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Liebherr HC2062 Doors and Ice Maker

jkjjpc
13 years ago

We are nearing a decision on appliances for our kitchen remodel. We are going with a fully integrated look and need french doors/bottom freezer due to the limited space between the refrigerator and the adjacent countertop and our desire to move away from our current side by side refrigerator layout. The model that is of most interest to us is the Liebherr HC2062. It is the only fully integrated refrigerator that we can find that has both french doors and two freezer drawers. The only other french door option appears to be the Thermador, but it only has one freezer drawer (the second you have to pull out after you pull our the first larger one).

So, I have two questions to help with our decision (going to the appliance wholesaler on Friday).

1. Door opening and closing - I have read that the prior issues with the door opening and closing on this refrigerator have been addressed by a change to the door construction. Does anyone have a fully integrated model installed since the change, and if so, can you comment on your ability to open one door at a time (without the other door opening) and how well the doors close?

2. Consumer reports overall gave the Liebherr CS2062 (the stand alone version) a very good rating. One comment they made, however, was that this model has "poor" ice making performance. They gave no further details and my post for followup information on the CR website forum has not garnered any responses. Can any of you who own this refrigerator comment on the ice making performance? There are only three of us in our household and we don't use a lot of ice, but I would like to better understand what is behind the CR rating.

Thanks in advance.

John

Comments (24)

  • deeageaux
    13 years ago

    I don't own a Liebherr.Not many people on CR forums own them, not too many people here own them so it will be difficult to get alot of owner feedback.

    But I can tell you this researching Fridges to the nth degree,Lieberr had a reliability problem with their icemakers a few years ago. They seem to be resolved now.

    Apparently,Americans use much more ice per capita than Europeans or Asians.

    All foreign makes of fridges have "poor ice performance" compared to American makes and the expectations of the American consumer.

    If you use relatively little ice(for an American) then you should be fine.

    If you like large glasses of ice for soda,make regular batches of ice tea in the summer etc etc you will probably be dissapointed.

    You can either get the Liebherr and a seperate stand alone ice-maker that makes huges amounts of crystal clear ice or just get an American branded fridge. Whirlpool-KitchenAid products tend to get the best reviews of the American brands.

    Then again Liebherr does everything other than make ice much better than the Whirlpool products.

  • marthavila
    13 years ago

    My HC 2062 was installed approximately 18 months ago. Initially, I had both problems: the doors wouldn't self-close properly and the icemaker failed completely. The icemaker problem turned out to be a faulty circuit board. Since that board was replaced, the icemaker has been problem free. As for the door closing issue, that problem was also totally resolved with the retrofitted gaskets. Yes, I can now open or close either door without disturbing the other; neither door hangs up on closing.

    Bottom line? My HC 2062 works perfectly . . . like a dream, in fact. First generation appliances nearly always have kinks that won't get identified and solved until a critical mass of the product hits the field. Having served as a guinea pig of sorts by being a first generation consumer of this model Liebherr, I can only say now that I love my fridge and have no regrets for having purchased it. Indeed, if I were to start over my remodel today, knowing what I know, I would buy the HC 2062 again!

  • kitchenkat
    13 years ago

    I have owned a model HCS 2062 for about 18 months and have never had a problem with the icemaker. In fact, guests are always surprized that the ice cubes are shaped more like those you get in a cocktail lounge and they prefer them to the crescent shaped cubes that slide around the inside of the glass. My door closing problem was fixed several months ago and everything is working fine. I would recommend the Liebherr refrigerator to anyone who is considering a French door model. The one drawback would be for people under about 5" 6", due to the height of the top shelf.

  • marthavila
    13 years ago

    Hey, kitchenkat, I am a real shorty at 5'31/2". No question it's a reach to the top shelf, but not one that's unmanageable. I use my top shelf for extra tall/large bottles that I store horizontally. Grab their necks and pull down when I need 'em. Simple! So, the height of the fridge doesn't rise to the level of a drawback for me.

  • jkjjpc
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks to marthavila and kitchenkat for the feedback. Its great to hear that the problems some were encountering early with this model seem to have been resolved. The tallness of the storage is a plus for us since we're really tired of searching for fruits and vegetables in the bottom drawers of our current side by side Jenn Air. We end up throwing away a lot of food because it gets hidden and goes bad.

  • marthavila
    13 years ago

    Corky1, If you have a Liebherr HC 2062 then, by all means, the doors are supposed to be self-closing! Did your purchase your unit brand new, from a trusted retailer?

