--- title: "Refrigerators" description: "KitchenAid refrigerators: the largest part of this maker's line and the largest part of our phone." url: "https://kitchenaidmiami.support/appliances/refrigerator/" date_modified: "2026-08-23" Appliance type: "Refrigerators" --- # KitchenAid refrigerators ### Every configuration this make builds Freestanding and built-in French door, built-in and freestanding side-by-side, bottom-mount, counter-depth, undercounter cabinets and refrigerated drawers. Widths run from 30 inches to 48 on the built-ins. What changes between them is access and door hardware; the sealed system and the controls are the same family of parts. ### What actually goes wrong - **Defrost.** Heater, thermostat or control — the coil ices over, airflow stops, and the fresh food side goes warm while the freezer stays cold. - **The evaporator fan**, which is the other half of that same symptom and much cheaper. - **The thermistors.** These cabinets read temperature in several places, and a sensor lying by a few degrees makes the whole cabinet behave strangely rather than stop. - **Water: the inlet valve, the line, the filter head and the dispenser.** Most of the water on a floor starts at one of those or at a blocked defrost drain. - **The control board**, which is where a cabinet ends up after a brownout, and one of the few parts where the figure is worth discussing before ordering. ### What this climate does to a cabinet Condenser coils load with dust that is damp and mats instead of blowing off. Door seals that sit a fraction proud let humid air in, and here that is frost within days rather than months. ### Sweating down the middle is usually not a failure The strip between the two doors of a French-door cabinet is called the mullion, and moisture on it is something the maker itself describes as normal in humid weather — along with some condensation or frost on the interior walls and on food packages, particularly in a home that is not air conditioned. Its own answer is to **switch Energy Saver off**, because that feature turns off small heaters in the cabinet frame that exist to stop exactly this. Before anybody replaces a gasket in August, that switch is worth finding. ### What to have ready when you call The model number from the sticker inside on the upper left wall, what the display is showing, and which compartment is wrong — that last one narrows it more than anything else on the list. French door · Side-by-side · Bottom mount · Built-in · Counter-depth · 30"–48" Refrigerator repair PO flashing on the display after an outage The refrigerator warm while the freezer is still cold Water on the floor, or ice on the freezer floor Every configuration this make builds Freestanding and built-in French door, built-in and freestanding side-by-side, bottom-mount, counter-depth, undercounter cabinets and refrigerated drawers. Widths run from 30 inches to 48 on the built-ins. What changes between them is access and door hardware; the sealed system and the controls are the same family of parts. What actually goes wrong Defrost. Heater, thermostat or control — the coil ices over, airflow stops, and the fresh food side goes warm while the freezer stays cold. The evaporator fan, which is the other half of that same symptom and much cheaper. The thermistors. These cabinets read temperature in several places, and a sensor lying by a few degrees makes the whole cabinet behave strangely rather than stop. Water: the inlet valve, the line, the filter head and the dispenser. Most of the water on a floor starts at one of those or at a blocked defrost drain. The control board, which is where a cabinet ends up after a brownout, and one of the few parts where the figure is worth discussing before ordering. What this climate does to a cabinet Condenser coils load with dust that is damp and mats instead of blowing off. Door seals that sit a fraction proud let humid air in, and here that is frost within days rather than months. Sweating down the middle is usually not a failure The strip between the two doors of a French-door cabinet is called the mullion, and moisture on it is something the maker itself describes as normal in humid weather — along with some condensation or frost on the interior walls and on food packages, particularly in a home that is not air conditioned. Its own answer is to switch Energy Saver off, because that feature turns off small heaters in the cabinet frame that exist to stop exactly this. Before anybody replaces a gasket in August, that switch is worth finding. What to have ready when you call The model number from the sticker inside on the upper left wall, what the display is showing, and which compartment is wrong — that last one narrows it more than anything else on the list. ### The display says PO. What is that? It is a power outage notice, not a failure. The cabinet is telling you it lost power long enough to get warm inside, and it wants somebody to acknowledge it before it goes back to normal display. Press and hold the button the panel shows for it — often the one marked for the alarm or measured in a few seconds — and it clears. It matters here because we see it in bursts after storms, and because it is genuinely worth reading as a food-safety message rather than dismissing. ### The fridge side is warm and the freezer is fine. That is one of the most diagnostic sentences there is. In these cabinets the freezer does the cooling and air is moved into the fresh food side, so a cold freezer and a warm refrigerator usually means the air is not getting through — a damper, an evaporator fan, or a defrost problem that has iced the coil solid. It is very rarely refrigerant, which is the expensive answer people expect. ### Does it matter whether mine is built-in or freestanding? To the appointment, a great deal. A built-in cabinet is trimmed into your millwork and comes forward as planned time; a counter-depth freestanding unit rolls out. Both are repaired the same way once they are reachable. Telling us which one you have when you book is what keeps the visit to one visit. ### Which water filter do I need? The maker sells them as KAD1 through KAD6 and the identical parts are sold as everydrop EDR1 to EDR6 — same cartridge, two names, and that is why the aisle is confusing. The number is on the old filter and in the manual, and it is not interchangeable. After fitting, the filter light needs resetting or it keeps asking. ### It is making a noise it never used to. Worth describing rather than ignoring, because the noises separate cleanly. A fan buzzing or ticking is usually something touching it or a bearing. A hard click every few minutes with no cooling is a compressor trying to start. Water running and gurgling after a cycle is normal. Recording it on a phone for ten seconds is genuinely useful. --- **[Read full article: Refrigerators](https://kitchenaidmiami.support/appliances/refrigerator/)**