The Great Appliance Conspiracy: When Your Refrigerator Dies Without Warning

 Last Monday I was riding high on ballet tickets for the Vienna Ballet. Today, I’m down in the dumps because I spent the weekend dumping most of the food in my side-by-side refrigerator. Turns out I had to go buy a new one—definitely not a budgeted item.

 This is not just about one side-by-side refrigerator, though. It’s about a conspiracy of appliances.  Or maybe appliance manufacturers. Circling my kitchen, we have a small chest freezer, a washer-dryer combo, a dishwasher, a microwave, a stove, and the refrigerator. That’s a pretty normal assortment of kitchen appliances.

 In 2021, while we were on vacation, the chest freezer died. It was ugly, but our cat sitters kept it from being a disaster. (Thank you Alix and Adam!) New freezer. In 2023, the dryer died, which means the washing machine died because they’re conjoined. It was deemed too old to repair, no parts available. New washer/dryer combo.

 In 2025 our dishwasher died in March and our microwave died in May. New dishwasher and microwave. Now it’s 2026 and the refrigerator is dead. Does this mean my stove is on death row? I hope not. My appliances have fallen like dominoes—get one paid for, there goes another one. You can see why I’m thinking conspiracy.

 We buy appliances at Home Depot, for several reasons: there’s a store two miles from our house; they frequently offer good sales on name-brand appliances. Also, we have a Home Depot credit card; said credit card regularly offers extended payment with no interest. I love no-interest payment plans!

 On April 20, I made the last payment on the dishwasher and microwave, successfully completing two purchases without paying a single cent in interest.  Less than two weeks later, the fridge went kablooey. Again, the conspiracy element seems obvious to me.

 Did you know that your refrigerator can fail as a cooling and freezing appliance while humming in your kitchen, pretending to be normal? I didn’t use the fridge on Saturday because I didn’t need to, not even to make dinner. (We had dinner plans.) So it wasn’t until I tried to get ice for my nighttime water bottle that I discovered it had broken.

 A warm freezer full of meat and other perishables is not what anyone wants to deal with after 11 p.m. But people manage. However, a refrigerator with a month’s supply of expensive medication that couldn’t be saved felt crushing. I haven’t brought myself to actually discard it yet.

 Life rarely gives us good options in crisis situations. We salvaged what we could—meaning moved it to the chest freezer or an ice chest—and left the rest for cleanup on Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon, we bought a new fridge.

 I’m happy to say that Home Depot did not disappoint. We got a top-of-the-line LG French door fridge on sale for more than half off. With a 12-month no-interest offer attached. Another round of unwanted payments, but at least we don’t have to dip into savings or pay interest.

 I’ve never had a fridge quite as nice as the one I’m getting Wednesday, with an extended-height water dispenser for bottles and an internal water dispenser for I’m-not-sure-what. A lot of its features appeal to me, but this isn’t a refrigerator ad, so I’ll spare you.

 Something did put a smile on my face, though, popping up in my email after we got home from making the big purchase. Wirecutter, the New York Times product review and testing component, sent me a newsletter about the best refrigerators on the market. Talk about timing. Their top pick? An LG model from the same model family (Counter-Depth MAX) as the one we’d just bought. And theirs doesn't even have the external water dispenser! I am stoked.

Wish me luck getting my new refrigerator set up and restocked. You know that’s going to be expensive. And say a prayer for my stove while you’re at it.

 How are your appliances holding up? Be alert for signs of appliance conspiracy!

 Ciao