I'm also in the market for a new fridge and would appreciate your insight on the topic. I've done a search on 'high-end vs. standard refrigerators' but I don't see that it's been addressed directly. Even dealt with implicitly, the subject chronically generates some touchy exchanges in thsi forum. However, I'll ask anyway.......

Other than aesthetics, are there practical advantages to a free standing "high-end" refrigerator over the basic Whirlpool, GE etc.(SubZero, Leibherr, others)? Do the high end models feature better layout, build quality, durability, length of food freshness etc.? Or is the primary advantage aesthetic, with performance being approximately equal between the two?

Thanks for your thoughts on this-
JS

free standing units aren't Generally considered "high end", but one advantage to the built in units (high end) is that they free up space in the walkways and aisles.

"Do the high end models feature better layout"

depends on who you ask - this is so very subjective and brand dependent that a general answer is not possible.

"build quality, durability," - high enders are generally better but it's not universal.

The value proposition is also a tough one because the high end one cost more than twice their reg. brothers and it's no shoo in that they will last twice as long and perform twice as well.

Bottom line is do not "stretch" to go high end. If you can realistically afford one then don't sweat it.

A Sub-Zero refrigerator, on the other hand, has separate compressors. Air from the freezer and refrigerator compartments never mix. The refrigerator is cooled by a cooling coil behind the back wall of the refrigerator compartment. The air in the refrigerator compartment isn't fan forced over the cooling coils and the air is never super-cooled. Consequently, the air in the refrigerator retains a much higher relative humidity and food and produce don't dry out nearly as fast. Fresh produce, meats, cheese and eggs will stay fresher longer when not subjected to desiccated air that has been chilled to freezing temperatures. You also won't get ice cubes in the freezer that taste like the left-over garlic chicken stored in the refrigerator.

I've had both types of refrigeration. I can categorically state that food, produce in particular, will last longer and remain in better condition in a dual compressor refrigerator-freezer.

I think many of the questions posed can be answered by a trip to a big box appliance store and another that sells the high end merch. Some have both. Think car shopping.

You then can see for yourself and make your judgments, just as you did with the range.

I'm also not sure "better" is a good criteria because it can be so relative. F.ex. you love your Bluestar but a Wolf owner may think his range is better than yours.

I'd be looking at "better for me."

I think a good alternative is to get separate devices for freezing and refrigerating. This is the subject in a few threads started recently. Air used to freeze things is not good to recirculate into the fridge compartment to keep things cool, since frozen air is dryer than it should be for a fridge. rococugurl already mentioned that some high-end have two separate Air circuits, operating on a single compressor that load switches between the two.

I also have had both types of refrigeration and "can categorically state that food, produce in particular, will last longer and remain in better condition" in a high-end refrigerator. Everything stays edible longer, and even taste is preserved longer.

fwiw a system known as "passive" keeps humidity at 99% in the fridge compartment. Only available in some of the imported fridges.

Brand aside, the double will keep baby greens for 2 weeks while they go within 5 days in the single.

But, that begs the question: who wants to eat 2 week old lettuce? So there's no holy grail here IMO.

One of the best fridges I've used was an old Amana in a rental house. I grew up with commercial -- that freezer was so cold my dad would complain that the ice cream was too hard.

Seperate units are great if space and budget permits. After that, seems to me it's about use, style and interior org (but I'm an end-user not in the appliance biz).

In general, h-e brands that get good reports here include (in no particular order) SZ, Thermador Freedom, Liebherr, Miele, Gaggenau.

jsecunda, i think your original questions in your first post have been answered, by rococogurl, antss, wa8b, mcmann and myself.

jsecunda thanks you all for the information. I apologize if you think I was "pumping" the list for additional/redundant information. That wasn't my intention. End of thread.

As to the OP's question, I think it will be pretty hard to find a refridgerator-only free-standing high-end. From what I've seen most high-end residential fridge-only products are built-in. There are, I'm sure, commercial free-standing refrigerator-only units meant for restaurants, etc.

