I have a Frigidaire basic fridge that works great. its 3 years old. Its not counter depth. On the flip side I have a counter depth Kitchenaid that I love but thats over your budget. I would say get the biggest fridge that fits the space. We aren't horders but the fridge side is always stuffed.

Samsung and Frigidaire refrigerators are both known for some wacky designs that are a pain to service. I myself had a Samsung where the defrost heater was part of the evaporator coil. Nearly impossible to replace. I would never buy Samsung anything again. I was looking at a Frgidaire but I read that at the time, they were making the ice maker PART of the sealed refrigeration system! That scared me off. I think GE (the new, made in USA french door series) and Whirlpool are better, for fridges at least. I'm not sure whether they are still using those designs, but that's what I found through research in the past.

They all break. The key is to buy one that's as easy and cheap to repair as possible,

Good point, hvtech42.

While looking up a Frigidaire problem for a poster here, I found that some of the evaporator coils were not replaceable as they were built into the foam.

As much as I like my 8 year old Jenn-air, (albeit a much larger fridge, 48 inches, Were I to buy a smaller fridge, I would certainly check out the new GE's, they do, (unlike the expensive competitor), have the latest technology.

As far as Samsung, alto I do prefer their dual evaporator design as opposed to 2 compressors, 2 condensors, 2 evaporators etc etc, (for those that "Must have" separation of air between fridge/freezer), but I keep seeing too many post of parts being hard to find and taking a long time to procure~~~~~not something one wants to run into with a "busticated fridge", ya thinks?

Gary

We have the Frigidaire model in our cottage. It has been problem free except for the freezer shelves which kept falling. My husband braced them in with little plastic clips and they are fine. It was a very affordable counter-depth which we needed, and we have been pleased.

I'm facing same dilemma. I ordered a samsung french door fridge and then realized it's too deep. So I'm looking at either a smaller counter depth samsung french door or a frigidaire side-b-by side with the non-smudge, easier to clean stainless.

Our realtor said samsung and LG were best but reading reviews, both samsung and frigidaire get good and bad.

any input would be appreciated

I have a Frigidaire counter depth in my house. Overall it's great, but we started having problems with the icemaker after a year. Despite multiple visits from repairmen and calls to customer service, we never were able to get it working. Our freezer shelf does fall easily.

Neither one. Up your budget and go with the lowest Whitlpool/Maytag that gets close to your number.