- 2.5 cu.ft. net capacity with adjustable thermostat and HCFC free
- Reversible door with slide out wire shelf for storage versatility
- Estimated yearly operating cost: $28 based on 10.65 cent per kwh 2007
- Transparent begetable storage drawer with glass shelf
I've had this fridge for about two weeks now and it's been really great. I bought it for my office and mostly to prevent me from eating out, so I had a few criteria. First, it had to be fairly small footprint, but large enough to store a good amount of real food, such as leftovers, some fruit & veg, and materials to make snacks with such as PB&J. Second, it had to have a real compressor, one that will cool well below the ambient temperature as the office building gets quite warm in the summer and I really hate when food goes bad. Third, I didn't want the unit to give up a bunch of space to a can delivery system, since I don't drink usually have canned drinks around. So, that's how I ended up at the SPT, it's the only one I found that fits all these criteria. I'd never heard of SPT before buying this fridge and quite honestly, if it had the same features as all the other fridges I'd seen (researched for two weeks), I probably wouldn't have bought it. However, given that it had everything I was looking for, I decided to take a chance and I'm glad I did.
First, the aesthetics; it's a vertical rectangular shape, modestly attractive looking, basically it looks like a small black fridge with a stainless door. I was a bit surprised at the size, it's quite a bit taller than I was expecting and the black does makes it look a little monolithic. The unit actually looks bigger than it really is, I was shocked to find that it fits nicely under my desk. The Stainless Steel finish on the door isn't quite as polished as the vastly more expensive full-size GE fridge I've got at home, but I was pleasantly surprised at how good it looked, especially considering the price! This unit is solidly built and is surprisingly lightweight, which was great for moving it around the first day, figuring out where it should go. The door, as shipped, opens on the left, but it looked like a fairly simple job to switch sides (haven't needed to) and SPT included extra plastic inserts for covering up the holes should this be required, a nice touch. Door was protected with plastic film and all three shelves and the ice maker were taped down to prevent them sliding around.
On to functionality; the fridge works! It got the four iced teas I put in it ice cold within only a few hours of being plugged in and I've got the unit set at 4, the factory preset median setting and it works great. Stuff down low in the fridge was kept nicely cold, the ham I put up near the icemaker had frost in the package, but the meat wasn't frozen. Note to self, meat goes lower in the fridge. The lower door shelf holds four Honest Tea bottles, but the wire holder swings out to hold bigger items. The top door shelf is a little shorter and has a fixed bar, so PB & J go up there. Inside shelves are made of white plastic-coated wire and well spaced. The freezer holds at least a trio of standard sized juice boxes; it's wide, but not very tall, so low items work best. One other extremely cool thing is, the energy consumption rating for this fridge is actually below the lowest range on the chart. This makes it extremely efficient, which isn't a factor for me, but I can see this being a plus for someone being challenged about its power consumption. Given how well it keeps my food cold, it must be very well insulated to achieve such low consumption.
Things of note:
1) This unit only has one leveling foot, at the front right corner. This is probably not a problem for most people, but my office floor is as flat as a Ruffles potato chip, so levelling the fridge required shims under the front left foot.
2) Power cord is only about 5Ft long, once again, not a problem in most offices, but I would really have liked a longer one. Extension cord to the rescue.
3) Unit isn't silent, but it's not loud either. Some people have complained about other fridges being loud, I don't find this one to be unpleasant, it's like low-level white noise in the background. If I get in early, I can hear the fridge, but once the office wakes up, it's inaudible.
4) Unit came very well packed in an enormous box, strapped and taped closed. I was impressed, but I did have to lie the fridge on its side to get it out of the box.
5) This hasn't been a problem, but the manual says that should the fridge lose power, it won't come back on automatically.
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This turned out to be the perfect refrigerator and I'll try to answer some questions about posted concerns.
Noise when you first turn on the fridge and perhaps the first 24 hours, the refrigerator will cycle quite a bit and the compressor will make interesting noises. not bad, just different. once the refrigerator has had it's break in period, the compressor only turns on every 30 minutes or so for a very short time I don't notice it anymore and the compressor is not loud at all.
How soon after the item is turned on that you can place things inside within two hours the refrigerator will be cold however, placing warm items in there will require additional times for the refrigerator's temperature to level out it's been that way ever since they have been making refrigerators.
The stainless on the door is beautiful and we are delighted that we spent the extra money it looks great in our office see video.
Finally, it's by far the best unit for the money and we have no complaints.
The video will provide an idea about how much can be stored inside we have removed one of the shelves to leave more room for bottles and cans.
Read Best Reviews of SPT 2.5 cu.ft Compact Refrigerator Stainless Door with Black Sides Here
I bought this fridge a couple weeks ago and it looks nice in person, came very nicely packaged with no effort needed to put it together. The inside smelled a bit at first of plastic but I left the door open for a couple days and the smell went away. After I plugged it in, it got very cold after just a couple hours and keeps cold well. My biggest complaint is the noise. For the most part, it's quiet in the maintenance mode but when it is turning on to cool itself, it makes loud clanking sounds that I can hear from my second floor and I have the unit on the first floor. I researched other fridges and seems like noise is always an issue so I guess this is a decent fridge if you can put up with the noise.
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Bought the first one but was DOA. Amazon quickly sent out another one before we shipped the defective one back (Great service Amazon!!!). Unfortunately, the compressor in this unit is very noisy (it is for a wet bar in our AV room). We have placed Styrofoam on the floor and placed this atop the Styrofoam. The noise lessened considerably but still quite present. I may try to find a way of mounting the compressor on some rubber standoffs if I cannot find a better solution.
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I bought this to put under my desk at the office. It fits perfectly and cannot be seen by others. What I love the most is what I don't have... noise. Unlike my last minifridge the unit operates very quietly and keeps items appropriately cool. I was surprised to find that the freezer compartment actually keeps items frozen.
We have now received FOUR units in a row of this model in stainless steel over the past 15 months or so and the problems, all being manufacturing defects, have ranged from a warped cabinet/door, a unit that leaked an extensive amount of water on our kitchen's new hardwood floors that came from inside the refrigerator (not the water line or dispenser) and was a mystery that was never solved but caused severe floor damage, one had a broken compressor that made squealing/whistling noises on delivery but took months of service calls to diagnose and replace (was told it would've been about $800 if not under warranty...and this last one sounds like it's going out as well and will not maintain normal temperatures...just a few weeks into it), temperature and display controls that are broken upon delivery, one had rust on the stainless freezer door upon unpacking it, numerous cosmetic defects on delivery esp with dispenser plastic, ice and water buildup in the freezer that had numerous repair calls but could never be resolved even after replacing the freezer door, and an annoying habit with one of the units going into defrost mode up to five times a day. When the units were working properly, it has the loudest compressor of any refrigerator I've ever heard. This has been the worst product I've ever purchased and KitchenAid (Whirlpool) has been an absolute pain to deal with, using stall tactics that would try anyone's patience. Please be aware this is very likely essentially the same refrigerator as the similar Jenn-Air, Whirlpool and Maytag counter-depth refrigerators, since Whirlpool makes them all.
