- Samsung
- Samsung RFG293HARS 29 cu ft French Door Refrigerator with 5 Spill Proof Glass Shelves Energy Star Qualified Power FreezeCool Cool Select Pantry w Temp Control Wine Rack and Internal Ice DispenserReal Stainless
- RFG293HARS
- Samsung - RFG293HARS
After much hemming and hawing and talking to some friends of friends in the business, we were told that Samsung was one of the better brands from a reliability standpoint. In addition, they happened to have some the most spacious designs and I had seen fewer horrifically bad reviews than other brands, so I decided to give them a chance.
By pure fate, my wife and I stumbled on this particular model in a store right before we pulled the trigger on an order for a slightly different model. This one, as you'll note in the photos, has no ice maker or water dispenser in the door. Furthermore, inside, it has no ice maker on the upper left shelf, taking up a ton of room and limiting your interior space. You also get back all the storage space on the left side door, whereas the other models you sacrifice this in order to have a dispenser. Since we rarely if ever used the ice/water dispenser in our old fridge door, we decided to forgo it this time around and get the extra space instead. In hindsight, this was the best decision we could have made! Not only is this model MUCH cheaper than the one with the ice maker and water dispenser, but it is also more efficient AND it has a ton more interior space, despite being slightly smaller (28.5 cu vs. 31.6). We still get the awesome 'cool select' pantry inside the fridge section, and essentially the same (but more spacious) layout as the 31.6 cu model for about 40% less money. It also looks cleaner/neater in our kitchen, with smooth, pearl white doors on both sides, you get the clean symmetry and there's less moving parts to wear out or break/replace/warranty/etc.
And yes, you still get ice, there's an ice maker in the freezer section, tucked away in the back that fills a bucket (optional, you can turn it off to get the extra freezer space) with ice. If you turn off the ice maker and remove the bucket, you have the exact same amount of storage space in the freezer as the other models, which is another huge plus.
As far as noise level, since I saw this a lot in other reviews, I have to say that this unit is supremely quiet. You can't hear it from the other side of the wall in an adjacent room, unless it is dropping ice into the bucket (not really any way to make that quiet on any brand of fridge). The compressor and fan are both very quiet, enough so that in an open kitchen-to-living room design, I don't have any issues watching TV while it's running. Heck, even when I'm eating dinner right in front of the fridge, the noise is a non-issue. Our old one was quiet, but this one is even better, so I really cannot complain at all about the noise level, it is fabulously quiet, at least for refrigerator standards.
I like the dual cooling circuits, so that you don't mix air between the freezer and the fridge sections, that is something I always wanted. I'm of the opinion that this has to be more efficient too, versus blowing freezer air into the fridge section. Additionally, the controls on this fridge are stupid easy, with one button to set the temp in the fridge, one for the freezer. No dials, no gimmicky stuff or moving parts to break. Clean, simple, crisp digital readout on the upper lip of the fridge's door frame, similar to a lot of designs I'd seen in Europe the last few years, and no wasted space inside for a control panel or any of that nonsense.
The lighting is spectacular, with ample LEDs that emit far, far less heat than the old incandescent bulbs and use much less electricity in the process. The light is bright, clean and easy on the eyes, especially if you open it up in the middle of the night for a drink or a snack once your eyes have already adjusted to the darkness. That used to annoy me insanely with our old fridge, I would go practically blind if I got up in the middle of the night to get a drink!
On the whole, this is simply a wonderful refrigerator and I would definitely buy it again. The price point compared to the larger models (which actually have LESS storage because of the ice/water dispenser setup on one side and one door) is dramatically lower, but all the same high dollar features and the extremely open layout are still there. You really get the maximum bang for your buck with this model. If you have a chance, compare it side-by-side at a brick-and-mortar store with the larger 31 cu model that has the ice maker in the fridge, and you'll see how much space you lose because of the assembly in the left side door. After doing that comparison and thinking about how much stuff we put in our fridge, this was a no-brainer decision for our family. The fact that it cost so much less, that was icing on the cake.
