This Amana Side-by-Side Refrigerator Holds Everything My Family Needs

One year for Christmas, my husband decided to surprise me by purchasing this refrigerator. Boy, was I surprised. I was even more surprised when the deliverymen came and we had no place to put it. 

You see, the model Amana Side-by-Side Refrigerator that he bought is absolutely huge! It's dimensions are 68 1/2 height, 35 3/4 width, 36 3/4 depth. The total capacity is an amazing 26.71 cubic feet; 16,93 cubic feet in the refrigerator portion, and 9.78 cubic feet in the freezer. 

As this monstrosity made its way into my kitchen, I tried to think quick, and I finally figures we could fit it where our upright freezer was if we knocked out a wall. The bonus was that our water supply ran into the closet right behind this, so it seemed perfect. 

Our previous refrigerator didn't have an ice-maker at all, never mind the water and ice (cubed or crushed) through the door like this model. That meant a plumber had to come in, right? Wrong! My husband - a Tim (the Tool Man) Taylor wannabe - decided he could do it himself. And four hours later after giving our gas furnace a good bath, he was right ;-) 

The shelves all are made of glass for easy cleaning and are adjustable. Each shelf also has a lip that prevents minor spills from dripping down into the entire refrigerator. I found it hard to figure out how to fit all of the shelves in if I wanted to keep very tall items in there. Part of that problem is solved by the Beverage Chiller that is in the door. This holds two gallons of milk in a compartment that circulates colder air from the freezer to keep beverages here colder. 

I found that this refrigerator makes very efficient use of its space. There are three small shelves above the Beverage Chiller that are the perfect size to hold butter and cream cheese. I can fit 24 sticks of butter and six blocks of cream cheese here with no problems. (I shop at a warehouse club - could you tell?) Beneath the beverage chiller are a few more slim shelves that hold my kids drink boxes and Sunny Delight, as well as their yogurt. 

There are three separate drawers in the Amana Side-by-Side Refrigerator, each with its own humidity control. This is great for adjusting the humidity levels to preserve fresh fruits and vegetables. The drawers are roomy and one of them holds about ten pounds of cold-cuts. 

The freezer compartment is set up much the same way, with slim shelves on the door that don't seem to hold that much, but are great for freezing water bottles. The icemaker is at the top of the freezer compartment. The shelves in here are made of coated wire and in all the years I've had it, I haven't had the need to defrost it once. 

I do like this refrigerator very much despite its faults. Ours is black in front to match all of our other appliances. Our kitchen-magnet collection has to go on the side, but one of our kids didn't realize this and put a nice scratch down the front while trying to figure out why the magnets wouldn't work there. 

Our first problem came when the water feed to the icemaker froze up and the unit stopped producing ice. We didn't know what was wrong and thought the icemaker was broken, so we called in a repairman. He knew right away what it was and once he defrosted the freezer, the line cleared. Every six to nine months, we would have to do this for a while. 

Our model didn't have its own internal filtering system so we purchased a commercial inline water filter. When the filter needed to be replaced was when we discovered one major fault in the refrigerator that ended up costing us $200 to repair. The intake where the water goes into the refrigerator has a series of valves, one of which was probably broken around the time we first bought it, but the pressure of the water going through kept it open. When we changed the filter, a little air had probably gotten into the line and the valve had closed - never to open again. I had always thought the water pressure seemed a bit low, and we were told by the first repairman that it seemed normal to him. We since discovered that it had something to do with this valve since the water pressure has been better since this whole piece was replaced. 

With a family of five, this refrigerator manages to hold all of our needs. I haven't had any problems with food spoilage, nor does it seem to make a lot of noise. 

I would recommend this refrigerator to anyone, but learn and be aware of how it works and of the indicators of potential problems.