- Perfect for smaller spaces, Samsung's new 33 inch wide refrigerators are nearly 3 inches slimmer than conventional models, but still has a 20 cu. ft. capacity.
- By being ENERGY STAR compliant you are assured that your SAMSUNG model is helping the environment by using less energy while saving you money. ENERGY STAR is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy pro
- Controlling the refrigerator is easy with the internal digital display. It shows the inside temperatures.
- Samsung's strategically placed, highly efficient LED lighting brightens every corner so you can quickly find what you need. A cooler source of light, LED emits less heat, saves space and is much more energy efficient than traditional bulb lighting.
- Twin Cooling System uses two evaporators to independently control the temperature of the refrigerator and freezer compartments, maintaining proper humidity levels and preventing odor transfers between compartments.
Within two weeks of having it delivered the refrigerator and freezer was intermittent. The freezer temperatures varied greatly and I ended up with a freezer of melted ice cream and thawed out products. I used manual thermometers in both the refrigerator and freezer and quickly learned that it hardly ever kept the temperatures that were displaying on its digital readings. The manual thermometers were placed at different areas and it still never matched. The freezer would be at -25 degrees one moment and +30 degrees the next, all the while the digital gauge on the unit said it was -2 or 0. Frost was constantly melting and refreezing.
Thankfully, the store agreed to pick up this unit and deliver a replacement. Thinking I got a lemon, I just got another Samsung RF217ACRS. Within another month, the replacement unit (completely new, although same model) was doing the same thing. The store agreed to replace it again and I then quickly switched brands. After ditching Samsung, I'm happy to say that I'm thrilled. I now have a refrigerator that cools and a freezer that freezes, but it is NOT a Samsung. It's amazing how happy a customer can be when an appliance does what it is supposed to.
Now, even if you decide to buy the RF217ACRS (or RF217ACPN) after reading about the problems I had, let me tell you about the features of the refrigerator. The stainless steel finish is nice and the EZ Open Freezer handle is a great touch. However, you will not get many features on the inside. While the shelving units are adjustable, they do not adjust enough. You can only adjust them a couple of inches in a few directions. Most of the door shelves turn out to be too small to even use unless you just omit one of the shelves to increase the height of the others. Other units offer shelves with much more adjustable heights to them. After you look at other brands, you will see that Samsung missed the mark on designing the interior of this unit.
You can fit a gallon of milk in the doors, but don't even try to fit a one gallon pitcher of tea or something similar on the shelves. The noise level is a bit higher than I expected. It is not quiet, but it is manageable. The lighting is too dim. I know they are using LED lights to save energy, but there needs to be more light. When opening the freezer door you often spill ice into the bottom of the freezer or worse, your kitchen floor. The ice maker comes down too far into the ice bucket causing it to knock cubes off when opening/closing the door.
At the end of the day, I was never thrilled about the abilities or features of this Samsung refrigerator. When major problems surfaced, that just put the nails in the coffin. I was completely dissatisfied with this model and Samsung's customer service (I did call them after the second malfunction). I cannot recommend this model and likely cannot recommend any Samsung refrigerator.I needed a narrow counter-depth fridge under 3k and this was the only option. My luck it looks great and i love love love the platinum finish. I can smear my hands all over it and it doesn't show a single smudge and I think looks better than stainless steel.
The gripes.. so far are fairly minor. Of course it's a small fridge. But, they made adjustable shelves that only adjust about an inch, which is not helpful. you won't be able to stand any bottles up on the shelves without removing one, which will really dimish capacity. there are small shelves in the door but you can't keep a ton in there. I have a small Brita pitcher that I wedged into the door. if I had anything larger I'd be SOL.
The biggest complaint I have is the noises that it makes and I really want to know if it's normal or if there's something wrong with it. It works FINE. But it makes several different mechanical/electric startling noises. and I do not have the ice maker hooked up so shouldn't be that. one noise sounds a fan hitting metalit lasts for about two seconds and sounds off every few minutes. As for normal running noises, it's totally silent. It just breaks that silence every few minutes with some periodic loud noise. At first I was startled by it and after two months i'm just plain irritated. i'm also afraid it's a sign that something may be wrong.
But other than the noises.. I seriously love this thing. I lucked out big time that the only fridge that would fit was also affordable and looks great.Great size, nice functions, lots of space inside, but after a year of having the refrigerator we noticed water is being drained into the vegetable drawers and the bottom of the fridge. Called Samsung and they said they are willing to send the parts I will have pay for labor. Not sure if that's okay customer care or not fully admitting guilt. Gave me a number of one certified technician. I asked for more numbers so I can compare and contrast, since I was responsible for labor charges, but the agent explained they will need to assign one technician at a time which was too much of a hassle for me. This issue of water seems to be well reported in online forums and (hopefully) might result in a class action suit. If you get this model, get the extended warranty as it might come in helpful.I have owned a Samsung fridge and have had nothing but problems with it. Samsungs I have found out have notoriously had cooling problems especially with the coils freezing. Don't just take my word for it, look up class action on Samsung fridges. I tried repairing this fridge twice with appliance repair companies to no avail. Once your fridge stops properly cooling, it more than likely will cost you less to buy another brand. I hate giving this fridge a bad review as I loved the design of the fridge and Samsung brand products in general but unfortunately they havent really figured out how to make a reliable fridge. For the cost of these appliances, you should get more than a year or so of reliable use.
There are several models involved in the class action, not just my model. So you can judge for yourself on whether you want to purchase a Samsung fridge but I wanted to share my experiences with Samsung brand refrigerators and put the information out there about the known defect.
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Quiet fridge, works great. Only problem was after a power cycle (it was due to electrical service in our area) the fridge starts up on some default mode displaying a partial "F". Control panel does not respond. Fridge section has no air circulation and stayed around 50 degrees. Freezer was a bit above freezing point. Contacted support couple times. They usually thinks its in DEMO mode and asked me to press the freeze + super freeze buttons. If still fails, call a technician. Well, after I search for "Samsung Fridge Error Codes", I found postings explaining what each LED segment means. Turns out all I needed to do was reconnect the ice maker. I wish they had included the diagnostic instructions in the manual, or at least tech support should talk about it. (See ) Update 6/7/2013 After fixing the "F" problem above, the fridge section froze. No air flow from the freezer means a warm fridge. Turns out many local repair folks don't handle Samsung and LG models. Finally found one guy, he replaced a sensor for $222, but it's still freezing up. Waiting for him to order more parts, heater and possibly computer board. All fridges I had before lasted over 10 years. Not this one.
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