Maximum value for the dollar and a good quality brand, packed with a ton of amazing features, this is a definite buy. I would not hesitate to buy this again or to recommend it to friends and family.What we like about it. Very stylish, modern looking, stainless steel is beautiful. Huge refrigerator, and no ice dispenser taking needed refrigerator room. Easy access to everything with french doors. Very sturdy build. Very well protected with wrapping on delivery so not a single scratch on it. Would have been very pleased, if it was just furniture. Stainless steel shows fingerprints everywhere, just a warning, but we knew that beforehand, and just remember to always use the handle or clean it frequently.
What we did not like about it: The refrigerator freezes everything, despite being on factory setting of 38F. We tried everything, turned the refrigerator setting on warmest 46F, freezer on warmest setting to 8F, crisper on warmest setting. Tried unplugging for ten minutes (resets it), then 30 mins, then an hour. But even with refrigerator on 46f, 2 days later, everything still freezing. Destroys fruit or vegetables in one night, frozen solid. When we went to ask that it be returned/replaced as it is brand new, we were told we were not the first with same complaint about refrigerator freezing things. So we went with another brand in similar size stainless steel.We were amazed by the room in the frige. More fits in the door than I expected. After reading other reviews about freezing food I bought a frige thermometer that reads 38 with the frige set to 40. I do not have any problems with food freezing. One of the frige shelves folds in half if you would want to put something tall (maybe a vase of flowers) in the frige a nice option. Along with all the room another nice feature is the lighting it is bright and easy to find things even in the back of the frige. The freezer is also large we added a 20lb turkey at thanksgiving but still have room for our normal freezer food. If you need the room it's a good value and an attractive choice.Letter to Consumer Reports:
I bought this SAMSUNG RF266ABRS fridge because it was recommended by Consumer Reports in August 2009. This fridge and other SAMSUNG fridges should be taken off the recommended list because there is an inherent design defect that causes ice buildup on the evaporator coils.
First there is a rattling noise as the fan hits the ice buildup.
Then the noise stops when the ice completely blocks the fan but then there is no more cooling happening.
There is even a class action lawsuit against SAMSUNG fridges:
Please look into this Samsung ice buildup problem. The Samsung fridges should definitively not be on the recommended list but put on the "do not buy" list. The ice buildup issue occurs about 1 year after purchase. SAMSUNG is not acknowledging the problem and does not help its customers.
Letter to SAMSUNG:
I am deeply unsatisfied on how SAMSUNG handled the warranty policy with my SAMSUNG Fridge French Door Model RF266ABRS. This fridge was defective starting Year 1 and was not repaired appropriately the 1st time. All was done on the 1st service visit was to defrost the evaporator not fixing the problem itself.
Of course, the problem reoccurred 1 year later and every year after that. Since the technician explained the problem, how to solve it and SAMSUNG customer service gave me a hard time because it was a few days over the 1 year purchase date, I dealt with it personally by unplugging the unit and let it sit unplug for 24 hours. Not a satisfactory resolution, just a quick workaround, until I got fed up with losing food and asked for SAMSUNG to resolve this problem once and for all.
First this problem should have been resolved the 1st visit. Secondly I learned recently from numerous complaints and videos on the web that this is a defective design in SAMSUNG fridges that causes the ice buildup on the evaporator.
Here is a video showing the defrost sensor modification kit to fix evaporator ice buildup. This is for the SAMSUNG RSH1 fridge but it is the same modification that was done on my fridge by the repair technician who came to my house:
Many SAMSUNG fridges have the same cooling design thus sharing the same ice buildup issue.
I was charged $104.68 to fix SAMSUNG own defective design! This is outrageous and no decent company would shift the cost from itself to their customers . It shows utter disrespect for its own customers, not counting the monetary damage. Sir, should I remind you that your customers are your most important assets and should be your priority number one!
SAMSUNG should have done everything in its power to help its loyal customers by fixing its defective fridges FREE OF CHARGE.
The technician explained that he had to move the defrost sensor away from the evaporator in order to let the defrost cycle run longer and completely defrost the evaporator from any ice buildup. He also put a wider drain clip. The older clip was too small. It would get iced up and not let water drain away from the evaporator. There is also a new metal clip that attaches to the heating element and goes inside the drain clip to heat any ice there if needed so the drain cannot get clogged. In addition, a new seal kit put on the market by SAMSUNG 3 months ago was used to seal the evaporator compartment to prevent moisture to get in and improve circulation airflow provided by the fan.
