the market. But In the 24" wide fridge/freezer arena I don't know that you can get a better product given what I've been reading about Liebherr's flimsy hinges and less than robust interior appointments. I dunno. The guy who has come to service the Northland has always been prompt, friendly and successful at solving whatever the issue is so I'm not sure what to think at this point. I like my fridge, but I think if you have the room maybe there are better options out there: GE, Samsung, all the rest. I just report my experience for whatever use it might be. I'll try and find the last work order and get the name of the part that I've replaced several times. I should know it but it's insomnia that's got me writing at 3 a.m. and lack of sleep that has robbed me of the name of the thing. It's a $150 or so part and a service call, but it's cheaper than an $1800 power unit replacement if your warranty has expired. I am surprised to read about people having so much trouble with both Northland customer service and with the authorized service providers. This has not been my experience at all. I did not find the fridge hard to install either. The only help I needed was to have my husband help me lift the power unit up to the top of the cabinet. But I do not doubt people have had problems and I am sorry to hear it as we are considering getting the same brand for where we are moving to this time. Now I don't know what to think.

I've had a Northland since 2003…a few problems, but noise didn't seem to bother me. Compressor was replaced at their cost after only three years. My problem now is finding old directions to replace the door panel on a 30 inch all refrigerator, as I am remodeling my kitchen. Any idea where I could find old specs? Northland has not responded, but that sounds like the norm from previous comments on this site.

I am moved to follow up on my 2005 Northland posts because just a few minutes ago I re-enrolled for a 3 year appliance insurance policy on my (separate) Northland freezer and fridge. Plus I am still interested in how come there are so many negative on-line reviews of Northland.

My initial problems are recounted in early posts but I have had no further trouble. Though I do worry; hence the insurance.

I still love these totally stainless steel appliances. While I felt guilty about the lack of an energy star rating I see now that lack of same is an advantage in keeping food fresh (my farmer's market and Fresh Direct food stay fresh enough).

Noise was never a problem, even in 2005 (my incredibly noisy and effective fan over my old Garland stove is a gazillion times noisier).

But I had a scare last weekend which I am relating for anyone who might have the same experience. I inadvertently left the fridge door open overnight. In the morning the compressor had stopped working. Panic. (Insurance had expired though I didn't know it then). But my trusty fridge righted itself within a few hours and is working perfectly. In troubleshooting, got out the manual and it warns to check every night before you go to bed that door is closed. Sounds like a nuisance. But I would rather take that precaution than have a Subzero door that closes so tightly I need incredible body strength to open it.

I am also surprised to see posts that say Northland is cheaper than Subzero -- wasn't true in 2005 (or I was so entranced with Northland and unentranced by Subzero that I never noticed).

So the bottom line is that I would buy Northland again; the ability to customize shelves and trays and baskets is great. Customer service has been helpful -- even through all those beginning problems.

Does Northland really generate more negatives on-line than other brands which I am not following? My daughter's sub-zero seems to have just as many problems so maybe it is just modern refrigeration manufacturing and not Northland in particular.

Thanks to all who posted here, Am considering an all F 30" marvel aka northland. Yes it's an apt but machine and humming noise are factors. Luckily this will be placed in a semi enclosed pantry.

For the record, own a 21 yr old all R subzero 36" still going string but I would never buy SZ now on a price value longevity basis, and am an enthusiast of liebherr all R BioFresh ...5year owner

Have a U line R over F two drawer unit, Man that is noisy! Only because wanted to have a freezer on same level of this old house as the Liebherr all R

Like idea and convenience of chilling drawers but find the cu ft for the price and real estate lacking. Also am not one to add more compressors and electrical use and more stuff to break or maintain... , even tho we do have some solar panels, it still feels excessive

I just realized after getting notified of Urbicoastal's post that I hadn't updated on my Northlands since I had it repaired.

My issues were: condensation around freezer door, too-wavy SS on freezer door, and an obnoxiously noisy compressor noise from the fridge that developed shortly after I had them installed. Last time I posted I was still waiting for Elite to help me resolve these issues.

I didn't do myself any favors by being busy and forgetting about my issues for months at a time. Elite Appliance never did me any favors; never actually delivered any results other than promises they were waiting to hear back from Northland. All I got from AGA Marvel (parent co. of Northland) a "we'll get back to you" email in May 2012 and an out-of-office email in June 2014. In all fairness I just forgot about it and/or shelved it until this March. I finally called and they had no record of any previous communications, so I emailed them everything: multiple emails with photos and even videos to Elite: problems reported 2/10/13, more photos sent 2/15/13, 9/16/13, status update request 10/28/13, more photos 10/31/13, report direct to AGA Marvel 6/9/14, sent info requested by AGA Marvel 6/11/14, to which I got only the out-of-office email.

