since i just bought a new fridge for my house maybe i could give some tips through my research.

heard that the best fridge (long lasting) are from hitachi (being the best), then followed by sharp (best value) and toshiba (somewhat better quality or design).
panasonic fridge have a problem with their top compartment (refrigerator compartment) as it's not as cold as other usual freezer-on-top models. and the freezer drawer tend to get stuck are a while, probably because of ice on the railing.

on the upside, most of the freezer-down-below models have a larger freezer compartment compared to the usual on the top variants. the panasonic models does have a somewhat larger freezer size. and the freezer drawer helps if you store lots of small, loose items. can fill the items up to the brim and never worry for them to fall down.
if you go for the usual freezer on top models then most of the time the items would be arranged like a hill/slope inside the compartment.
and also know the problem if you have a toddler inside the house as it's easier for them to open the freezer as it's down below.

the bigger panasonic models have the entire freezer compartment like a drawer. could pose a problem if there's water on the railing and it turns to ice.

i found this big sharp french door sj-f70pv-sl at seng heng selling for RM2999.

supposed to be a value for money model without plasmacluster & quick freezing. models that comes with the functions easily costs RM4.5k and RM5k-something. 556l nett volume. dirt cheap for the volume and design.
french door with freezer compartment below. and looks gorgeous. loved the separate compartments, wide fridge compartment and large bottle holder. will fit 2 of my 2l yogurt nicely.

but wife insists that it's gonna be too big for our cramped kitchen. so in the end had to get something smaller. went with a panasonic nr-bw414.

418l with large vegetable compartment and chilled compartment. at least now that the chilled compartment is located waist high it'll get used more.
the freezer compartment is also bigger (130l) compared to usual fridge with top freezer. and there's no side pockets on the freezer door which we can't use anyway.

looking back at the installed fridge, i think a bigger one wouldn't hurt. once you put in all the foodstuffs then it doesn't look that big anymore. well at least we're keeping our old 200l samsung. 618l total storage should cater for 3 more kids

got the 418l pana for RM1.7k (stainless steel door as got heard that stainless steel wouldn't russ in the long run compared to the normal door).
and didn't went with the inverter as i don't really believe the inverter would save much if you keep opening the fridge every 5 minutes.

just heard from a few shop owners while discussing with them. a friend working in a chain store also commented that some user are complaining that the drawer are getting harder to open.

the toshiba gr68mda that you're also considering is also a good choice. IMHO better build quality that the hitachi's that i've looker over. and i think it has 550l nett storage size. and the led lighting are supposed to help prolong vegetable freshness inside the fridge.

you do know that with side by side fridge you lose the ability to store large items right? a cake would have a hard to time to fit as the compartment are kindda narrow.
personally i think the upside to a side by side fridge is that you could have ice dispenser at the door. otherwise a french door fridge would be better. i've seen a hitachi french door with 560l nett selling for RM3k that have a water dispenser at the door.

maybe not a huge problem after all. if there's no water dripping on the railing then there would be no ice.

the compartment issue is kindda big. got a few friend that regretted getting side by side as they lose the wide shelf. my cousin which is living next door to me are forced to reuse his old fridge as his new side by side samsung is just too narrow.

and since you've asked, i did measured the sharp french door to see if it'll fit my kitchen. it's 35" wide x 30" depth x 68" high. other french door are about that size plus minus an inch or two. make sure to allow for about 2 inch in every direction for ventilation.

the hitachi that i say selling for RM3k is R-W720EM

it's a bit narrower compared to the sharp but higher.

the drain tray are not usually accessed. never seen any new fridges that don't have the drain tray. most are located behind the fridge.
i've seen a few models that have the drain tray in front for easy access. my mum's toshiba have it in front underneath the door. had to buy one that have it in front as she's paranoid because her old national leaked water and the drain tray are fully every week or so.

her new toshiba never needed to empty the tray. been 3 years (or issit 4) and we've never emptied the tray. my panasonic have it, my old samsung has it. and i've seen a few sanyo have it in front. never seen any fridge that didn't have it located somewhere.

i used to get below RM20 electricity with my previous 200l 2 door samsung. and that unit isn't even an energy saving fridge.
got a wife, 2 laptops, a htpc, a home theater system, automatic washing machine, water heater, water dispenser and everything else you'd find in a family house. and we didn't even try to conserve the energy. just didn't waste it much.

