Verdict

Pros

• Unbeatable storage flexibility and features
• Incredibly stable temperature
• Custom temp centre drawer
• Reasonable running costs
• Practical and desirable design

Cons

• Some may want more freezer space

What is the Samsung RF24FSEDBSR?

The Samsung RF24FSEDBSR is a stunning top-of-the-range refrigerator that raises styling to a new level. With its twin opening side-by-side fridge doors at the top, mid-section pull out drawer with a choice of 4 pre-set temperatures and deep pull out freezer drawer with auto-pull out inner drawer, the Samsung RF24FSEDBSR has a massive 510 litres of storage space.

Defrosting is a job of the past thanks to frost-free technology and it also comes with Samsung’s Twin Cooling Plus system, which uses separate motors to cool both the fridge and the freezer separately. The fridge air is kept at a very high humidity to help keep perishables fresher for longer and the dryer freezer air is claimed to create less freezer burn for better tasting foods.

With the plumbed in filtered water and ice dispenser, this Samsung RF24SEDBSR really does cater for all the refrigeration needs of a busy household. This is a domestic appliance of style and substance with a price to match.

SEE ALSO: Best Fridge Freezer Round-up

Samsung RF24FSEDBSR: How does it look?

It may be the size of a US-style fridge freezer, but the Samsung RF24FSEDBSR eschews the traditional side-by-side door arrangement for a more traditional top mount fridge and bottom freezer. The top double opening French doors effectively double the useable width for cooling compared to a US side-by-side, enabling you to stuff in the biggest pizza or turkey and everything at a glance in the fridge.

Below this is a mid-height shallow drawer that has been designed to align with the height of a standard kitchen worktop to keep your kitchen lines intact. At the bottom is an easy to pull out and very deep freezer drawer. The sleek easy-open handles are rounded and flow into the lines of the machine.

Filtered water is always on hand to be dispensed, just place your glass against the rear long push lever for filling or press the shorter rear lever to dispense ice into the glass, either crushed or cubed – well semi-circular as this is the shape that the machine produces. The touch sensitive control panel and blue illuminated display, which  lights to the touch and turns off seconds later, completes the contemporary look with classy aplomb.

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Inside the freezer drawer

Samsung RF24FSEDBSR: How much can you fit in?

Half of a Waitrose deli counter at a push; it’s enormous. On opening the doors you will be amazed at the huge amount of space that is available in the 348 litre fridge compartment, made exceptionally user-friendly by the wide opening and well thought out storage furniture. There are 4 tempered glass shelves, two of which flip-up or half-slide for storing tall or oversized items, 2 clear vegetable storage drawers with individual humidity controls and 6 deep door pockets for additional storage.

The mid-drawer is very flexible, adding a further 39 litres of storage space with a choice of 4 pre-set temperatures and a fully adjustable Smart Divider to further customise the space. This is the perfect place to store frequently used items and the temperature ranges include meats (-1C), cold drinks (1C), deli snacks (3C) and party dishes (5C). In test we found beer and white wine simply gravitated to this space but we can see how this would prove very handy for a busy family or budding Master Chef.

The fourth and lowest compartment of the Samsung RF24FSEDBSR is a 123-litre freezer drawer that glides out on rollers. This space offers with an auto-out upper drawer, which can be easily removed for a good rummage, and a deep lower basket. It is once again a very flexible space but for all the Samsung’s sheer size and stylistic bluster, 123 litres is not actually a massive amount of freezer space over and above a typical 60cm wide fridge freezer, which generally offer around 90-100 litres of freezer space.

SEE ALSO: Best American Fridge Freezer Round-up
 

The mid-drawer is perfect for storing pre-prepared party snacks

Samsung RF24FSEDBSR: How noisy is it?

This is a very quiet machine with its near silence occasionally punctuated by the ice maker dispatching its contents into the container behind the dispenser. With the general ambient noise in any house, you would have great difficulty in picking out this refrigerator even when both compressors are running. We would even say Samsung’s published figure of 41dB was a little conservative as our equipment had difficulty detecting the machine running over the 39-40dB background noise – which is the same noise level you would get in a library – sshhhh!

Samsung RF24FSEDBSR: What is it like to live with?

The Samsung RF24FSEDBSR would be a fantastic addition to any kitchen and definitely a showstopper with its unique look and sleek design inside and out. The combined with enormous storage capacity. The stainless steel exterior and sleek easy-open handles oozes sophistication.

The huge interior of the fridge with its flip-up and pull out shelving options enables you to store oversized or long items with ease. For example, its capacious width would easily cope with a large whole dressed salmon. The bright LED interior lights illuminate every corner and the addition of Multi Flow cooling vents on every shelf should ensure your food is always stored at an even temperature.
 
