Ours is boxed into cabinetry that was built around it, and I was worried about damage getting it out. He worked out the access first, took the panel off carefully, and put everything back exactly as it was. Nothing marked.
Clementine V. · Brookline
The 36 to 48 inch built-ins that a kitchen was designed around.
Built-In Refrigerator Repair
A built-in is not a freestanding fridge in a nicer cabinet. It has its own airflow path, its own condenser location and, on most Sub-Zero units, two independent sealed systems. That last point is the one that saves money: half the unit failing does not mean the whole unit is finished, and against a replacement cost that runs well into five figures the arithmetic almost always favours repair.
- Service call
- $95, credited
- On site
- 8:00 am – 8:00 pm, seven days
- Coverage
- Greater Boston
- Brands for this
- 7
What people describe
The symptoms that bring us out
- One half of the unit warm while the other is perfect
- Ice forming on the back wall of the fresh food compartment
- Condenser fan audible from the next room
- Door not pulling itself closed the last inch
- Unit running warm after the grille has never once been cleared
Who builds them
The same appliance fails differently by manufacturer
- Sub-Zero Built-in refrigeration that is meant to outlive the kitchen it sits in. Most of what we see is a twelve to twenty year old unit where one subsystem has aged out while everything around it is still sound.
- Thermador Star burners, steam and speed ovens, and column refrigeration. The cooktops are the reliable half; the electronics are where the calls come from.
- Viking Professional ranges and built-in refrigeration. Viking parts run expensive, so the diagnosis matters more here than on any other brand we carry.
- JennAir Downdraft cooktops, wall ovens and built-in refrigeration, often installed as a full suite in one renovation.
- Liebherr Integrated and freestanding refrigeration, including some of the best wine storage made. European parts, so lead times matter as much as diagnosis.
- Gaggenau Combi-steam ovens, Vario cooktops and integrated refrigeration. Low volume in Boston, and the fewer shops that service it the longer owners wait.
- Fisher & Paykel DishDrawer dishwashers and integrated refrigeration. The drawer format is unusual enough that a lot of shops will not touch it.
On built-in refrigeration
4.9out of 5
from 1,603 reviews across Greater Boston
Twenty two years old and I had been told by someone else it was finished. He cleared a condenser that had never been touched, replaced two hardened gaskets, and it has held temperature since. Honest about what was worth doing and what was not.
Barnaby F. · Wellesley
The fresh food half kept creeping up to the mid forties overnight while the freezer sat perfect. He explained there are two separate cooling systems in there and only one had failed. Evaporator fan and defrost heater. Half the repair I was braced for.
Rosalind K. · Newton
Book it, or ask first
The $95 covers the visit and the full diagnosis and comes off the repair once you approve it. If it turns out nothing should be repaired, we will say that too.