well used to. but my point is, a fridge won't suck too much power if you don't open the door needlessly.

the r72md is 580l nett storage.
the rg68mda is 523l nett storage.

for RM100 less you get a larger storage space but lose the glass door and automatic icemaker. if i were you i'd get the larger volume. i don't really trust the auto icemaker would last as long as the fridge itself when it's operating under subzero temperature 24/7. electromechanical equipment below freezing point? no thanks. and not to mention i can't seem to find if the icemaker in the rg68mda is replaceable to a manual unit.

but the prices does seem reasonable. most shops here up north are selling the rg68mda for RM2.4k and the lowest price i got last week is RM2.2k

there's lots of fridges more than 550l with energy saving in them. panasonic NR-BY551XS is 551l and NR-BY601XS at 602l and both uses inverter to help save the electric.
mitsubishi and hitachi have a few models that are supposed to help save electric by optimizing the compressor.
the sharp french door are supposed to help save electric by keeping half of the coldness inside when you open one of the side doors.

you can try finding the annual electricity cost of the particular model from the singapore goverment site. they tested a lot of models compared to malaysia.

the additional pockets at the door are a waste of space in my use. i can't seem to stack anything in there. there's just nothing tall to freeze.
but if you compare the nett storage space of freezer on top and bottom freezer, bottom freezer usually have a larger space compared to top models. panasonic fridges with freezer drawer is a godsend for our home because we store a lot of small, loose items. but yeah tupperwares are harder to stack inside.

having used a bottom freezer panasonic for the past 4-5 years, i'd say it's much more user friendly than top freezer or side-by-side.

contemplating of getting another one, larger fridge with bottom freezer to put at the dry kitchen, but all costing >RM5k for models that comes with automatic ice maker.
sigh.

choices are limited to sharp top of the line model that costs RM5.5k
hitachi also have one but top freezer and comes with water dispenser. which takes space and the water reservoir only stores ~1.5litre. might as well don't have. huh

that's also the model i'm eyeing for. as far as i know, it's the only fridge with bottom freezer that comes with an automatic ice maker.
i seriously love the extra large bottom panel that's large enough for yoghurt bottles.
but yeah the price is indeed too high. at least for me. if only it's around RM4k.

at homedec i was quoted RM5.5k if i didn't take the free rice cooker gift.

precisely. looks nice, but less functional.
you can't put a large cake inside. you can't dump a basin full of fish after a trip to the wet market.

the same as fridges with front water dispenser or ice maker. the system will take a large portion of the interior space, meaning less space for water bottles. some models even have less than 1 litre of water tank for the dispenser.
wtf? 1l is just enough for 2 mug refill. which i usually consume in less than 1 hour during work.

not much of a problem if you already have a functional fridge at the wet kitchen and the side by side is a showoff fridge at the dry kitchen.

this. inverter design is just the PWM circuitry. which won't effect the noise level.

i'm currently using pana with bottom freezer. verry functional. i'd go with another pana if only they have an auto ice maker. but they don't, not even the top of the models come with auto ice maker. major letdown.

the hitachi have such a small water reservoir. and the water dispenser took away a large chunk of the door space which could otherwise be used to store water bottles. not a wise design i think since others could fit in larger reservoir.

for less than RM3k maybe you could take a look at toshiba. wide door, albeit not french door but it comes with an auto ice maker and glass door.

i had a pretty bad experience with sharp. twice! different fridge, bought in 2 different location, over the span of nearly a year.

i'm gonna stay away from sharp fridges this time around. maybe a toshiba for my dry kitchen.

it's the seal. seems that they break down much faster than any other japanese brands that i've used before.
the fridge that i bought for my mum have the seal unmagnetized after 3-4 years. costs nearly RM150-ish to replace. hard to justify since the fridge was bought under RM1k. another sharp bridge at my ampang house is also now showing the same symptom.

also they don't seem to have as many blowing vent to help cool the fridge faster. certainly less vent compared to my panasonic. but this looks perfect on paper, for my requirement.

