Samsung - 25.5 Cu. Ft. French Door Refrigerator with Internal Water Dispenser - Stainless steel

We were looking for a white French Door Refrigerator that would not break the bank. It also had to have a roomy interior to hold enough food for our family of six. This well-designed refrigerator met these requirements. We were able to pick it up on sale for $1,399 and were excited to find that this model (RF261BEAEWW/AA ) included an interior water dispenser which frees up door shelf space. We can easily fill a glass or liquid measuring cup, but the dispenser area is too small for large pitchers. We love that the water filter does not hang down into the food storage area like many other models and instead is located between the vegetable drawers. There are LED lights in the ceiling of the fridge and in each vegetable drawer area providing light to all parts of the fridge. When our fridge is full, the lights by the drawers make it easier to see items on lower shelves. Finally, if you need room for taller items, one interior shelf has a "cut-out" portion that slides back that we use for a few wine bottles, juice pitchers or two extra jugs of milk. The freezer also has several features we enjoy. The handle on the freezer lifts up slightly to help break the air lock. This allows taller people to open the freezer without having to stoop too much since the handle pulls up towards them and not just straight out from the front. The ice cube maker produces ice cubes at an acceptable rate but the cubes are smaller than we are used to from our old fridge. Finally there is a separate drawer the same width and depth as the overall freezer drawer that can be slid back revealing items beneath it. Very handy for keeping smaller items such as cans of fruit juice from getting buried. We did have to call Geek Squad for repairs the day after the fridge was delivered due to the fact that the compressor and other metal tubing in the area behind the freezer was vibrating against a metal sheet making quite a loud rattling sound. This was fixed by a contracted repair person who simply moved some copper tubing slightly and reattached some foam padding that had slipped down a bit which had allowed the compressor to vibrate against some metal. About a month later the sound returned so we had them come out and repair it again. Since then we only hear regular fridge noises. We are excited to own this fridge as it meets the storage needs for a family of six, is well designed offering ample storage space, uses LED lighting technology, costs roughly $5 per month in electricity and offers similar features of higher-priced refrigerators.

I have owned this unit for 3 years and enjoyed many of the features, design, and finish... but it is all overshadowed by a major flaw. Let's start with the good: Great stainless finish... it still looks great and has been reasonably easy to clean. Great interior space... it is very easy to adjust and move shelves so that there is plenty of available space for items of all sizes. Great interior lighting... the LEDs have worked great and keeps every nook well lit. The interior water dispenser is fantastic! This has been our favorite feature by far. It keeps the exterior of the fridge clean looking and clutter-free and is very simple to use...simply open the left door and place a cup/container against the dispenser button and enjoy a strong, cold stream of water. WONDERFUL! The in-freezer ice tub is also great! Fairly large capacity means we always have fresh ice. When full, we can pull the tub out and dump it into an ice chest and it saves us a trip to the store when heading out somewhere. The bad: The digital readout/control for the ice maker is confusing. If the ice indicator light is ON, this means the ice maker is off.... if the light is OFF, this means the ice maker is on. In my opinion, this is backwards. NOW FOR THE REASON FOR THE 1 STAR REVIEW... despite all the great things about this refrigerator/freezer combo, there is a flaw (a common one according to an internet search) that completely flips the review upside down. The drain in the rear wall of the unit that is supposed to drain water from the condenser freezes... so water that is draining through it freezes within it. This clogs the drain and any water dripping from the condenser, now drips through the rear wall and into the refrigerator where the water pools underneath the crisper drawer. This water pools up, hidden from sight, until it has nowhere to go but pour out from the front of the unit and onto your floor. By the time the water has reached this point, it is a large volume of water. It takes about 4 large bath towels for me to soak it all up. The remedy for this is to pull out the contents of your fridge so that you can open the rear wall of the refrigerator, unplug the unit, and let the ice clogging the drain to thaw until water passes through again. Then plug the unit in, restock the fridge, and wait for the drain hole to freeze and clog again. For this issue, I give this unit a 1-star rating and will never recommend this unit to anyone. Between this issue and an issue we have with our washing machine purchased at the same time, I do not care to ever purchase another Samsung product again.

