Before you commit

Refrigerator repair cost

Bands rather than prices, because the same fault costs differently on a freestanding unit and on a built-in. What does not change is the order: the cheap causes are also the common ones.

A refrigerator pulled out into the middle of a kitchen with its rear access panel off and leaning against the cabinets, the condenser coil and compressor exposed, a technician's tool bag on the floor.

We do not quote a price before a technician has seen the appliance

Everything on this page is a band, not a quote. The same symptom can be a five-minute door adjustment or a sealed-system repair, and which one it is cannot be established over the phone — anyone who names a firm figure before looking is either guessing or quoting the expensive answer. What you are told before any work starts is the actual price of the actual repair, and you decide then.

Ask what the diagnostic visit costs and whether it is credited against the repair. Get the answer before the visit rather than after it.
Expect a price for the specific repair once the fault is established, and expect it before anything is authorised.
Expect to be told plainly when the appliance is not worth repairing. That answer is also part of the job.

Mockup note. PLACEHOLDER RANGES. Nothing here may go live until the owner confirms the diagnostic fee and the bands against real invoices. The bands are written as ranges rather than prices on purpose.

What a repair
usually costs.

A useful rule: weigh the repair against what the appliance would cost to replace in the same opening. On a freestanding unit that is a straightforward comparison. On a built-in or a column it is not, because the replacement has to match the cabinetry, and that is why sealed-system work on those types is still normally worth doing.

Diagnostic visit: OWNER TO CONFIRM the service-call fee and whether it is credited against the repair.

Read the full cost guide

Repair	Relative cost	Notes
Door gasket or alignment	lowest	Often the cheapest job on the list, and frequently the real cause of a much more expensive-sounding symptom.
Defrost heater, thermostat or sensor	low	The usual answer when frost has built up and the fresh-food side has drifted warm.
Evaporator or condenser fan	low	Common, quick, and the reason a freezer can be cold while the refrigerator is not.
Water inlet valve or line	low	Covers most no-water and no-ice calls once the filter and the shut-off have been ruled out.
Defrost drain clearing	low	The sheet of ice under the bottom drawer, before it becomes water on the kitchen floor.
Ice maker assembly	moderate	Replaced as a module rather than rebuilt on nearly every current design.
Control board	moderate	Priced against the model, and on built-in units the part is the majority of the cost.
Compressor or sealed system	highest	The one repair where the decision is genuinely open, and where the type of appliance decides it.
Maintenance visit	lowest	Not a repair. The visit that prevents the largest share of the ones above it.