Customer Reviews

Amana 25 Cubic Foot French Door Refrigerator, AFD2535FES, Stainless Steel

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

We saw the Amana French-door bottom-freezer fridge about a year ago and fell in love with it. As it turns out, we have had a fairly mixed experience with it.

I'll say that there are quite a few things that we like about it. Overall, we like the layout and flexibility of this fridge a lot. All of the shelves are adjustable to allow for customizing the space for what we need. The layout makes the fridge feel bigger than the other 25 CF fridges we've used or looked at. The quality of the ice maker and water filtration is nice. I do find the bottom-freezer a nice feature for our family. The best feature of the French-doors for us is that they don't swing open as wide as conventional doors, which is good for energy usage and for not blocking passage through our tight kitchen. They're also convenient when you have to grab something quick out of the door.

That said, after using it a while, there are a few things that we don't like about this fridge:
1) After a few months of use, it started getting kind of loud. As it turns out, this was the sound of the cooling fan dying. When it finally died, we had no cold air in the fridge compartment. It was still under warranty, but I wasn't happy about replacing the fan after only about 7 months. (It's still occasionally louder than I'd prefer, but most of the time it is OK.)
2) The water filter dispenser is on the inside of the fridge compartment rather than on the outside of the unit. Combined with the fact that its flow is a little on the slow side, it seems to me that a lot of energy is wasted each time I have to leave the door open for 30 seconds to get a glass of water.
3) The top cover of the Chef's Pantry drawer is not the highest quality component. It pops off once every two weeks or so for me (though, in fairness, my wife doesn't report this problem, so it might just be me). It's easy to put back on, but something I don't feel that I should have to worry about with a $1600 fridge.

Overall, we probably would buy the same fridge again. I'd probably pass on the water filtration option until they figure out a way to get access from the outside of the fridge. I'd probably also want to make sure to get the extended warranty.

I've had this unit for almost exactly two years and am disappointed in its performance. You have to open the French doors to get to the water dispenser. I think this feature wastes energy and creates the potential for problems. I found this review page because I was checking to see if there were recalls on this model. In two years, I have replaced the fan that delivers cool air from the freezer to the refrigerator twice. Stay away from this model.

We have owned this fridge for less than 2 years and it recently broke down. We lost all the contents of the fridge ($100's) and the repair cost us over $200. The problem was the evaporator fan. I read the warrantee and it claimed to cover the evaporator. When I called Amana to get the repair covered they told me that they only cover the evaporator coil, not the fan. The manual and warrantee document did not make this distinction. Even so, this is not an inexpensive fridge and it should go more than 2 years without breaking down. Shame on Amana for not standing behind this product and shame on Amana for hiding behind shades of warrantee language.

How did I ever get along without a filtered water dispenser? And an ice maker?

This Amana refrigerator is simply the best. We have owned ours for about a year. In that time, its operation has been flawless. Its size and convenient features make for large capacity storage and easy use.

The pros:

An internal filtered water dispenser, which is hooked up to the house's water supply, provides for fresh cold water at any time (and the filter is easy to change).

An ice maker that works quickly. One day's ice production lasts me almost a week (I don't have kids). An added benefit: the ice maker is hooked up to the filtered water system.

The French doors, which provide lots of storage space. You get the convenience of a side-by-side, but without loosing all that space.

The chef's pantry drawer. A really nice feature. It has its own temperature control, and is normally colder than the rest of the fridge. Great for storing meats, cheeses, and eggs.

Easy-to-adjust temperature controls keep overall temperature consistent, both in the fridge and freezer.

The large capacity freezer, which pulls straight out. We have plenty of room to stock up, and it's convenient on the bottom. The top bin slides out for easy access. The bottom bin pulls out when you open the door.

Crisper drawers that really keep things crisp.

Four adjustable spill-saver shelves made of easy-to-clean tempered glass.

Five adjustable door bins that have lots of room. They have rubber bottoms that come out for easy cleaning.


The lonely, and only, little con:

The location of the on/off arm for the ice maker is a little inconvenient. It's on the left side in the back of the freezer. The premise is that when the ice bin is full, the arm will rise and snap to the off position. If I ever let the fridge make that much ice, it would last me a year. I find myself snapping it on/off manually, and it's a little awkward to reach.


Overall, this refrigerator is superior to any I have owned in the past. For me, it was like going from the smallest compact car to a large SUV (but it's still an energy saver!). Highly recommended.

We've had this refrigerator for just over 1-1/2 years. It has broken down once (right after the warranty expired) - same issue as others had (the fan). Is is noisy. The freezer handle has broken off completely once, and has popped off again since being repaired. The interior drawer cover is worthless. The stainless steel is of poor quality and is easily dented (even dropping an ice cube on the top of the freezer drawer is enough to create a dent. One of the worst appliance decisions I've ever made.

bought this refer. 4 years ago based on looks, features, price and a good review in Consumer's Report. Last weekend the compressor bit the dust and repairman said it could not be repaired locally (something about a sealed system). Amana had a 5 year warranty on major components at that time so am still waiting on resolution from company. Now they only offer a 1 year warranty which is shameful for a $2000 appliance.

After three years, the internal freezer fan motor failed. An online search shows this to be a common problem.

We've had this refrigerator (stainless steel model) for just over 1-1/2 years. It has broken down once (right after the warranty expired) - same issue as others had (the fan). Is is noisy. The freezer handle has broken off completely once, and has popped off again since being repaired. The interior drawer cover is worthless. The stainless steel is of poor quality and is easily dented (even dropping an ice cube on the top of the freezer drawer is enough to create a dent. One of the worst appliance decisions I've ever made.

We purchased this product based on consumer reports, ratings. Loved how roomy it was. Everything was fine till 1 year and 1 month. Stopped working. Amana agreed to fix it although it was outside the one year warranty after some conversation. Some electric part had melted.

Now it is broken again after two years. Top shelf is not cold. We are told defrost board needs to be changed.

Unfortunately it has not worked for us. On a positive note, it helps you clean out the fridge every year and start fresh :)

$2000 refrigerator doesn't even last 4 years, compressor went out. Technician said, "Yep, see it all the time". I think Amana and Whirlpool and some others all used the same compressor. Do your homework and save your receipts.