Should you buy a used refrigerator?
It can make sense for a simple model under about 8 years old that you test in person. Buy new for French doors with door dispensers or anything over 10 years old.
A fridge shows whether it cools within minutes of being plugged in, and the common wear items (gaskets, coils, ice makers) can be checked on the spot. Used fridges sell for roughly $75–$750.
Consumer Reports advises pricing a used appliance against its remaining life and buying from repair shops or used-appliance stores rather than Marketplace or yard sales.
Confidence: multi-source · Based on 3 cited sources.
Sources
- How Much Does It Cost to Repair a Refrigerator? · Fixr
- Buying a used fridge: what to check before you commit · Reperch
- Should You Buy a Used Appliance? · NBC Washington
Read the complete guide
Best Refrigerator for the Money: What Type to Buy and How Much to SpendBy Purchasd Research. We used Consumer Reports’ public reliability page and secondary reporting of its paywalled rankings for survey evidence; one retailer’s published first-year service data; an extended-warranty company’s style failure comparison; repair-cost and warranty guides; ENERGY STAR for efficiency; a dated sale-price roundup for prices; and owner evidence from twenty-four Reddit threads (about 500 comments), including eight on Sub-Zero and column refrigerators, a Reddit aggregation (231 comments, 18 subreddits), two owner forums and three deal threads. Owner evidence was used to find recurring complaints, never to estimate failure rates. No specific model was tested or picked. Purchasd received no manufacturer payment, review units or affiliate consideration for this research. Several sources sell appliances, parts, extended warranties or financing, and each is labeled by bias. Purchasd has not tested any of these refrigerators.