Verdict

Wider than the norm, the Bosch Serie 6 KGE49AICAG fridge freezer offers far more storage space without taking up too much more room. Storage inside the fridge section is versatile and there are simple drawers in the freezer. Performance and running costs are generally very good – freezer temperatures proved rock-solid, although fridge temperatures tended to fluctuate a little more.

Pros

• Lots of space inside
• Excellent freezer performance
• Great insulation

Cons

• Fridge temperatures a touch variable

If you’re after a big fridge freezer but can’t quite fit in an American-style model, the slightly oversized Bosch Serie 6 KGE49AICAG could be for you. A little wider than most 70/30 fridge freezers, this model offers a huge amount of fridge space, combined with a decent-sized freezer.

Decent running costs combined with good performance make this a solid all-rounder in instances where size matters.

Bosch Serie 6 KGE49AICAG design and features – Solid and simple storage

• Tall and slightly wider than most fridge freezers
• Generous space inside
• Slightly more compact, but still usable, freezer space

Measuring 2010 x 700 x 650mm, the Bosch Serie 6 KGE49AICAG is both tall and a little wider than most 70/30 fridge freezers. It remains slimmer than American-style fridge freezers, but the extra width may mean this model doesn’t fit into a dedicated space in your kitchen, so measure first.

From the outside, the fridge freezer is a plain slab of stainless steel. It’s neat and fairly unobtrusive, though.

If you can fit it in, then the extra size will be handy – you get 302 litres of room inside the fridge. That’s a cavernous amount for fresh food.

It’s well organised inside, too. There are four shelves and a bottle rack that can hold six bottles. The top three shelves and bottle rack can be moved around to suit your needs, and there’s a good degree of height flexibility with multiple positions for two of the shelves.

As with other tall fridge freezers, reaching the back of the top shelf can prove tricky: some people may well require a stool.

Underneath the shelving are two drawers. The first is for fish and meat, which keeps food at close to 0ºC.

The bottom drawer, for fruit and veg, is massive; it features a slider for picking the desired humidity level. In this drawer you’ll easily be able to fit fruit and veg of all sizes, including leeks.

In the door you’ll find four pockets. There’s one free pocket hanger, which allows you to move them around to suit the food you’re storing. Since this model doesn’t have a water dispenser, there’s plenty of room in these pockets. Whether you’re wanting to store a 4-litre milk carton or juice cartons sideways-on, there’s lots of space available.

You also get two four-egg holders, which means that once you’ve used the eggs from one tray, you can remove the tray from the fridge to create greater room for other items.

Bosch has installed an LED light at the top of the fridge, towards the front of the unit. It’s bright and illuminates clearly downwards.

Open the freezer door and you’ll discover a standard 111-litre freezer. Made up of three drawer compartments, the middle unit is sizeable and deep; there’s a slim compartment at the top, and a half-depth drawer at the bottom.

Bosch provides two freezer blocks, which are handy for keeping a cool bag cold. Strangely, there’s no ice cube tray with this model, although they’re hardly expensive if you wanted to source one yourself.

A standard control panel found at the top of the exterior of the appliance lets you set the fridge and freezer temperature individually. Here, you can access two special modes.

Super-cooling in the fridge compartment turns the fridge to the coolest temperature for 15 hours before returning to the set temperature. This is handy if you have friends round and need to chill drinks fast.

There’s a Super button for the freezer compartment, too. An automatic mode detects when warm items have been placed into the top compartment of the freezer, automatically reducing the temperature of the freezer to freeze food fast. It’s possible to turn on the mode manually, too; this uses more power, but freezers food faster and is useful if you’re topping up with a big shop.

A Holiday mode turns off super freezing and sets the fridge to 14ºC. This helps save energy if you’re going away for a long period – but you shouldn’t keep any food in the fridge when this mode is activated.

The Serie 6 KGE49AICAG isn’t frost-free, but it does come with Bosch’s LowFrost technology, which is designed to reduce the build-up of ice, without increasing running costs.

Bosch Serie 6 KGE49AICAG performance – Solid and reliable, with great insulation

• Rock-solid freezer performance
• Slightly more up and down fridge temperatures
• Dlow to warm up

To test fridge freezers, I set the fridge to 4ºC and the freezer to -18ºC, packing in ice blocks to simulate food. Temperature sensors are then installed to monitor the fridge freezer over a period of a few weeks, taking a reading every 15 minutes.

In the fridge section, it took a good day for the fridge to settle to its normal temperature pattern. Here, the Bosch Serie 6 KGE49AICAG runs a compressor cycle that allows the fridge temperature to rise, hitting a maximum of 5.6ºC, before dropping the temperature back down. As a result, the fridge cycles between 1.6ºC and 5.5ºC, hitting an average of 4.24ºC. That’s a slightly wider range than I’ve seen with other fridge freezers.

It’s a different story with the freezer compartment; I saw very stable temperatures here, averaging -18.8ºC, typically moving between -19.2ºC and -17.6ºC. That’s impressive.

To see how well the Bosch Serie 6 KGE49AICAG could cope with a power cut, I turned off the power or three hours. In this scenario, the temperature in the fridge compartment rose to just 5.6ºC, while the freezer reached just -15.7ºC. Both are impressive figures and demonstrate how well this fridge freezer is insulated.

This model has a C-rating on the EU energy label, consuming 190kWh per year, which works out at an annual cost of around £29.93. Given the 413 litres of space on offer, that works out to a low running cost of just 7p per litre.

Bosch Serie 6 KGE49AICAG conclusion

Although the fridge temperatures bounce around a little more than I’d expect, the freezer compartment is rock-solid. Running costs are impressive, too. If you’re after a lot of fridge freezer space, the Bosch Serie 6 KGE49AICAG certainly offers spades-full in its slightly over-sized body. If this slightly wider model won’t fit in the allocated space, the Samsung RB38T633ESA provides a similar amount of space in a standard 60cm-wide body thanks to thin insulation. Otherwise, check out my guide to the best fridge freezers for alternative choices.

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