The short answer for these models
Work out whether the water is inside the cabinet or under it before anything else, because the two have different causes and different fixes. Inside is the drain; underneath is the tray, the levelling or, rarely, a supply line. Where this departs from the brand-level page is the ranking. A single-door cabinet shares one cold source between the chill box and the food space, so a fault in one shows up in the other and the symptom you notice is rarely where the fault is, so on a KD unit the compartment-by-compartment checks lead.
How this shows up
- The KD form you own, which changes what the rest of this list means — Count the outer doors. One door means one cold source shared between the compartments, so a symptom in either can have its cause in the other.
- Water collecting under the crisper or in the base of the cabinet — The water sits at the lowest point inside the cabinet, which is where a blocked drain always puts it.
- Condensation running down the inside walls — Sweating walls are an air-leak symptom, and the water is only the evidence.
Causes, most likely first on this family
- A cracked, displaced or overflowing drip tray — Here because water underneath almost always starts at the tray, and because looking at it costs nothing but pulling the cabinet out. The ranking moves here for a reason particular to these models: how the unit is built changes what this finding means. That is what puts the compartment-by-compartment checks ahead of everything else on the list.
- The supply line, the fill valve or an internal joint — Last because a genuine supply leak is rare, continuous rather than cyclical, and obvious the moment you look behind the cabinet.
Check in this order, and why
- First — find the drain hole and test it — It sits at the lowest point of the cold compartment, usually behind or under the bottom shelf. Pour a little warm water in and watch whether it goes.
- Second — look at the tray over the compressor — Pull the cabinet out and look underneath at the back with a torch. A cracked or brimming tray is visible in seconds. On these models this is the step the construction changes: read the result against the form you identified first, because the same finding means different things on the two.
Before you open anything
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel. A capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Water and electricity share this cabinet: dry the floor before you kneel and never work on a live machine while standing in a puddle. Nothing rigid goes into a drain hole, because the tubing at the far end of it punctures easily.
Where the owner job ends
Call once the drain, the seal, the tray and the levelling are all accounted for, or the moment you find water coming from a supply line rather than from melt. Call immediately if water is reaching an electrical connection or a neighbouring appliance: at that point the leak stops being a nuisance and becomes a hazard.
The other symptoms covered for this family
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
