Kitchenaid Refrigirator woes

Our built-in Kitchenaid refrigerator came with our brand new house we purchased in April 2007. The builder's cost for it was $6988.00.  A month ago it slowly started dying. When we noticed the first symptoms (the intermittent alarm sound, the digital display flashing, the refrigerator section slowly stopping to function etc.,) we contacted Kitchenaid customer service.

The technician who came to examine the refrigerator told us that the control board needed to be fixed and ordered the part. He came back after a week with the new part. But the part didn't work with our model. He then called Kitchenaid in USA and found out that Kitchenaid doesn't make the control board for our model anymore. The technician said it is due to a factory closure in Japan.

He told us that we needed to talk to Kitchenaid about our next course of action and left.

We called Kitchenaid customer service again; they first told us that they can't do anything because the refrigerator is not under warranty.   After much pleading they finally told us that they can deliver a similar model  if we pay $4000. The same model costs around $7000 at Appliances Canada.

We are family of four with two small kids, and have been without a refrigerator for more than three weeks now. As you can imagine it is a frustrating experience.

Besides, when we bought the $7000  energy efficient but expensive refrigerator we expected it to last at least ten years, so it makes no sense, neither financially nor environmentally, to be forced to buy another refrigerator so soon.

Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this situation?   All our current appliances are Kitchenaid  and Whirlpool. Is it time to look for another brand that lasts more than 5 years?

Timeline:

1. Oct 10 :  Drafted the above letter and first send it to Ellen Roseman of Toronto Star.  
2. Oct 11 :  Ellen responded the next day. She said she has heard similar appliances related concerns. She also said that she would ask her Kitchenaid contacts about this case. I sent her the model number and my address as per request.
3. Oct 14 : I posted the above message on Facebook on Kitchenaid Canada(facebook)'s wall. You can click on the link to see my post and on-going discussion.
4. Oct 16 : Kitchenaid Canada(facebook) replied on Facebook and asked me to send a private message.
5. Oct 17: I sent a private message to KitchenaidCanada(facebook) . I included the original ticket number, and our model number.
6.  Oct 18 : Kitchendaid Canada(facebook)  responded to say that Customer service will contact me shortly. They asked for my contact info.
7.  Oct 18: I sent my email, home number, and cell number to Kitchendaid Canada(facebook).