Not OP but it's a massive nuisance if you live in a studio. People don't realize how noisy a fridge is until there's one in the room that they sleep in.

New appliances are far better than old ones here. Especially old ones that (I assume) haven't been maintained and so are working far harder than they used to. I've lived in places with old ones that were fine and old ones that were awful, both. I've had much more consistently good results in places with newer ones.

Skill issue on the manufacturer's part. I live in a studio and never hear the fridge. This is part of a fitted kitchen, though, but I doubt the panel hiding the fridge makes that big of a difference.

Just today I ordered a 32dB Liebherr; the previous one had 35dB and could be heard all around the studio (I measured the noise using a dedicated sound meter).