apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Liebherr is less $ than SubZero and a 24x24 footprint.

FYI - I actually got an that's only 23 3/8ths inches wide - just installed last week - It was recommended by a friend who bought it as well, and loved it. The one I bought was in "titanium" (i.e. stainless steel appearance) rather than the white one that I linked - for some reason I can only find the white one online right now. It was significantly cheaper than either the sub-zero or liebherr that I looked at that were the same width (actually, I bought it at PC Richard along with an 18" dishwasher and a 24" stove and they knocked a couple hundred bucks off of the entire package - after they were already the least expensive store by far).

For some reason my link didn't show up. here it is in all of its technical glory. I bought an LG LRBP1031 - http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/LRBP1031W.html?mv_pc=dt

Here it is in titanium:

http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/LRBP1031T.html

The Summit web site says it is for "commercial use only" because it requires too much power for domestic use. That suggests that not only is it no longer "green," it is no longer legal to have in apartments.

I was interested in buying one, and had even designed an entire kitchen around it. However, I've abandoned the idea. Also, customers on epinions.com report serious problems with basic operation. I've been scared off.

I live in San Francisco (small apartments also!) and bought one 3 years ago. I love it. I've never had any problems with it, even though mine was advertised as for "commercial use only".

ACK . . . I'm holding out for another month to see if I can get the Conserv. But I can research the Liebherr in the meantime...anyone have it?

I think Conserv is a step up from the LG, which I looked at at PC Richards....it's great that they're at least making city-sized fridges, and finally a metal finish is part of the standards! The merits of these are debated on the earlier Conserv thread here on AT.

For me a huge factor is that the LG is only 67 3/8" tall, while the Conserv is 79", so you get a little more storage, and sexier proportion. The freezer is a larger % of the total space.

I have the Liebherr catalog but it doesn't include pricing. One of the few places in NYC that seems to offer them is the Krups store near Union Square but I don't know if they actually have one on display. It's a beautiful fridge/freezer. I just wish the freezer part was larger, like on the Conserv.

Hey All! I'm going through the obsessive fridge search, too! I'm just trying to find a store that actually has the Conserv so I can see and palpate it, since I'll probably buy one off the brooklyn guy lauded in the earlier discussion regarding the Equator Conserv. He delivers.

Here's what I've been able to glean so far: I am told that the Conserv is carried by both the Summit and Equator line, however I tend to disbelieve since the summit website didn't have the exact specs that the conserv has (ie, 79 1/2" high, etc.) But Equator is a company that has appliances made for them and slaps their name on it, as is Summit. LG is a Korean company and is in a frenzied race to rule the world, apparently, since they make every goddammed thing out there. Check out an incredibly informative and amusing site called: www.applianceadvisor.com (or google it if that's not quite the wording). There you will find very detailed meticulous explication of brands and products by people who take their work very seriously but stop short of taking themselves too seriously. They have a long spec sheet that details every company's origin, country of business and who they are owned by or have bought out. This is very enlightening information since it will deliniate all of the different models out there when you reliaze that there is a lot of repition out there by a mother brand just trying to cash in on brand loyalty.

Krups on 18th st has the Liebher. It's not as narrow, nor high, and is much pricier. It is German, however, I think. Blum and Krup used to have the Conserv model on display but are out now.

Onwards and forwards, my search continues, aided enormously by all the information supplied in these forums. Thank You! Apt therapy rocks!!

Krups was actually the first place I went to look at appliances (my parents also did a reno recently, and bought all of their new stuff there). I generally found a massive desire to upsell, including charging over $150 more for the exact same GE monogram dishwasher than either Home Depot or PC Richard. They did show me both the Liebherr and a Summit (if I recall correctly, the Summit was NOT frost free - which, if I'm going to spend over $1K on a refrigerator, I'd better not have to defrost it!).

Guido - you're right - the LG is not as tall as the other two, but given the size of my kitchen (the entire kitchen, without any stuff in it, is 35 square feet. and it's a square, separate room, before I started renovations, there was actually no counterspace at all), I'm using the space above the fridge to put my microwave.

hey olga - email me if you find the conserv on display anywhere . . . the brooklyn guys are saying it's the summit . . . for now
14th St, no
Gringer's on 2nd Ave LES, no

This only makes things more confusing. I was thinking about replacing my frig this spring and was surprised that the annual cost of operation on most of the smaller refrigerators--including the Conserv--were very similar. Not exactly sure why the Conserv is considered to be such a green machine--it looks to me the smaller size of the frig is the biggest factor in conserving energy. Looks? That's another story altogether. It sure has an appealing form factor.

I too did the obsessive fridge research a few months back. I saw the Liebherr at Krups and immediately fell in love--it is absolutely gorgeous. But there was no way I could justify spending most of my kitchen budget on the fridge alone. Long story short, I ended up with the Summit (because I couldn't find the Equator ConServ anywhere in stock) and have been quite happy with my purchase so far. Funny thing, the Summit version also says "ConServ" on the top and I haven't been able to verify its energy usage since the electric bills have been hitting the roof this summer. The freezer is indeed NOT frost-free but the build-up has been minimal, especially given that we constantly open the freezer for ice cubes.

