My thoughts are the same as Winoguy17's. Remove the front grill and the easy to remove cardboard covers from the rear and vacuum all the dust you can. About a month ago our 20 year old fridge was beginning to get noticably louder to the point that I was pretty sure it was going to require replacement. I cleaned it as thoroughly as I could with a shop vac, and it is much quieter now.
Refrigerator noise
Seriously guys, how do you deal with it? My fridge is in the vicinity of my living room with all my equipment. It's pretty old machine, and the compressor is making noise almost half the time it's on ( seems to me pretty unusual, when I go to see my friends I never hear anything). I even set the level lower, but to no avail. Anybody with a similar problem? How can you check noise of a new fridge in a fairly loud environment of big store? Any recommendation (brand names)? No ice boxes please... :-)