This fridge has a 10/2017 manufacturer date. So far so good. According to earlier reviews, some were noisy which was a concern but the price outweighed that aspect. I do hear the pumps, fans and water trickeling from to time but the noise isn't to the point where some can't sleep as some previous reviews mentioned either here or other sites. Great storage. I appreciate the rolling shelf on the right side which allows milk to be stored and is at the right height for my kids to grab it. (The picture does not show that but we moved the milk down to where the wine bottles are.) The deli cooler works well and humidity control is better than other fridges I had in the past - where there was either too much humidity or not enough. I think this has to with the twin cooling. That said, as stated, I'd rather hear the fans working and defroster be efficient instead of having a broken fridge. I also appreciate the water nozzle. It does not leak and like my other Samsung fridge, the water tastes great. The only drawback is the size of cup or container in which you can fit under the nozzle. The small space can make it difficult to manipulate pressing the button either by your fingers or by the container itself. I.e. a Keurig water reservoir. But for a mug or glass, it works just fine. The freezer space is perfect and I haven't had an issue with the rollers. It closes itself too with light to moderate force. All in all for the price and those looking for a simple French door with an ice maker and water dispenser, this is the one.

I love this fridge. I have actually owned it twice. I owned it in stainless steel at a previous house before moving a couple times and left it due to the move and inability to transport the fridge. When I moved again (and hopefully the last) and needed to purchase a fridge (AGAIN) I immediately went in search of this model by Samsung. I have owned GE, LG, Whirlpool, and Samsung. I ended up with Samsung as the repeat purchase. The black stainless steel is absolutely beautiful. This fridge is so classy without the ice and water dispenser on the outside as an eyesore. This leaves more room in the fridge and a classier looking kitchen. There is still water and ice easily to be obtained though! The ice maker is in the actual freezer. This is fantastic for a few reasons. It's out of the way. It's less likely to break. It makes ice rapidly and in large amounts without needing to transfer to ice buckets. You can easily take a cup or glass and scoop a full glass of ice. Or you can easily pick one or two individual ice cubes as needed. The freezer easy open handle is the greatest Samsung feature! Minimal effort allows you to open that freezer and get ice or whatever you need. The water dispenser is the only reason this fridge is 4 stars. It's a bit flimsy and could have definitely been designed better. It says it's a one touch water dispenser but it's a pain to get the exact right angle to get water. A perfect rounded standard glass gets the job done. But pitchers, Keurigs, kid cups... not so easy. The shelf sometimes is in the way and I'm simply still figuring out how I like to orient my shelves anyway. So that's a work in progress that could be dealt with. The filter is super easy to change and the door bins have awesome capacity. The complaints about noise-- I haven't owned a fridge that doesn't make the random loud popping or water line sounds. You just learn to deal with it. Perhaps alarming at first, but not worth not buying the fridge if you're looking for a French door bottom freezer with no eyesore. I love the fridge enough to buy it a second time. If you don't need filtered water just get the model without the internal water dispenser. We don't buy bottled water so I like at least having the option.

We've had the refrigerator for 8 months and we've had to replace 3 different bins and last night we found another that has cracked. They only replace these bins for 1 year and after that they will run about 80 - 90 dollars. We also hear ice fall out of the ice bin quite a bit. I like the space that it provides. It's quiet. I did not like what we had to go through to get the first one replaced. The first one we received the door would not stay open. After reading on Best Buy's warranty page it said to first call the manufacture if purchased item under a year. So we called Samsung and after them trying to convince me that that was normal, we took a closer look at the door hinges and found a crack so we called Samsung and they came out and confirmed that it was cracked and called in a new hinge. They came back out and replaced the hinge and showed us that it had either been dropped or something smashed into it because the metal was severely bent. We called Best Buy the next day and said that we paid for a new refrigerator and not one that had been damaged. They agreed to replace it and a new one was brought but not before we had to deal with their rude delivery Greek Squad that tried to convince us to keep it. They mentioned that the new one on their truck could have been dropped too or something inside of it could be faulty. I replied that if that is the case, I would happily call them back. They went on to let us know that they would now be stuck trying to sell it. That we should know that somebody has to pay for it. And I replied back that they should purchase more carefully. They also berated us for calling Samsung instead of them but I replied that it is stated on their own website that if the item was purchased under a 1 year that we should call the manufacturer first. In the end they did replace it. They were rough with the delivery and they left a lot of tape on it and I was supremely happy when they just left. I will remember this experience and keep it in mind the next time for a big purchase.

