Kulkas i.e. Refrigerator -- Need a Replacement

waarmstrong

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Our 10 year old LG is still chugging along, but the freezer side (its a side-by-side) around the ice/water dispenser is rusting away. I put a decal around the dispenser a couple of years ago, but that's now about to bubble off. Besides the rust, the ice maker shot craps just before we arrived in-country. Its time for a replacement.

We would like to get a similar unit; a side-by-side or three door, with an ice maker and a door in a door (some manufacturers call that feature a "bar access"). Probably would not need an ice & water dispenser; and internal ice maker would be fine. Also I am thinking stainless steel doors given my experience with rusty doors.

Any advise/suggestions would be appreciated, including places-to-buy recommendations. (We live in the southeast part of Jakarta, but bought our current unit at a kiosk near Glodok Plaza. In other words, will travel for a bargain. Would like to keep the cost to 20 juta or less.
 
Any decent sized Transmart / Carrefour has plenty of choice and decent prices etc
 
My most recent purchase was a Daewoo....even though they are a fairly large Korean brand, and look impressive, the outside paint started chipping away after less than 1 year.

Another brand I owned is Sanken. They are priced very well, but are thinly made (little insulation) with an under-powered compressor, which results in compressors working all the time, trying to cool the fridge.

I have a Samsung which still works very well, and probably the only one I would recommend. Should be able to find a side-by-side one at your price range.

I don't know about Jakarta, but Carrefour in Bali would probably be among the most expensive places to buy a fridge (or anything else really).
 
So something like this: https://electronic-city.com/product/overview/23106/LG+REFRIGERATOR+SIDE+BY+SIDE+BLACK+GC-M247UGBVBL

Sometimes Electronic City/Best Denki/Transmart and the likes have promotions with pretty competitive prices. All these small toko's in and around Glodok sell on Tokopedia etc sell online these days, and it really doesn't matter where you buy something from as the warranty will not go through the shop but through the Samsung/LG/whatever service centre.

I would go to one of the Electronic City or alike guys and check the fridges out in real life, check the prices on tokopedia and buy whichever has the most competitive price. For above sample I found the price to be around 19-20jt online, and you'd need to ask around for availability. If you're willing to save a few bucks it might be worth the effort.

They usually have physical stores as well, might even be worth it to go over and negotiate another few 100k's off.
 
You're right, everything is more expensive in Carrefours (I guess we should say TransMart now). But if you have a Mega card, you get 10% off. On everything. And often that makes it interesting again (e.g. small oven and washing machine). Also the cheap Chinese brands are interesting (for smaller aircon units, TVs etc.).

Don't go to the big electro stores (comparable to Best Buy in the US) unless you want a payment plan. Or an old model which gives additional discount by paying with a certain credit card.

I'm happy with the Samsung washing machine, but very unhappy with the Samsung kulkas. It is a stainless steel double door with ice/water dispenser and the small bar access. It broke down twice, overheated and no circulation They even had to weld at the back. And that tiny door for the bar access has been treated against fingerprints with a special layer. Well, never again! We've experienced the opposite effect in fact; the area where people push that tiny door to open, becomes black. Probably from dirty fingers from workers etc. Very ugly. And the (cover of the) little door can not be reordered. Also, I don't think it makes a lot of sense; what some brands have now is the large door-behind-door (or door-in-door), you open the large front door but don't expose the complete contents since there's another door behind it. Perhaps that's what you meant? But it's very new so that will cost you.

I am extremely happy with the water dispenser. It is via a tiny electric pump connected to a water bottle. No need for an additional (ugly) dispenser anymore since the bottle is hidden in the kitchen cupboard. And the water is chilled by the fridge, works like a charm. The plastic (pipe) mechanism that goes into the water bottle is very expensive, it costed me 1,2 juta to replace after someone dropped it, so you got to be careful when replacing water bottles.

And stainless steel for me is overrated. You see everything on there. Next time it will be white or black glass.which you can clean with any glass cleaner and a dry cloth so no need to use any special stainless steel cleaning liquid/paste.

What I do, I look at the Indonesian website of the manufacturer as LG, Samsung.etc. so I know what are the current models. (My rationale is that a newer model often consumes less electricity and that they incorporated more functionality and that spare parts and support will be easier to get since it's current.) And then I search in the Glodok stores. Nowadays they all sell online so you don't need to go there anymore but just search the websites.

Except for the fridge (which was probably made on a Monday) that has worked very well. Unlike in the EU, over here the warranty is immediately via the manufacturer and not the Toko. So since you won't deal with the shop anymore, it doesn't really matter where you buy it. (The same for repairs; via the service center of the manufacturer.)

When I look at your specs (stainless, no water), I would look at this one: https://www.bukalapak.com/products?utf8=✓&source=navbar&from=omnisearch&search_source=omnisearch_organic&search[hashtag]=&search[keywords]=+Lg+GC-Q247CSBV
Since I've had very good experience with Sharp (products and support), my personal choice would be something like this: https://www.sharp-indonesia.com/ind/product/konsumen/ref/513/SJF90PGBK
 
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Thanks for the suggestions, members. I have not checked out Tokopedia, but certainly will & glass rather than stainless sounds good too. Deawoo, says Consumer Report, is just recently been trying to break into residential refrigeration, and the offerings are not as good as LG, Samsung or Sharp.
 
https://www.sejukelektronik.com/jual-lemari-es-side-by-side

Currently lucky as I have an ice shop 50m away. If I need bulk.

I am looking seriously at the LG GC-M237JGNN, a 679 liter glass front side by side with a large door within a door, and an internal ice maker, but no water/ice through the door dispenser. Its on SeJuke for 22.6, but several sellers on Tokopedia have it for less; the least expensive being 15.8 juta. I need to see it and touch it before making an offer, though.
 
I am looking seriously at the LG GC-M237JGNN

I would contact their product support and ask them what the difference with the GC-M247UGUV is. (I could be wrong but they seem identical and a 247 seems a newer model for the same price?)
 
If it comes down to a choice I alwas choose samsung products. Their products alwas seem well built and you can actually order parts for there stuff. You can also get them serviced . Also their stuff comes with a instruction booklet instead of one sheet of paper saying plug it in.

No I dont work for samsung....
 
I would contact their product support and ask them what the difference with the GC-M247UGUV is. (I could be wrong but they seem identical and a 247 seems a newer model for the same price?)


I agree. It appears that the 247UGUV is the successor model to the 237JGNN. They are both white glass door side-by-sides, with the door-in-door and an internal ice maker. The 237 manual comes in an English edition, suggesting its been around for a while and some reviewers indicate it has been around since 2013.

They are listed as having the same capacity (679L) but the dimensions are not the same. (Perhaps the company changed the measuring protocol rather than the measurements themselves.)

I need to check prices on the newer model.

PS. There are a number of listings for the 247UGUV model on Tokopedia with prices ranging from 16.7 to 22.3 juta.
 
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