The auto-defrost option takes AWAY from it's energy-efficiency. So that is why the conserv is manual defrost-only. Once the freezer starts to accumulate ice build-up, the energy-efficiency goes down, too. Yeesh. No biggie defrosting, though, especially if you're a one or two-person household without kids constantly opening the freezer doors. It doesn't need to occur often. I saw a post by some guy off the grid with one of these summit or SunFrost models running off of solar who hasn't needed to defrost in 2 years yet.

The conserv is designed by a scandinavian designer who designs high-end sound systems. Refer to the other, highly-detailed post re: Equator ConServ fridge (stick that into the search engine).

The Conserv, thus, has been designed to optimize everything and that is why we covet it. I think. It has dual compressors, if I'm not mistaken, so the fridge and freezer parts work independently. Something that Subzero offers at a much higher mark-up.

Ditto, Guido. I don't know where to look anymore, short of calling up the Coney Island guy and asking him where his stash is.

I have one -- FOR SALE. We are in the market for a family-sized fridge, and our ConServ is up for grabs. It's been in use for less than a year, and came with our brand new kitchen when we bought the apartment. Make an offer!

I bought my sexy ConServ last year on-line after being told it was discontinued. I just love it and haven't had any problems....haven't had to defrost yet. Wish I had known about this website then.

Actually, I've been doing a lot of research and it seems like the Summit one is indeed the same fridge. I emailed Summit and they confirmed that it's manufactured by Vestfrost, the same company that makes the Equator branded ConServ.

According to Equator's site and other sites, the ConServ also has dual compressors. The only reason why it's not qualified for residential use is that it doesn't have Auto-Defrost on the freezer (which doesn't make sense because that actually uses more energy to have that feature.) Neither the ConServ nor the Summit is EnergyStar qualified, but they both indeed use less energy than conventional fridges.

Here's a site with lots of good info:
http://www.thenaturalhome.com/equator375.htm

The Summit CP171 and the Equator 375 might look the same. But in its specs, the Equator says it runs on 1.8 amps. And even though I could not find any written reference for the consumption of the Summit , I called Summit directly and one person said it takes 4 amps while another one said 5 amps. They claimed they do not know what the actual consumption might be, which is hard to believe. The consumption should be measured in kwh per year. The amperage usage does not necessarily mean much since one does not know how often the machine is runing, something related to how well insulated the fridge might be, among other factors.
So if anybody out there has numbers on the actual consumption of the Summit in kwh/year under typical conditions, it would be greatly appreciated.

Alex,

after all the hubbub about THE FRIDGE last year, both guido and i purchased them, respectively, i through Drimmers. It is the same fridge, manufacured by Vestfrost. Equator is a distributor on the west coast and not doing a good job servicing here in the east, so hence the disapearance of the Conserve, methinks. Summit distributes from the Bronx.

I can't tell you the amperege, yet, it is something I'm trying to figure out too. But my electric bill from one month of not running a fridge and not living in the apt to a month of running the fridge and living in the apt and running radio, lights, gadgets, etc. went from $25 to $33, so ... not exactly a huge change.

It is an interesting thing though because it is quite sensitive to environmental/apt temp such as high humidity and I'm still playing with the temp setting inside to avoid the condensation inside fromfreezing against the back wall. But I may not have it perfectly levelled and the summit website says in high humididty it is common for more condensation to form inside.

It is a beauty and everyone remarks on it, wondering what the hell type of spacepod it is at first.

Does anyone know how much juice the LG LRBP1031T uses?

I am thinking about this one, but if its a power hog, I will disregard.

Thanks

Any update on the search for a good narrow refrigerator? I couldn't figure out what olga and guido bought. Is ConServe actually available? Anyone see/try the Mitsubishi Twin: 60 cm x 60 cm (23.6 inches x 23.6) height still unknown.

Does ANYONE know if the Equator Conserv will ever be available again? I just put in an order for a Summit, but I know it's not the same thing. It's definitely not energy efficient, and it doesn't appear to come with the drawers and wine rack you get with the Conserv. When you call Summit, they claim not to know what the energy rating is, which is absurd. Waah.

I have a Summit CP-171 unit and every hour or less it makes a loud knocking noise. I have been told that this is "normal" for the unit and it is just refrigerant (whatever that means). The noise is not from the compressors, they are surprisingly quiet.
I just want to confirm with other owners of this refrigerator that they are/aren't having this problem. Summit Appliance has been a nightmare to deal with.

FYI, anyone looking for energy use comparisons can look on the Energy Star website (www.energystar.gov) -- they have an easy-to-read apples-to-apples chart there. And if the fridge isn't Energy Star, it's not worth buying, because it ain't efficient.

Now that people here have had their 24" fridge for a few years, who will describe the biggest noises it makes?

Equator ConServ, Summit CP-171 or Vestfrost 375
Liebherr 24"
Fagor 24"

One person told me sometimes he can hear a small click of a solenoid right before the compressor starts, but it's quiet enough that most the time he doesn't notice when it's running even if he's in the kitchen. He has the first one above.

I bought the Liebherr 24" 2 years ago for $3100 CAD. I choose it because we have an open concept kitchen, dinning and living area and didn't want a big ugly fridge. To my understanding their is no compressor because their is such noise but their is a slight noise from the water dripping from what I think is the automatic defrosting; you have to listen carefully to hear it.

My 2 year old vestfrost's freezer is biting the dust. I'm not sure how posting comments in AT works now, but is anyone else having any issues? Also, what's the latest recommended 24" fridge (having spent $1200 on the vestfrost, I'd sure like to not spend that again.)