Are expensive fridges worth it? Cheap vs expensive fridge, from an engineer
An expensive fridge is worth it if your fridge door is opened many times a day. LE Company engineers repair premium refrigerators such as Sub-Zero and Gaggenau in London every week, and from what we see inside them, the real difference between a cheap and an expensive fridge comes down to two things: how fast the air inside gets cold again after you open the door, and whether the fridge and the freezer each have their own compressor. Everything else, including the temperature on the display, tells you much less. For repairs, see our Sub-Zero repair and Gaggenau fridge repair pages.
Cheap vs expensive fridge: how many times can you open the door?
This is the main difference. In a top fridge, such as a Sub-Zero or a Gaggenau, you open the door, close it, and the air inside is cold again almost at once. You can open the door as often as you like. A low-priced fridge is designed around opening the door only about five times a day. Open it more than that and it may only get back to its proper temperature overnight.
The temperature on the display usually does not show this. Manufacturers do not want to worry you, so the screen keeps showing the set temperature while the air inside is still warming up and cooling down again.
How the cold gets inside: cold plate or air through the evaporator
Fridges fall into two types. In the simpler type the cold comes from a cold plate on the back wall of the fridge. Some of these have a fan that moves the air around, but the air does not pass through the evaporator, the part that actually takes the heat out. In the better type the air is driven through the evaporator and back into the compartment, which is what lets it get cold again so quickly.
A fridge that relies only on the cold back panel is also much more likely to collect excess moisture at the bottom. That is a nuisance, but it is not the main point: the main point is how many times a day you can open the door.
Dual compressor fridge: one compressor for the fridge, one for the freezer
The second big difference is the number of compressors, the motors that drive the cooling. Top fridges always have a separate compressor for the freezer and another for the fridge. When you choose a fridge freezer, this is the other thing to check, along with how the air moves inside.
Sub-Zero vs Gaggenau fridge
Among the expensive fridges we work on, Sub-Zero and Gaggenau are the two we would put at the top. For design, we would put Gaggenau first. Compared with a Sub-Zero moving the same amount of air inside, a Gaggenau uses less energy.
The Gaggenau built-in fridge is not only a Gaggenau. Gaggenau belongs to BSH, the Bosch home appliance group, and its fridges share their design with the American brand Thermador, also part of BSH. The service and test manuals that experienced engineers work from carry the Thermador name, and we have met the same fridge sold under other names as well. In Europe it is sold as Gaggenau. For Gaggenau against Miele, see our Gaggenau vs Miele comparison, and for Liebherr, our Liebherr vs Gaggenau fridge comparison.
What goes wrong with a Gaggenau fridge?
It has one real problem, and it appears in almost every report we write on these fridges: the condenser has to be cleaned. The condenser carries the heat out of the fridge. When it is covered in dust the machine overheats, and the heat damages the electronics. That is exactly what we found in a Gaggenau freezer that was alarming and not freezing.
Apart from that, the faults are mechanical, or something goes wrong with the water supply. The compressor itself fails from overheating. If it has not been allowed to overheat and the fridge has been serviced, you can expect the compressor to run for about 15 years. More often it is the compressor's control board that fails first, the part we call the inverter.
How often to clean fridge condenser coils
Usually we say once every six years. But if you keep doors to the outside open at home, or you have pets, it can be once a year. The right interval is found by experience: have an engineer look at the condenser a year after it was cleaned. If nothing has built up, the engineer will tell you when the next check is due. See also our Sub-Zero maintenance service.
Which fridge should you buy?
Whatever the price, check two things. First, how the cold reaches the food: air driven through the evaporator, or only a cold back panel. Second, whether the freezer and the fridge each have their own compressor. If your family opens the fridge many times a day, a fridge that does both is worth paying for. If it is opened a few times a day, a cheaper fridge will do the job.
If you already own a Sub-Zero, read whether a Sub-Zero is worth repairing and what its error codes mean.
Book a fridge repair or condenser clean in London
LE Company’s call-out is from £175 + VAT and includes the first 30 minutes on site, when the engineer finds the cause of the fault. The cost of the repair is agreed with you before any work starts. Call +44 203 603 7172, or see our fridge repair service in London and frequently asked questions.