  • jkjjpc
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    So, we're torn on whether to go with the Liebherr. I e-mailed their customer service about the door closing issue and was assured the problem has been addressed. Then we went to a local retailer who has the model on the floor and tried out the doors. We found that if you open one door slowly, the other will also open. If you open one door quickly then the other door does not open. We also found that if you have both door open and push them closed together they tend to fully close. If, however, you have one door open and push it closed, it will not fully close on its own. It stays open about half an inch.

    We really like the french door/two freezer drawer design (this is the only fully integrated refrigerator that has this design) but we don't want to spend all our time having to make sure that the doors are closed. Is it possible the one of the retail floor was an older model that has not been "fixed". Those of you with recent purchases, can you address this issue?

    We are now leaning toward the SubZero single door/two drawer model even though it rated out lower on CR than the Liebherr (mostly due to being less energy efficient and not quite as quiet). We prefer the french door design, but the only other option is the Thermador/Bosch series and it only has one freezer drawer, which makes getting to the ice maker a two step process.

    Any further advice is appreciated on the Liebherr. We need to make our appliance choices very soon since we need to order our cabinets so the kitchen work can be done in the late summer/early fall.

    John

  • zillapgh
    13 years ago

    John,

    I had the same experience with showroom models. Call me overzealous, but I finally was so disgusted with the lack of expertise of local showrooms on the self-close feature I called the service company that handles nationwide customer service for Liebherr.

    I was immediately contacted by a rep who pointed me to a showroom that had the corrected doors. I had already seen it there, but prior to the fix. We schlepped out there and tried it in person. HUGE difference. All the other showrooms had the bad doors. Self closing it really is!

    I am so disgusted by the lack of expertise I probably will only buy it from Trevor at Eurostoves. He's the only person that seems on top of things other than us Gardenwebbers. I wish I could say more for our local dealers knowledge of their products.

  • pluckymama
    13 years ago

    John,
    Send me a private email regarding the Liebherr 2062.

  • jkjjpc
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Well, I went to another retailer today and they had the refrigerator that had undergone the recall for the door repair. The doors definitely opened independently and closed with a gentle push as advertised. So, it does appear that the door issue has been fixed. The only other french door fully integrated option is the Bosch/Thermador and we prefer the two freezer drawer design of the Liebherr. Still a little concerned about the ice maker performance.

    John

  • roxy1234
    13 years ago

    I have just had the Liebherr 2062 Freestanding new model just delivered.

    Problem with doors not opening more then 90 degrees. Not fixable!

    The unit is being replaced with Subzero 736TCI.

    Liebherr is very expensive for what it is!

  • sara_the_brit_z6_ct
    13 years ago

    The ice maker issue is ancient history, in Leibherr terms - there were some problems with the earliest models in the US, because the icemaker was added for the North American market (ice isn't used much in Europe). They had some early teething problems as the technology was new to them, but was resolved about 4 years ago, or so I was told 2 years ago when I bought my 30" Leibherr, by two different appliance stores.
    Hope that helps.

  • marthavila
    13 years ago

    Roxy, I just saw your other post about the Liebherr 2062 and the hinges not adjusting to allow for a door opening of more than 90 degrees. My first question is whether or not you're jumping the gun as you state that the unit is not yet installed. Assuming you're not, my second question would be this: does Liebherr make the claim that the free standing 2062 has doors that will open more than 90 degrees? Did you ever try the unit out in a showroom? Ask questions about how widely the doors open? Seems like some steps are/were missing here. FWIW, I have the 2062 built-in at the end of a cab run and I don't need or want the doors to open more than 90 degrees.

  • roxy1234
    13 years ago

    Hi Marthavilla,

    I do not want the doors to open more then 90 degrees. The built in 2062 has hinges that do not open more then 90 degrees.
    The problem is with the 2062 freestanding has hinges that cannot be adjusted to open to only 90 degrees. The door do not have a stop at all.

    I looked in catalog, photos and info and all refer to 90 degrees but that is manually not due to a hinge stop at 90 degrees.

    I am most disappointed with the freestanding model. Liebherr does have good customer service though and they are allowing retailer to take back unit.

  • marthavila
    13 years ago

    Gotcha. Good to know you're not being hassled over returning it to the retailer. And just to correct myself-- I have the integrated, not built-in model.

  • ohenry_2006
    13 years ago

    I have the fully integrated HC2062 and stumbled upon this thread while trying to find the manual - i was trying to find the manual to figure out if my ice maker was broken because it seems to sporadically decide when to make ice (when it does the cubes are great!)

