We just bought a house and it came with this Whirlpool side-by-side fridge (ED5GHEXNL02). It immediately began having problems...Freezer was at -20 at the warmest setting, fridge in the safe zone at its coldest setting. Eventually, the water dispenser stopped dispensing, too.

Our home warranty sent out a guy and he replaced the temperature control module (or whichever part it is that the dials attach to and has the long, thin wire that extends to the back of the fridge and wraps around the cold air vent).

He suggested that we would probably need to defrost the unit, too, especially if we want the water dispenser to work again, though he was pretty unclear about what that entails. There was no actual frost or ice built-up on the walls of the freezer, but the thinking is that there's probably a lot of build-up inside the walls that needs to melt.

Is "defrosting" this fridge as simple as getting everything out of the fridge, opening the doors, and unplugging it? Or is more involved than that?

Are we looking forward to a big puddle of water on the floor?

What about any melt water? Is there a chance I might end up with a pool of water under the fridge once it's completely defrosted? I've never had to do this with a fridge before.