We had this refrigerator for 2 weeks before returning to best buy for a different model fridge. Best Buy did a great job working with us. This refrigerator is laid out well, has great door space, and does a great job maintaining the temperature. But, it is so noisy it is best suited for a garage or somewhere else not near a living space. Noise issues include very loud popping sounds from the refrigerator whenever the compressor runs which must be caused by the casing or parts inside the refrigerator contracting as they cool down. The compressor is terrible from a noise standpoint. On start up it makes a loud deep rumble as it gets the refrigerant flowing, then when it is operating it has a high pitched noise that is very disturbing. Sitting 20 feet away from the refrigerator with headphones on I could hear the high pitched noise of the compressor. Samsung was great when we contacted them about the noisy compressor. They sent a 3rd party appliance repairman to our home. He thought the compressor was noisy and called the technical department at Samsung. The Samsung rep over the phone, without even listening to the compressor, said it was normal for the compressor to make these noises. After this we returned the refrigerator. About the compressor: it is one of the newer linear compressors that is variable speed and energy efficient with fewer (but noisier) moving parts. Armed with this information we searched for a new refrigerator with an older style compressor. We wound up buying a Samsung RF4287HARS which we love. The refrigerator does not pop when it cools down and it has the older style compressor that is quieter, has only a 5 year warranty instead of 10, and costs $60 / year to operate instead of $48 / year. Well worth the extra $12 a year and shorter compressor warranty for some peace and quiet. This is such a good fridge that we will just replace the compressor for $600 or so when it fails in the next 10 years.

We chose this refrigerator as it still has water dispenser and ice making functions (inside) and requires less depth than most 36" wide refrigs we looked at. For a small kitchen, this was an impt consideration- we did not want to overwhelm the space, but we wanted a full 36" wide refrig for maximum storage. We love it. Especially the separate cooling source for the refrig (not just cold air from the freezer) and digital temp readout. We also paid as much attention to where we bought our appliances as what we bought, since with digital components we planned to purchase a 5 yr warranty plan. We had Best Buy Geek Squad installation and also have the Geek Squad 5 yr warranty. THEY EXCEEDED MY EXPECTATIONS IN EVERY WAY. It was a far superior installation than our laundry appliances from another big box store, that slapped them in and left without leveling or explaining. This was wonderful. They were extremely careful and through, opening, unloading, cleaning up every scrap of wrapping, verifying the ice, water, explaining how everything worked. And when we researched warranty work and service plans, Best Buy stood out - I see why. The refrig is working well - has brought our kitchen into the modern era and has flexibility with shelves and storage bins ....it is huge!

My wife and I needed to replace an old Maytag French Door fridge/freezer combo (compressor went out, and age of unit didn't justify paying for the repair, so we bought this new Samsung). This one is "almost" the same as the one we had (which we really liked), except for three things: 1) Although Samsung unit has adjustable half-shelves, it has less configurability because the space between adjustments up and down is slightly larger. Top shelf at its highest setting still sits LOWER than the Maytag top shelf, so we're wasting some upper space on the upper shelf, and that puts less space for taller items on the lower shelves. 2) Maytag unit had internal CHILLED WATER dispenser. Although we "thought" this one did, too -- it DOES have an internal water dispenser -- the water is NOT CHILLED. It's not room temperature -- but it's NOT chilled either, which we thought we were getting (and paid extra for). 3) The ice maker is configured so that the ice tray sits below the ice maker and there's a slight "valley" in part of the tray, and the upper freezer sliding shelf. We're not sure HOW the ice maker knows when to stop (the old Maytag had an arm that raised as ice was deposited, and once the tray was full it turned off). This Samsung must have a sensor. In any case, due to the "valley" in the tray and the rear of the upper shelf, once the ice tray is full and the freezer door is open, at least ONE ice cube (sometimes a couple more), invariably FALL from the back down behind the freezer drawers and to the bottom of the freezer compartment. Other than those complaints, we DO like it. The door shelves are deeper than our old Maytag, so they hold more of those quick items we usually go after. One shelf splits into two and tucks under itself, opening up the front half for tall items. I'm guessing most new units are now using LED lighting instead of incandescent, and we like that. So overall we're pretty pleased with it. Just wish it had CHILLED WATER. Harrumph...