The 6 Most Unreliable Refrigerator Brands, According To Reviews

The refrigerator is the heart of the kitchen. Actually, we'll go even further and say it's the heart of the home. Family meals, delicious snacks, and the best beverages usually start with a trip to the refrigerator, after all. That's why it's all the more heartbreaking when you invest time and money into finding the perfect refrigerator for your home, only to run into problems, like faulty compressors, broken ice makers, and leaky compartments.

To help you avoid these problems, we trawled the internet, focusing primarily on review sites and social media, to find the most unreliable refrigerator brands, according to real customer reviews. We've listed our findings below, but spoiler alert: Just because a brand has a long history or sells good-looking appliances doesn't necessarily mean it's going to offer you a great-quality fridge. In plenty of cases (sorry to all those with Smeg on their vision boards right now), the aesthetics just don't match the interior. Let's dive in.

KitchenAid is one of the most popular appliance brands in the U.S., but it's arguably best known for its mixers. The brand has been making mixers since 1919, and they're still as iconic as ever. In 1949, the company released its first dishwasher, and in 1986, it launched its first refrigerator. Unfortunately, today, KitchenAid's refrigerators don't seem to be quite as loved as its mixers.

Many online reviewers have strong feelings about KitchenAid's refrigerators, and on the whole, they're not very positive. One Redditor went as far as to call the KitchenAid appliance "the worst fridge ever," and revealed that they had to have it fixed multiple times in just one year. They also noted that the water dispenser was unreliable, the ice maker was constantly broken, and the freezer would cut off at random intervals.

Other Redditors report similar experiences. Many say that while the KitchenAid refrigerators look nice, the quality just doesn't match up to the appearance. On consumer review platform Trustpilot, hundreds have given KitchenAid a one-star review, with many noting that the refrigerator, specifically, is simply not worth the money. Again, many report having to call out maintenance several times shortly after making their purchase. Issues include mold, dripping condensation, faulty icemakers, and a lack of support from KitchenAid. Yikes.

What KitchenAid is to mixers, Samsung is to smartphones. Well, kind of. Maybe if a certain company that rhymes with "schmapple" didn't exist, anyway. But interestingly, this famous Korean tech giant didn't start off in the electronics world. Samsung actually began life back in the 1930s, as a grocery trading store. After stints in various industries, like textiles and insurance, Samsung entered the electronics market in the late 1960s. Of course, the first smartphone from the company didn't arrive until 2009. But, long before that, in the 1970s (perhaps unsurprisingly considering just how many industries Samsung has been involved with), the company launched its first refrigerator.

But, despite how long it has been in the refrigerator business, Samsung doesn't have a good reputation in this sector of the appliance market. On Reddit, customers have complained about various issues, with users stating that the refrigerators aren't cold enough, the ice makers don't work, the entire appliance makes a noisy humming sound, and the freezer compartments are leaky.

The chatter on Reddit about Samsung's refrigerators won't come as a surprise to some. In 2022, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) started officially investigating Samsung refrigerators after revealing it had received more than 600 complaints about the appliances from January 2019 to December 2021. Again, much like on Reddit, the complaints concerned issues like faulty icemakers and incorrect temperatures. In fact, some customers said they had developed food poisoning as a result of food not being kept cold enough.

Haier had a difficult start. Back in the 1980s, it was known as the Qingdao Refrigerator Factory, and it was struggling to make enough money to pay its employees, let alone turn a profit. That was until an entrepreneur called Zhang Ruimin came along, changed the name, and turned things around spectacularly. Today, Haier is, quite frankly, massive.

And yet, many customers say that the quality of Haier refrigerators doesn't reflect the company's dominant position in the refrigerator market. On Reddit, many people complain about cracked handles, chilled sections that are too cold (to the point where they freeze produce), and a general inability to maintain the correct temperature in the fridge. On Trustpilot, it's a similar story. The company has racked up hundreds of one-star reviews, many of which concern refrigerators. Customer issues include a lack of support from the brand, poor-quality parts that quickly need to be replaced after purchase, and bad smells due to a lack of proper temperature control. 

