Verdict

Pros

• Vast fridge and freezer capacity
• Innovative storage design
• Door-in-door feature
• Incredibly quiet

Cons

• No in-door ice or water dispenser
• Slightly low power fail result

What is the LG GMM916NSHV?

The imposing LG GMM916NSHV is a stunning 4-door fridge freezer with massive chilling and freezing capacity made even more useful through a plethora of innovative storage solutions. A push button operated door-in-door feature gives instant access to frequently used items in the refrigerator and inside offers tilting baskets, pull out sauce carriers, folding shelves and handy extra space pockets. The LG’s freezer is no less well-appointed with easy-pull drawers and shelves, along with a dedicated stay-fresh storage box and six capacious door pockets.

This model uses LG’s top-spec linear compressor motor with a 10-year guarantee, offers multiple LED lights in both compartments and is complete with touch sensitive digital controls on the lush stainless steel front. To further maximise storage capacity there is no on-board ice/water dispenser (which often robs fridge or freezer space) making this LG ideal for the biggest of families or the most adventurous of cooks.

LG GMM916NSHV – Design

At over 90cm wide and 180cm tall with four doors, the LG GMM916NSHV will be a focal point of your kitchen. The fine stainless steel finish was very good at resisting finger prints and the touch-sensitive control panel is finished in steel-colour to match. Touch the panel and the panel indicators light up in vivid blue and turn off automatically when you have finished adjusting the controls.

The handles are inset in the base of the upper doors and top of the lower doors, finished in contrasting black and offering a large area to grab. The upper right hand door to the fridge sports an unusual button, discretely finished in chrome. Press this and an outer door pops open to reveal an array of door pockets, adjustable pockets and shelves.

For produce like milk, juice, butter and other frequently used items, this allows quick access to your everyday produce without letting too much cold air out of the main fridge compartment. The capacity of these door pockets are close to a small fridge in their own right, so there is plenty of space for a wide variety of chilled goods.

The plenty of space theme continues on the inside with the four main doors opening to reveal whopping fridge and freezer compartments. Each offers a vast array of clear plastic bins, drawers and containers along with both rigid and folding glass shelves.

The extra space pockets that sit in the base of the fridge (below the door pockets when closed) are a genius idea and we found these pockets became the go-to space for spreads, eggs and bacon. This clean looking interior is illuminated with LED lighting to the sides and overhead, the brightness of which would not disgrace a football stadium.

Side LED lighting is also deployed in the freezer compartment, which offers the best storage options that we have seen in any model we have tested to date. Designed more like a fridge, the concept is all about ease of access through a range of drawers, shelves, door bins and a dedicated container with sealing lid for freezing smelly or messy items with ease. The freezer outfitting is complete with a freestanding twist and serve ice maker.

For ease of movement the whole machine is on easy-glide casters and can be locked into position with its drop down feet. If you like to get behind your fridge to spring clean this is a great feature. If we gave a separate score for ‘design’, the LG would romp home with a comfortable 10/10 in this respect.

LG GMM916NSHV – Storage

It might actually be easier to say what you can’t fit in it! With its 400-litre fridge space and 200-litre freezer, the LG GMM916NSHV is properly vast in absolute capacity. Yet its real beauty is the way LG has maximised every square inch of the space in both the fridge and the freezer compartments.

In the upper section, the enormous door pockets have been designed to take all your bottles, jars and cans and there is a dedicated sauce carrier. This pulls out completely so you can take your condiments and sauces straight to the worktop or even the dinner table. The right hand has a selection of its own pockets plus access to some of the items stored from the outer door.

There is so much crystal clear plastic you actually have to start filling it up to see where you can put more stuff. The left door offers two big traditional door pockets plus an innovative tilt-out fresh food basket with vented base tray and humidity control, ideal for all those half-chopped vegetables.

There is a full-width fixed shelf over the two large capacity salad crispers in front of which are the aforementioned extra space compartments with sliding glass lids. The four remaining shelves are fixed at the back and cantilevered, making them very easy to tilt and move position. One of these folds back on itself for storing taller bottles should you really not have enough room for bottles in the doors pockets!

The multi air flow cooling vents and replaceable air filter take up a little bit of space in the fridge but promise even, odour eliminating cooling throughout the compartment.

