Some other people have complained about similar problems. It could be a clogged drain pan (especially with ice in the bottom). I am no expert, but I saw someone mentioned this problem (and similar related ones). One potential cause is shown in the video .

Here is a link that might be useful: Video on One Cause

Thanks so much for the suggestion! The contractor is trying to be helpful but is relying on his workers who say it can't be anything that they did. This sounds like reasonable possibility that we can at least investigate.

The worst part is that I had to travel this week for business so I'm halfway around the world, worrying about rot and mold in my overdue but finally almost finished new kitchen. Meanwhile my husband is trying to manage regular life & work with 2 crazy kids solo in a house still in disarray from the ongoing work.

@gooster, I bought a banquette based on the inspiration of your beautiful kitchen reveal, so perhaps you are my kitchen's guardian's angel! Thanks for pointing us to a potential cause!

I had same thing. The repair man said it was a clogged drain line. I don't really know what he meant, but he said he notched the drain line and it would not happen again. He said it was a "known issue" on Whirlpool company refrigerators. It warped the wood base of my brand new cabinets.

smalloldhouse: I was tipped off by another thread talking about leaking on this family of fridges (I have the Viking version), and I filed it away mentally, just in case. I hope the banquette works out OK for you!

Sounds like the clogged drain line issue we recently had with our KA. Easily fixed by the repair man, but we were warned it might recur every few years. The accumulated ice at freezer bottom is the tip-off.

My guess is clogged drain line as well. In an auto defrost fridge and freezer ( most are that way these days) the fridge goes through a cycle that takes the moisture from inside the compartments, drains them through a drain tube into a pan, typically on the bottom of the fridge, and then a fan comes on and blows air over the standing water to evaporate it. For the OP, the drain was probably slightly clogged, the contractor unplugged the fridge to move it and it may have been unplugged a while, so when it was plugged in, it had a bit more moisture to channel through the drain lines, but since it was plugged in, the freezer came back on and froze some of the moisture in the drain into ice, from then on, the drain was plugged, and each time it went through the defrost cycle, more water was dumped on the floor. We did something similar by not fully closing the freezer door for a while- it allowed a ton of moisture from the defrosting ice to clog the drain.

Same fridge as my JennAir. Did the same thing. Known Whirlpool issue. My husband took it apart and fixed it. I can ask him exactly what he did if you want. Email me if you need any info. It's been perfect ever since.

By the way, it leaked on my hardwood floor, which cupped a bit, but after 3-6 months, it dries out and is perfectly flat again. (It took me awhile to figure out that it was the fridge leaking, as the dogs' water bowl is right next to the fridge, and I kept thinking that the dogs were spilling their water!)

If this is a DIY task, can someone post the procedure for cleaning the drain line? I think many of us here have some version of this refrigerator.

We looked at this video when we had the problem, that convinced us that it was beyond the scope of what we non-DYIers were willing to do. The repair cost us around $60.

But when I was looking for the video this morning, I also noticed that there is an updated fix that involves a new part you can install. The video for that is here .

Thanks, sas95. That looks simple enough. Does anyone know when they started using this new updated drain pipe on refrigerators? Do newer refrigerators come with this part already on them?

Just an update: our contractor arranged for a KA certified repairman to come today. As you all suspected, it was a clogged drain line. The repair guy said it was better to remove the gasket rather than notch it - he said it's a tight space and is near the compressor, so it tends to get plugged up from the heat and pressure. He said he's done this at least 100 times, on all models of bottom freezer refrigerators.

My contractor was very anxious to confirm it wasn't his fault. This all began after they installed the water line, so I was afraid there had been some mistake. It probably wasn't totally unrelated, since they kept the fridge in the kitchen throughout the demo but unplugged it repeatedly to move itmultiple times, frame it, and also to do a heavy up at the outset of the project. But it wasn't their error, clearly.

This being a high cost area, I paid $145 for the fix, but truthfully I'm glad it wasn't more! (not long ago a clogged washer drain wound up costing $1k just for the plumber - I'm pretty sure we were fleeced on that one!) Thanks so much to all of you for pointing me in the right direction!

Thanks for the followup, and glad you had a standup contractor. We often feel that somebody did something wrong , it was working perfectly before they got there, and instead it was probably the proverbial straw that broke the camels back. It was slightly clogged, and unplugging it a few times and plugging it back in was just enough to set it over the edge.