    It looks like it's no coincidence though that my RIGHT door doesn't stay shut - my doors are DEFINITELY NOT self-closing

  • zspoppa
    13 years ago

    We have the standalone (counter-depth) Liebherr CS2062, 36" French Door / Double Bottom Drawer Freezer unit. It was delivered and installed in May 2010. Overall we are very satisfied.

    Yes, we had a bit of a learning curve to follow in switching from our ancient Amana 'American-style' fridge to the Liebherr's Euro configuration: different storage containers (rectangles work best), and some adjustments to how we think about what-goes-where were in order. We are both ~5'4" tall (or short, if you will), but have had little trouble storing and reaching items on the top shelf. We removed one door shelf to create space for tall bottles and have not missed it. As other posters have pointed out, the excellent lighting and clean layout make it easy to see all the contents. Liebherr ain't kidding when they tout the strength of their glass shelves -- we stored a 25lb Thanksgiving turkey in a roasting pan on that top shelf along with the usual load of condiments, beer bottles and the like. There is no gasket mod available to make the CS2062 refrigerator doors self-closing, but we have simply gotten better at closing the doors (or hearing the alarm) -- and we have never seen the temperature deviate from settings, even when the alarm's been on for many minutes. The freezer drawers DO self close, once pushed to within the last several inches of travel.

    In late November 2010 (i.e., after six months of use) the IceMaker failed as follows: it stopped releasing the frozen cubes into the drawer, instead allowing water to (over?)flow into the drawer and form a single block of ice at the bottom. The IceMaker alarm light blinked, indicating the fault, and we then shut off the IceMaker.

    We contacted our dealer (Eurostoves), who immediately put Liebherr customer service in touch with us. They have promised a replacement part and installation to be scheduled in 4-5 business days.

    I will post a followup to detail the repair and results.

    A note to potential Liebherr buyers that I haven't seen elsewhere, regarding the ongoing cost of ownership: The IceMaker's water filter cartridge, available (not unexpectedly) only from Liebherr, is priced at $65, plus shipping, and must be replaced 2-3 times per year, depending (of course) on the amount of solids in your water and the amount of ice you consume.

  • deeageaux
    13 years ago

    zspoppa,

    That is a great review.

    Very informative.

    Thanks

  • david_cbslumber_com
    13 years ago

    We are 1 week into our new 2062. Our doors open to 105 degrees. It did take the full 24 hours before we were rewarded with our first ice cubes. It has now been 3 full days and the bucket is still less than 1/2 full. Is this normal.??
    Our doors had to be adjusted by the stores best person to get to close. Still only the left door is totally self closing. If left door is closed first right door hangs up.

    Other than that we really like it so far

  • david_cbslumber_com
    13 years ago

    We are 1 week into our new 2062. Our doors open to 105 degrees. It did take the full 24 hours before we were rewarded with our first ice cubes. It has now been 3 full days and the bucket is still less than 1/2 full. Is this normal.??
    Our doors had to be adjusted by the stores best person to get to close. Still only the left door is totally self closing. If left door is closed first right door hangs up.

    Other than that we really like it so far

  • Jon T
    13 years ago

    I've had my freestanding 2062 for a few weeks now. I've had similar experiences as reported by others. Ice is made slowly. I cannot open one door without the other popping open, and the doors are not self closing. I am getting better at instinctively pushing both doors completely closed, but when I forget one door will remain ajar about an inch. I'm also having difficulty keeping the front clean. A note about installation - the appliance installers did not properly engage the anti-tip bracket which made the whole unit wobbly while opening and closing the doors. I had them come back to fix it. It took some time, but they got it right. They had to bring the bracket a bit forward so that it would fully engage. Rock solid now, although the refer does protrude out from my cab by the thickness of the doors - this seemed necessary to keep the doors from touching my cabinet frames when the doors are fully opened.

    These negatives are minor and overall I really like this refer.

    Jon

  • littledonkey
    9 years ago

    Came across this post when I did a search for the very issue it seems others have experienced. Just recently had Liebherr 36" single door fridge (2060) installed. After 24 hours, had about 20 ice cubes. Is this typical? Manual says it should make about 100/day. While I definitely don't require that many, I do want to ensure the unit is operating as it should be. Can anyone weigh in on the yield I should be expecting?

    Thanks!

  • John Gooch
    7 years ago

    CS 2062 Ice maker issue--- Seems like we are going thru water filters quite often $$. After several years of buying water filters- the Liebherr customer service person on the phone said i could skip using the water filter... News to me! Now i have plenty of well formed cold ice. Goodbye filter. CS2062