Down in the freezer, the headline 200 litres of storage is bolstered with a great mix of drawers, trays and shelves plus six large capacity door pockets. These are far larger than the usual ‘small items’ door pockets and offer convenient storage and easy access to frequently used items without have to rummage.

This model also comes with a plastic container with sealing lid to store a wide variety of frozen goods without affecting other food in the compartment. The twist and serve ice maker holds a good couple of trays worth of cubes.

LG GMM916NSHV – Noise

Linear compressor motors are inherently quiet and we had to put our ear against the GMM916NSHV just to check it was working to start with. During the day our test facility has an ambient noise around 40dB, similar to most domestic kitchens, and the LG did not register on our equipment. Waiting until the dead of night we barely registered more than the ambient 38dB background noise.

Interestingly, the LG’s compressor cycle is about an hour long however its cooling phase – the bit where the compressor is running and making a noise – is barely 15 minutes in every hour. When the compressor is not running for the other 45 minutes per hour, the LG is totally silent.

LG GMM916NSHV – Performance

Loading up the LG to 0.5kg of produce per 10 litres of fridge space and 1kg of frozen food per 10 litres of freezer space took a large Tesco’s shop in its own right and we’re not entirely convinced what we are going to do with so many peas.

In the freezer, we also placed 2 litres of room temperature water to simulate fresh-to-frozen cooling. With temperature probes in the key places, we set the freezer to -18 degrees C and the fridge to 4 degrees C, and ran the LG over two days. During that time we opened the doors around six times per day, often saying things like “wow, that is a lot of peas”.

The LG’s linear compressor motor and air-circulation cooling is very efficient at rapidly dropping the temperatures in both the fridge and the freezer. This had a very positive impact in our fresh-to-frozen test, the GMM916NSHV freezing the two-litre room temperature sample to -18 degrees C in a very swift 14 hours. This remained absolutely spot-on -18 degrees C for the rest of the two-day test. The top two shelves in the freezer averaged -17 degrees C over the test and bounced between -15 degrees and -19 degrees over the hour long compressor cycle. The lower drawers averaged -18 degrees +/- just one degree. Perfect.

In the three-hour fail test all freezer spaces showed a steady rise in temperature of +8 degrees on the upper levels of the freezer, +7 on the lower and + 6 in our frozen food sample. This would make LG’s claim of a 12-hour power fail resistance just about on the limit of the food defrosting (going above zero degrees) and we would suggest 10 hours would be a safer bet for peace of mind.

In the fridge the short compressor cycle and air-flow cooling demonstrated quite a ‘peaky’ temperature, although the average temperature on every shelf or drawer was well maintained and consistent throughout the test. The top shelf averaged 5.5 degrees +/- 1 degree and the mid shelf was at 4 degrees C, also +/- just one degree. The salad drawer maintained a near perfect 4 degrees C at all times with very little variation indeed. A textbook result.

LG GMM916NSHV – Running Costs

With ‘only’ an A+ energy rating and 455kWh per year noted on the energy label we would expect the LG GMM916NSHV to cost around £70 a year to run. However, try as we might through making sure the test room was at 18-19 degrees C and that we were opening doors frequently as part of our new pea-based diet, we could not get the LG to use more than 1.1kwh per day – or just 401.5kWh per year.

That would bring the estimated running costs down to around £60 per annum at an average energy price of 15p/kWh. Hot kitchens and more frequent opening would increase this of course, but given the sheer capacity and versatility of this LG, that is a very good result indeed.

Should I buy the LG GMM916NSHV?

You will need a big kitchen and deep pockets to accommodate the GMM916NSHV and the lack of an ice/water dispenser may put some off. However, if you are looking for maximum fridge and freezer space, few models can compete with the LG’s vast capacity and incredibly storage versatility.

It is liberally scattered with nice design touches and innovative features, too, and its imposing looks inside and out make for a first class design statement in the kitchen. Its outstanding performance and impressively low running cost only reinforce the feeling this is LG at the top of its game.

The only alternative we would recommend looking at is the Samsung RH57H90507F Food ShowCase. It too has a smart “door in a door” design, but has a built-in water dispenser as well. And if you’re looking for cheaper alternatives, head to our round-up of the best American-style fridge freezers.

Verdict

An outstanding four-door fridge freezer that will delight the most dedicated foodies.

Trusted Score