- 9.2 cu. ft. (261 litre) capacity Bottom Mount Refrigerator
- Recessed pocket style handles
- Dual vegetable crisper drawers with glass covers
- 3 integrated door shelves
- Interior LED light illuminates without the heat of an incandescent bulb
Danby DFF261BSLDB Bottom Mount Refrigerator
We bought one of these refrigerator/freezers for our basement bar area.
Pros:
Quite attractive. It's enameled gloss black steel on the outside with stainless steel [look] doors; inside is white. Danby's web site says this about the door material: "Spotless steel finish looks identical to real stainless steel but without the smudging"
Energy Star rated (uses 20% less electricity than most units); we received a $100 rebate from our power company because of that fact. Check with your utility company...
The two thermostatic controls are in the refrigerator section against the back wall, out of the way. (See Customer Images.) Many of these small refrigerators stupidly mount the control hanging down from the inside top which gets in the way of storing anything on the top shelf.
Frost free. The unit this Danby replaced was not frost free and its freezer would accumulate ice on of its walls just from the moisture in the air. It was a royal pain to defrost and clean up the water.
Set to 3/4 of maximum cold, the freezer gets down to -20 degrees Fahrenheit. We couldn't test how cold it would get on maximum since none of our thermometers read lower than 20 below. We leave it at about 5 below.
With plenty of cooling to spare we keep the refrigerator section just over freezing. These units work by directly cooling the freezer at the thermostat setting, and then circulating just enough freezer air through the refrigerator section to maintain its thermostatic setting.
Reasonably designed storage areas. Milk, orange juice, soda cans, etc., all seem to have their place. Gallon jugs even fit in the refrigerator door.
One of the very few small unit designs with the refrigerator section on top. That was important to us.
If you're standing right next to a unit that's on, you'll hear a very low frequency hum (emanates from the unit's rear & bottom) but at about 8' away, that hum is nearly inaudible. So, unless you're close to it, this thing is very quiet.
We ordered ours via the Sears web site for $420 + tax and picked it up in our SUV (to avoid a delivery charge) from the local Sears store. Locally purchased refrigerators are MUCH easer to return if they arrive defective or damaged. Since our old GE unit was reliable, we checked out the latest GE models at local appliance dealers. Unfortunately, they wanted twice as much for the new comparably sized GE units. Perhaps these GE models were "better", but you can't tell that by looking at them and their warranty was the same.
Cons:
The two plastic slide-in vegetable crispers in the refrigerator section are cheaply constructed and should have been larger to fully use their allotted space.
Other:
When opening the doors, the hinged side of the door pivots to the side ½" beyond the width of the unit. This makes flush installations on a hinge side impossible. So, although the unit is 23 5/8" wide, you'll need at least 24 1/4" width (24.5" is better) if either side is to be flush to a wall. We had exactly 24" available and it was really too tight. This isn't a product defect, just something to be aware of.
In a side-wall flush installation, the doors won't open far enough to fully remove refrigerator shelves or the freezer drawer, so set them the way you want before pushing the refrigerator into place. The refrigerator comes with a fixed location glass shelf over the vegetable crisper and 2 height-adjustable shelves, which is one too many if you plan on putting tall things on more than one shelf.
The doors come hinged on the right. For left hinging, you'll need to lay the unit on its back on the floor or have it sitting on an appliance hand truck (where it will be at a 45 degree angle). The doors can't be re-hinged if it's upright, since the freezer door hinge screws attach to the very bottom. You'll need an 8mm wrench (box, open, socket, or adjustable), Phillips and flat screwdrivers, and a drill with a 3/32" bit for pilot holes. In spite of the product handbook's drawings being way too small, any handy person should be able to do the job. If you buy the unit locally and have it delivered, that store's delivery person might rehinge the doors for you at no or minimal cost, but verify this before placing the order.
Once it's in place, the front two legs can be adjusted for height or level with groove joint pliers (search Amazon) or a similar tool, but the rear rollers do not adjust, which is standard for refrigerators. Therefore, it's important that the floor be reasonably level where the rollers will rest. If it isn't, consider using some type of shim arrangement that won't move when the unit is pushed into place.
If any refrigerator feet will rest on carpet, go the Home Depot or Lowes and buy a ½" thick x 2' x 2' plywood section for under the unit. (Both stores stock this size in their lumber section.) E.g., as shown in Customer Image 4, the front of our refrigerator was on a carpet; thus, the unit rocked to and fro, and made adjusting the front feet (having sunk into the carpet) all but impossible. Plywood stopped the rocking and made the front feet accessible for adjustment, but I had to construct a temporary "ramp" onto the plywood for sliding the unit into place. If you're having someone install the refrigerator, have the plywood ready.
The model and serial number are on a sticker on the back, so write these numbers down before pushing it into place.
Measurements:
26 3/4" deep from the very back to the front of the doors.
24" deep from the very back to the front frame (where the door gasket hits).
59 1/4" high
23 5/8" wide
Black plastic trim at the top/bottom of the doors results in the doors being 23 3/4" wide.
Opened anywhere near 90 degrees, the doors (on the hinge side) extend out ½" beyond the side of the unit.
With the compressor running, it draws 1.75 amps (202 watts).
Summary:
If you need a small refrigerator / freezer, this unit should be on your short list.
Buy 9.2 Cu. Ft. Bottom Mount Refrigerator Now
I just got my new Danby refrigerator this morning. I LOVE it! I fits in my small kitchen (10x10) and looks great. It runs so quietly that you can hardly hear it. The fridge is not listed as counter depth, but it certainly is. It makes my kitchen look so much more modern and updated. I emptied out my old fridge (it was 18 cubic feet)and everything fit. It's almost like it is made to hold things perfectly. I bought this because after much research, this refrigerator only costs approx. $43 a year to run. With the price of everything going up, I figured with the low running cost and the smaller size I would save in the long run. Having the freezer on the bottom is the best idea ever. Everything in your fridge is eye level. You can see and reach all of your food easily. Hopefully this stops me from "losing" something in the back of the fridge again, only to find it weeks later with a funny smell and green fur. No more wasted food = no more wasted money. The only downfall I can say is DON'T order it from this web site. I found it for $378 @ "The Great Indoors." Just so everyone knows, this is a Sears company (!!!) and the customer service is AWESOME. I even chose my exact delivery date and time. I contacted many companies about their delivery service and most all places only had "curbside" delivery. That means that they will bring it to your sidewalk/front door ONLY. The Sears delivery men were prompt,clean,and very polite. They unloaded it, unwrapped it, placed it in my kitchen, made all adjustments to make it level, cleaned up and took all the packing materials, asked if I had any questions about the fridge, and wanted to know if I was satisfied with everything. It was a wonderful experience.
Read Best Reviews of 9.2 Cu. Ft. Bottom Mount Refrigerator Here
fits nice in new space, recently moved to rented town house and this was a great secondary frig freezer for the space we had
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Recently moved into our new apartment and this fits perfectly well with the space I have. It's exceeded my expectations.
I was very happy this part for our fridge shipped quickly and was exactly what we needed! Our fridge stopped working and the repair guy said he could get this part for us for $188.00 I asked for the part number and got it here for a fraction on that price!! Love Amazon.com!!
