This subject has been of interest to my wife & I as well. We researched as well as we could, considering Bosch, LG, GE & Samsung. We cook a lot & make dinner from scratch every night, so it had to function well from a utility standpoint as well as being quiet. Tvad is right, every brand has it's detractors. Remember the old trusim, an unhappy customer tells ten people, a satisfied customer tells one. In the end, we bought a 24 cu. ft. Samsung, rated @ 44 db., which is competitive with all the brands that actively promote quietness as a feature. After replacing the fridge with the same model after only four months because Samsung couldn't provide repair parts for a loud, ratcheting ice maker, I can tell you there are substantial differences from one fridge to the next. The second one is less quiet than the original. Still generally quiet, but it's quite annoying considering the first one was inaudible from eight feet away and the replacement can be heard from 16 feet away. If my experience is applicable on a broader scale, I can easily see how experiences are so variable. Regarding reliability, I would also urge consideration of WHO you buy from as a warranty is no better than the company administering it. My experience with appliance repair through major large retailers is abysmal. I'd always try to buy from smaller local retailers than have more responsive and nimble warranty service departments. FWIW, Audiocircle has had an active thread on this subject for some time now as well.
Refrigerator noise
Seriously guys, how do you deal with it? My fridge is in the vicinity of my living room with all my equipment. It's pretty old machine, and the compressor is making noise almost half the time it's on ( seems to me pretty unusual, when I go to see my friends I never hear anything). I even set the level lower, but to no avail. Anybody with a similar problem? How can you check noise of a new fridge in a fairly loud environment of big store? Any recommendation (brand names)? No ice boxes please... :-)