Whirlpool - 25.1 Cu. Ft. Side-by-Side Refrigerator - Black

Firstly, find and read the review “ An Engineer Reviews His New Fridge”. Second - buy a $20 digital wireless fridge thermometer on Amazon. The refrigerator is exactly what I expected from under $1k price and 25 cu.f. - it made cheaply but has great space. Ideal for a backup fridge for basement or garage. Delivery guys didn’t remove the doors to get it through basement doors but instead just removed the bottom grill and opened fridge doors one by one as the went through the 30” wide door - it worked! The fridge is a bit loud due to the fan (see pictures below), compressor noise is fine. Look at the pictures with removed back cover - they might explain some load noises as water is evaporated using a heating element similar to old electric kettles ;-). Overall, it’s simple and I hope will be reliable. Compressor- Embraco EM3Y60HLP with 5 years warranty. The thermostat is a bit of a pain - that’s why I recommend to use a digital thermometer. Overall - very happy, my first Kenmore 29 cu f fridge died while we were on vacation and the meat got rotten so bad that I had to throw the fridge out due to smell. The LG compressors used in Kenmore have defect, now I’m on the second Kenmore fridge (still the best usability) and it can die in four years as well. But at least now I don’t have to worry about all the food that would be lost if it dies, so kind of an insurance policy ;-)

Awesome Fridge,it fit perfectly in my kitchen, it's very quiet and gets really cold. Love it.

Love the refrigerator, great style and nice size ( 25.1 cu. ft )for the price I paid and not noisy at all to me.

Super nice look and well built!! It's a great addition to my business!!

As an 'older' (I prefer 'experienced' lol) engineer, I am quite picky. I have had this fridge for one month and will list the highs and lows with the star rating with 5 stars as best. 1. Delivery - 1 star. The two guys were an accident waiting to happen. And it would have happened had I not taken out my video camera to record their attempt to squeeze the fridge in without removing the doors. When they saw me filming, they removed the doors. (I had carefully measured and there was no way it would fit - it would just get scratched). Also, I told Best Buy before delivery that it was tight and Best Buy allotted an extra 15 minutes for them to remove the doors. But the delivery guys wanted to get home early, I guess. The one star is for the nice people at Best Buy and 0 stars for the installers. 2. First Impression - 4 stars. It's big, looks great, and is quiet. (I know some have said it's noisy. I guess Whirlpool Quality Control is not consistent.) Because the fridge is big, I can find a place for all my groceries. The stainless steel looks good after I buffed it with some expensive cleaner/polisher. 3. Doors - 1 star. I had Whirlpool factory service out to make the refrigerator door close properly. No success. When the door is halfway open, it swings open all the way and hits the stop with a thud and the bottles on the door crash. The tech said there's no adjustment mechanism, so I should hold the door. That's hard to do with groceries in my hands. The Whirlpool tech was knowledgable and polite - a welcome change from the Best Buy delivery mugwumps (That's what Popular Mechanics magazine used to call incompetent technicians or assembly line workers). 4. Temperature - 3 stars. Being an engineer, I bought a thermometer to measure the temperature. It's been consistent. I don't like that I have only 4 choices of temperature control. I keep it on 3 which gives the proper refrigerator temperature of 36 degrees F. I set it on 4 sometimes. There is no 5. I notice that the shelves are often foggy with condensation when I open the door. The Whirlpool tech said that's normal. Hmm... 5. Lighting - 2 stars. It's bright inside but the bulb at the top of the fridge shines right in my eyes. I put a 2 inch sticky-backed felt furniture pad over the bulb case. Whew. 6. Freezer - 3 stars. Man, am I glad I got this fridge without the icemaker! Fortunately, I have a great recipe for ice, so I don't need an icemaker lol. I have SPACE in the relatively large freezer to put things without leaning down (I'm tall). There's not much adjustment you can do with the shelves. 7. Shelves - 3 stars. The durability of refrigerators today has gone into the dumps. Instead of aluminum shelves which last almost forever and can take abuse, these plastic shelves are cheap. The drawers at the bottom of the fridge for veggies don't slide well because they're plastic sliding on plastic. The Whirlpool tech put some 'shelf grease' on them and they now slide well. Did anyone reading this ever hear of that? lol. He said you can buy it online. I just might. My old fridge had aluminum wire shelves. This has glass. I am afraid to put a hot dish on the glass. Does anyone know if I should be concerned about the glass breaking from a hot dish being put on a cold glass shelf? 8. Glug! Bloop! Blop! That's what the fridge sounded like after it was on for a few hours - VERY loud sounds of water bubbling! I looked online and a website said to check that the holes behind the crisper were not clogged. Being an engineer, i decided I would play Whirlpool Repairman and try to fix it myself. I saw that the holes were covered with factory tape. I pulled the tape off and voila! No more sounds like your stomach makes after eating at Boston Market. Later, I asked the Whirlpool tech if I did the right repair and he said he never heard of that sound but if it stopped, then fine. I should charge Whirlpool for a service call! 9, Would I recommend this? Yes... pending how it performs over time. This appliance is obviously not built to last like my old fridge (a GE which lasted 40 years and needed only one belt replaced and was still working when I got rid of it due to a kitchen remodel). I will be thrilled if this Whirlpool lasts 10 years and doesn't require a lot of service. When you manufacture things like shelves and motor parts from plastic instead of metal, the goal is to keep the price down at the expense of durability. For now, I'm pleased with this product and (with the exception of the bad delivery guys) I'm pleased with the Best Buy in-store personnel. They were helpful and a pleasure to do business with. Note: My review was NOT part of a promotion and I don't even know what they mean by a promotion. But if I can save money by joining in some 'promotion' I will be glad to! lol. If Best Buy or Whirlpool sends me some money, I might even be persuaded to take out my criticism of the horrible delivery service! (j/k)

The setup allows for easy access and an at-a-glance view of both your refrigerated and frozen food. The only down side what that there are larger gaps between shelves. Without adding organization shelving there can be a lot of wasted space.

I purchased a Whirlpool side by side refrigerator two months ago. The model number is WRS312SNHM. I'm disappointed with the quality of this appliance. There are two very visable issues. The first concerns the grill at the bottom of the fridge. I thought it was damaged on the left side and ordered a new part. I have attached a picture. It sticks out and the top is open with part of the door mechanism sticking out. This is in contrast to the right side that is tight to the fridge and has no hole at the top. This very visable left side of the fridge looks cheap and broken. The second issue concerns the so called stainless steel finish which is actually on the door handles and no where else. The material on the two doors is so poor that using "a mild detergent" will not remove the finger prints and leaves streaks and smudges. My effort to use all kinds of products meant to clean the shiny "whatever it is" leaves an oily residue on the appliance and hands. These cleaning products designed for this so called stainless material simply does not work on this fridge. To spend about $1300.00 and recieve something that appears broken and smudged up all the time is disgusting. I'm in my 60's and remember appliances that were elegant, quiet, easy to clean and of high quality lasting 20 to 30 years. Today profit reigns.

It’s very nice and quiet. Lots of room to stock your groceries. I only have one complaint. Wish there was an extra drawer to put cold cuts and cheeses. There are only two. One for fruits and one for veggies.