Experts are equally baffled by Haier. For example, in 2024, House Digest spoke to the owner of a home remodeling and repair service who stated that, in 25 years of experience, the refrigerator brand he had to repair the most was Haier, citing poor construction as the key issue.

We have a lot to thank GE Appliances for when it comes to the way we store food. Back in 1911, one of the company's subsidiaries created the very first hermetically sealed refrigeration system, and in 1925, GE Appliances (then known as General Electric) launched this product to the American market. If you're wondering what being "hermetically sealed" entails, it basically means that the appliance is sealed tight and leak-proof. So yeah, pretty important when it comes to refrigeration.

But, just because GE Appliances, which has actually been owned by Haier since 2016, was a pioneer in the refrigeration industry doesn't mean it is immune from criticism. Many people today say that the company's refrigerators just don't hold up. On Reddit, for example, customers have complained about compressor issues, overheating, and a lack of company support with any problems. Some say that these refrigerators are simply not durable enough, with one Reddit user stating that they had been through two of the appliances in the space of 10 years.

Similar to GE Appliances in the U.S., LG Electronics had a major impact on Korean society. Back in the 1950s, when LG Electronics was operating under the name Goldstar Co., it launched the first Korean radio. In the 1960s, it was also responsible for the first automatic telephone in the country, the first cumulative electricity meter, and, you guessed it, the first domestic refrigerator. 

But in the modern day, LG Electronics is far from perfect. Now a global brand, it produces refrigerators for markets all over the world, and, to put it mildly, not all of them work as they are supposed to. On Reddit, numerous customers complain that their LG refrigerators aren't up to scratch. Common issues include bad customer support, a lack of product servicing, and faulty compressors. 

In 2024, multiple people gathered together to sue LG Electronics over compressor issues. The Los Angeles attorney representing the customers said that they had received thousands of complaints about the company's refrigerators (via NBC Washington). The lawsuit maintained that LG was actually defrauding people because the refrigerators don't live up to their promised 20-year durability. Kenmore, another appliance brand, was also named in the lawsuit.

Appliance brand Smeg has been around since the 1940s, but it was in the 1990s, when it launched its iconic, 1950s-style retro-looking fridges that the brand became truly iconic in the refrigerator world. People loved its colorful appliances primarily because of how they looked, and let's be honest, that's still the case today. A Smeg fridge is a social media influencer staple, thanks to its range of aesthetically pleasing shades like Sea Salt Green, Ruby Red, and Pastel Blue. 

But while there is no doubt that Smeg refrigerators look nice, do they actually, you know, work? Well, according to some, Smeg isn't the most reliable refrigerator to invest your money in. On Reddit, people complain about ice build-up, excessive condensation, and loud noises. Others on the platform say that these refrigerators are simply not durable, and that the actual quality of the product doesn't match up to the aesthetic.

In February 2021, leading Australian consumer advocacy group, Choice, claimed that one of Smeg's models, the FAB38RCRAU, was the worst fridge it had tested in decades. "You get a 1950s-style aesthetic from this fridge, but you'll also get '50s performance to match," said expert Ashley Iredale. In December 2025, the same group tested Smeg's FAB32RPB5AU refrigerator model, and claimed it was only marginally better than the FAB38RCRAU.

A refrigerator is, arguably, the most important part of any kitchen. When food isn't kept properly chilled, the risk of food poisoning and food waste rises. Refrigerators are also, generally, not cheap and can be expensive to replace, so you want to get it right the first time. That's why we put together this list, to help you avoid making refrigerator purchase mistakes that could be extremely costly in the long run.

To do the list justice, we scanned social media platforms, consumer review sites, news reports, and professional reviews to get a sense of which brands are coming up time and time again in negative customer ratings. We also looked for the refrigerator brands that got the strongest, angriest reactions from former customers. It's important to note that this doesn't mean that every refrigerator from these brands will be faulty. But it does give you a sense of what to look out for before you buy. Because, when it comes to getting the right refrigerator, as these reviews perfectly demonstrate, research is everything.

Static Media owns and operates Tasting Table and House Digest.