Amana's top-freezer lineup is the rental-property special: dead simple, under a grand, and engineered with so few moving parts that failure modes shrink by design. The sparse owner signal leans positive (a 30-year survivor, a six-year ice-maker champ), but Consumer Reports rates current models middling and a 1.4-out-of-5 ConsumerAffairs aggregate screams widespread frustration, details unknown. If you need the cheapest functional box or value simplicity over performance, Amana delivers; if you want confidence in long-term reliability or competitive cooling power, the evidence isn't here.
LG's top-freezer lineup carries the shadow of compressor failures that have plagued the brand's refrigerator line broadly, including a class action lawsuit over units that died within two years. Some jackhammer noises from the compressor before total cooling loss, others find their freezer can't keep ice cream solid, and at least one repair tech has been caught on record telling shoppers to avoid LG outright. The brand does have 18-year success stories and genuinely quiet operation when the compressor holds, but the failure pattern is serious enough that you're gambling real money on a major appliance. Buy this only if you're getting a killer deal and can afford an extended warranty that covers the compressor specifically.