The built-in refrigeration options are beautiful and $$$$. I have been having a secret affair with Thermador Freedom columns, and it turns out my husband also is in love. We are limited to a 42" width, tho, and we are not happy with the $$'s and volume we'd get in a set-up with 18" freezer and 24" fridge columns. Back to the drawing board.

this isn't your only choice if you don't want built in.

Search here for Fridgedaire "twins" and look at Sears' Kenmore Pro or whatever it's called now. They have free standing all fridge all freezer units with fake built-in look trim kits. Not bad looking and fairly reasonable. They are marketed under the Electrolux label too.

Keep in mind that it's basically a bottom of the barrel frigedaire modeldressed up for the ball and there have been complaints about reliability, but they look good and at @ 1000-1500 bucks you can get a few before you reach built in price land.

Their cooling systems do only one of the following:
cool and keep cool, or
freeze and keep frozen.

This means they are optimized to do that one thing well.

I've seen them at 700 dollars. The best price around for any reasonably sized fridge.

[I]f you buy a separate refrigerator and a separate freezer (as suggested by one person here), the separate fridge would still be using its single coil to run the freezer and refrigerator. Thus, the refrigerator contents would still dry out

I think there is still some confusion here. The problem with humidity comes from the moisture in the air being "frozen out" by the low temperature causing either condensation and freezing (or snow?) because of the lower moisture capacity of colder air. When that dry air is pushed into the fridge compartment, it is dry. Cooling the refrigerator with its own set of coils is an advantage as it does not significantly any more moisture than required by the 33-ish temperature, compared to the 0-ish of the freezer.

Samsung Offers A Cool Twist on Refrigeration
14 May 2006

Imagine converting your fridge from a place where food goes to spoil to a place where food is preserved. Imagine a new refrigeration system that would allow you to customize your fridge compartments, creating optimal temperatures for different food items. Believing nothing should be left purely to the imagination, Samsung Electronics Canada has launched a new line of refrigeration products - the Twin Cooling System and Quatro - promising to put traditional fridge/freezer technology on ice.

The majority of refrigerators in Canadian homes are equipped with one cooling system meaning that air is exchanged between the freezer and fridge compartments. A small fan moves the cold air from your freezer into your refrigerator. While this system has been the standard, the engineers at Samsung strived to create a new cooling system that would provide superior food preservation and prevent odours from being exchanged between the fridge and freezer.

"Frozen air is very dry, like Edmonton in January," explains Politeski. "Most refrigerators have a humidity level of approximately nine per cent - this is very dry air. This dry cold air is a problem because moisture and coolness are the key elements for long lasting freshness. Your refrigerator has the coolness taken care of, but the moisture is missing and it's causing your lettuce to wilt and your tomatoes to shrivel."

To overcome the moisture challenge, Samsung has developed the Twin Cooling System where two independent evaporators (the cool comes from evaporators) driven by a single compressor supply the optimum level of cooling air to both the refrigeration compartment and the freezer. Standard refrigerators use a single-evaporator system that uses dehumidified air from the freezer compartment to cool the refrigeration compartment, allowing food to lose moisture faster.

By separating the cooling systems, Samsung refrigerators produce only cool moist air for the refrigerator section. This air has a moisture level of approximately 42 per cent - almost five times the humidity levels achieved in single cooling (one evaporator) refrigerators. By keeping the moisture level high, veggies stay crisp and fresh longer.

With the Twin Cooling system, cold air does not travel between compartments, so food retains its humidity, stays fresher longer and odours do not mix between compartments. The Twin Cooling line is available in two model platforms; bottom mount freezer and side-by-side.

I can afford SZ and Wolf but my contractor says they're not worth the premium. I would like something stylish with the reliability of a Honda.

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH IN ADVANCE.

Search around here a bit, then, once you've narrowed it down a bit, you might want to ask some specific questions.

I am not sure what your budget is but you do need to put in expected level of appliance for the house at that price point if you need to sell not too long from now.

Because the lesser expensive friges are all doing SS fronts now, the cabinet covered fronts stand out for its price point as well as the look. I don't think the brand is not nearly as important as the fact that they are built-in or integrated. Subzero still carry clout, however. You also need to look at the local housing market. I would tour a few homes that are in your price point.

Unfortunately, we do have to build some-what for resale.