The mid-drawer is at a handy waist height to store easy-access items and with the choice of four temperature settings, which makes storing the party drinks and canapés a breeze. The freezer is a convenient drawer-within-a-drawer configuration, so you can  stack food with no danger of it all falling out when the door opens. That can be a problem with side-by-side style fridge freezers that have shelves rather than drawers, and we have had leg of lamb shaped bruises to prove it.

For such a beast of appliance 123 litres of freezer space is nothing like as capacious as the fridge compartment, but the space is well thought out. The top freezer basket/drawer is removable if needed, but is most useful for storage of smaller items that would just fall to the bottom of a single larger freezer bin. In day-to-day use the drawer/bin configuration makes very good use of the space available even if there is some danger of items consigned to the very bottom of the larger bin slipping out of date before you find them.

Add to all this the excellent filtered water dispenser and the ice maker that churns out up to 4.5kg of ice semi-circles (they are not cubes!) per day, and this Samsung proves itself a versatile performer. It’s a feature packed premium product from Samsung and worthy of a place in the finest kitchen for its looks and features alone.

Samsung RF24FSEDBSR: How well does it perform?

Simply put this Samsung turned in the most consistent set of temperature results we have yet to see with any fridge freezer, let alone the more challenging US-style ones. We set the fridge to 4 degrees, the freezer to -20 degrees and loaded compartments for medium household usage of 1kg food / 10litres capacity in the freezer and 0.5kg food / 10 litres in the fridge.

It took a while to assemble a whopping 35kg of fresh food too. In the freezer compartment this included 2 litres of room temperature water with a middle sensor to check the fresh-to-frozen and power-off defrost rates of the freezer. We mapped the temperature in four different zones of each compartment over a 48-hour period, taking readings every minute for greatest accuracy.

Staring with that cavernous fridge compartment, the temperature dropped very rapidly and settled down with very little variation between the average temperatures on any shelf. At just /- 1 degree from top to bottom, Samsung’s Multi-flow cooling certainly does what it sets out to achieve. As is usual the drawer remained most consistent (as the cool air doesn’t roll out when the door is opened) keeping within a fraction of a degree of 3 degrees C for the whole 48-hour test period.

The top shelf was similarly exceptionally consistent with just half a degree of variation either side of 3 degrees C unless you opened the door for an extended period. Even then it regained 3 degrees within minutes once the door was closed. The middle and bottom shelves did show a marginal variance as the compressor cycled in and out, but at just /-1degree, the result is the best we have tested.

And then there is the mid drawer, which we set at 5 degrees ‘party dishes’ mode (on account the Pino Grigio tasted great at this temp). This compartment’s temperature remains spectacularly stable, absolutely flat-lining at 5 degrees C throughout the test.

In the freezer compartment the Samsung brought the 2 litres of room temperature water to -18 degrees at its centre in a speedy 18 hours – ideal for freezing leftovers and picked fruit etc. Throughout the 2-day test (opening the doors 6 times per day) the air temperature range measured an average /- 2 degrees through the compressor cycle, which is very stable indeed. Moreover, there was no significant temperature difference between the top and bottom drawers.

Over the 3-hour power-cut test the internal air temperature of the freezer showed a steady and gentle rise to -10 degrees (air temp) and -15 degrees (food temp) with no peaks irrespective of where your food is in the compartment. The Samsung packs some good insulation and would be food safe for at least 18 hours of electricity outage.

Samsung RF24FSEDBSR: How much will it cost to run? 

Considering the sheer size and versatility of the Samsung RF24FSEDBSR it costs relatively little to run, averaging around 499KWh per annum, which would cost around £74.85 per year at an average of 15p/kWh. This is slightly more than the quoted Samsung figures of 427KW (£64.05), but still a very respectable result and money well spent.

Compared to rivals, the Samsung RF24 costs a smidgen more per year than the LG GSL545NSYV (£52.62pa), but considerably less than the Panasonic NR-B53V1 (£105pa).

Should I buy the Samsung RF24FSEDBSR?

Well, it’s not cheap at around £2,000 but if you are looking for a class-leading US-sized fridge-freezer to wow your friends and give you plenty of storage solutions then this is one for you. The contemporary design, great storage, on-demand ice/water, stellar performance and reasonable running costs make it simply the best big fridge available today.

Compared to alternatives it perhaps lacks a little for freezer space, but what space is there is well-organised and the addition of dedicated mid-shelf section adds something that none of its rivals can match.

Verdict

If you want the absolute best possible, the Samsung RF24 delivers exactly that. It’s classy, practical and performs faultlessly.

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*Based on the average UK household with ambient temperature between 17° and 20°C, opening fridge and freezer 6 times per day each, running 365 days per year.

*Based on an average 15p per KWh at time of review

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