This time, AGA Marvel was fairly prompt in responding. 3 days after I sent them a gazillion forwarded emails, they promised to send someone out to look at the units and we had an appointment the following Monday.

When the repair guy came out, we learned a lot about Northlands from him:

1. Northlands are commercial units dressed in fancy clothes
2. They're a lot less energy efficient but cool much faster
3. Condensation around SS freezer doors is normal unless there are heating elements around the periphery, which Northland doesn't have; this is not a problem in drier climates

So the freezer is fine, I just won't keep it so far below zero, and I'll clean the dripping area from time to time as needed. The undulations in the door I've gotten used to.

The fridge had some kind of fan problem, they replaced it and it's fine now. Not super quiet, but not really noticeably loud either. I'm a happy camper now. I got a lot of really efficient cooling (not energy efficient but cooling efficient) for less than half the price of Subzero, and I'm very happy with the tradeoffs.

Take home message: the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

I purchased the Northland duo in March 2009. I've the had freezer compressor die 3 times! the latest was 1 week ago - it was replaced 11 months earlier (Jan 2016); it is now out of manufacturer warranty and their authorized service repair company wont honor THEIR 1 year warranty on parts saying that because I did not pay them directly that the warranty is not valid (what difference who pays them - me or Aga Marvel?) so I am fighting both Aga Marvel and Appliance MD repair. I would NOT recommend these units. A compressor shouldn't fail as often as these have - 3 in 7 years

Thanks, zmg. Another update: I've now got a very noisy fan in the fridge again; it was only reasonably quiet for a few weeks. I just don't try to talk to my wife when she's got the fridge door open any more because the neighbors 100 feet away will think we're fighting.

At this point I've changed my mind; we should have paid double for SubZeros for the quiet, doors that don't sweat, etc. The Northlands simply don't look or feel high quality.

We had a 24" Northland refrigerator installed in 2003. It was ok. Nice interior - all stainless steel and glass although I found the edges of the shelves and door bins sharp. I get scratches on my arms when I'm cleaning those things.

The compressor is not super quiet but I actually like hearing the compressor turn on and off since that tells me how the refrigerator is doing. I can also hear when the ice maker solenoid valve lets water in to fill the ice maker mold.

In 2007, the fridge died. The authorized service guy replaced the entire power module on top - it was covered by Northland's warranty. Apparently, water also leaked down on to the floor underneath when the fridge died. The condo unit owner didn't notice it so a few floor wood strips underneath warped and raised up from water damage.

In 2013, I replaced the ice maker module. I should have done it a lot earlier. The Teflon coating had long ago flaked off the ice maker mold. The Northland replacement was ~$100. I replaced it with a Whirlpool ice maker module ($35) and also replaced the solenoid valve. I couldn't find a similar solenoid valve so I had to trim the metal bracket (pre-built into the new solenoid valve) to make it fit inside the power module.

In 2016, I replaced both freezer and refrigerator door gaskets ($100 each + shipping).

Also in 2016, we came back from a 2-week vacation to a condo with a dead body smell. The fridge died. It was a defrost system problem. The defrost heater, timer and thermostat were replaced (cost ~$320).

In Dec 2017, the fridge started dying slowly over a 2-week period - it kept getting warmer and warmer. The authorized service guy said it's a refrigerant system leak. He didn't recommend leak/hole repairs. He recommended replacing the power module ($2100 + tax + shipping + labor = ~$2600). I decided to just buy a new fridge albeit the choices for a 24" fridge are really limited.

All in all, our Northland fridge did quite well. It worked for ~14 years with about $650 total in repairs over the years.

I'm just going to buy a 24" fridge in the $2000 price range since I consider spending $7000+ (the price of a Northland) too much for an equipment with a life expectancy of just 14 years. Plus, I really hate the "power module" set up. It makes every part of a refrigeration system too small and the space too cramped for easy repairs. Replacing the defrost heater/timer/thermostat in 2016 was not that easy because the locations of those parts were way deep inside with very little maneuvering space. Plus, that super heavy power module had to be lifted and pulled out from the top before any work could be done. I felt really bad for the service guy.