610 litre, frontal water & ice dispenser, nice color, not too high (my wife is only 1.5m-ish). 4 litre water tank and costs only ~RM4.2k

but it's a sharp. sigh.

i thought i had replied. but can't seem to find my reply so maybe i forgot. heh

skip the sharp. i had bad experience with 2 sharps. new models mind you, same problem after a while. sigh.
RM2k-ish for 700 litres gross capacity is utter, and completely, doable. why would anyone think it's impossible?

seems like lots of feedback saying hitachi have that noisy whine from the compressor. my in laws is using a large hitachi and had no issues. but i'll skip hitachi till they get their act straight.
panasonic large models have no noise issue. i'm using one, but i'll skip the pull out drawer. my bro i law is using the largest model and it's quite hard to pull out the freezer when it's full to the brim.
i'll skip LG and samsung and any korean brands. reliability issues. ask any store owner.
i'll skip european brands like electrolux and bosch. spare parts issue.
i'll skip sharp because of my bad experience.
never tried mitsubishi and i can't seem to find their service center and they're not very popular here in the northern region.

so take a look at toshiba. i know i'm looking.

710 litre gross. 608 litre nett. very wide shelf. and auto ice maker.
i reckon could be hard for RM2.5k-ish.

a cousin of mine is using the prev model. very silent.
it's not side by side. it's not french door. it's not multi door. and it won't make your dic* bigger in front of your friends from bragging rights.
but yeah it's cheap. and it's large. the fridge i mean.

jintex is selling the toshiba for RM2488.
12 years compressor, inverter, auto ice maker and large capacity.
i reckon the same function from a side by side or french door would set you back RM4k at least.

if you don't need the shiny shiny glass cover, the normal stainless steel door is even cheaper, with a bit more space than the glass version.

last week i've seen them both side by side and the normal door have indeed bigger internal space here and there.
but wife die die don't want the toshiba and is opting for a side-by-side fridge, no matter how narrow they might be. sigh.

the thing is, it's gonna be regretful in the future. knowing her, i'm quite sure she wants the side-by-side to showoff.

the normal stainless/silver models have some sort of curvature at the door, while the glass is totally flat. i suppose that affects the internal space? the spec says the glass have less nett space compared to the normal stainless and silver model. or maybe the spec is just wrong. do check the link supersound posted.

anyway i can't check them both in detail since my wife just walked away refusing to even look at them.

i reckon you're gonna have a hard time looking for a replacement part for sanyo.
bear in mind that compressor is just one component inside the fridge. how about the rubber lining? those are some of the easiest part to break. the hinge, the shelves, the buttons. if it's not popular it's more than likely the parts will be hard to source.

i could understand your sentiment. my family used to own this small sanyo fridge since i was small. while it's good, it's not bulletproof. thrown away after 14 years. that's after the rubber lining gave way and the hinges gave way. and boy those sanyo rubber lining are hard to source. in the end we just give up because nobody have the spare parts.

you mean something like this model right?

it's RM3k-ish. nearly bought one previously, but my old house didn't have enough space to put it inside the kitchen. in the end have to settle for a smaller panasonic fridge with bottom freezer, which i'm still using now.

but to think of it, kindda a good thing i didn't buy the sharp. if you look at the rubber lining for sharp french door model, the middle portion is very very fragile. they just depend on magnetic attachment to seal the middle. i'm sure it's gonna fail after prolonged usage. got one guy mentioned his already broke at the middle portion.
hitachi and electrolux for instance (french door models), have a bar that flips to seal the middle section upon closing. much better design.

anyway i'm gonna skip the french door models because of that. eyeing this sharp model if i can't force persuade my wife to get the toshiba:

i want that auto ice maker.

i did. seen one in senq alor setar if i'm not mistaken, and revisited again at harvey norman. i think.
expensive. the multidoor one right?

for that price, you don't get much space. there's clever invention, clever space here and there, but i think it's quite wasted since this is supposed to go here, that is supposed to go here. in the end there's gonna be leftover space here and there.

i said i threw it out after 14 years. i didn't say the rubber gave way after 14 years.
but sure, if you really really believe sanyo is great then do buy them. you could then praise it in here.

i have 2 sharp fridges, current model. both are currently in use. one at my parents, one in our apartment in kl. but i'm sure you don't wanna know what i think of both, since you already have your eyes on a sanyo.