The Best Looking French Door Style Refrigerator in this size range with ice maker problems
Written: Oct 21 '07 (Updated Jan 17 '09)
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Pros: As close to perfect design & functions available, high quality unique features.
Cons: Having to push buttons to get from water>ice, parts will take a while to get.
The Bottom Line: When comparing it's unique features, quality & price, this SAMSUNG is better than the competition. With it's ongoing icemaker issues I'd highly reconsider against purchasing this make-model.
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| walkerpkw's Full Review: Samsung Refrigerator RF267AARS |
UPDATE: 12-8-2007. We had no ice production from Sunday though Wednesday the previous week. I called Best Buy to schedule a technician on Friday December 7th. A simple fix, I'm glad he found the problem. The ice maker assembly was improperly installed. The ice maker housing assembly needed to be pushed in by 1/2 an inch. A FACTORY flaw! Someone at the factory failed to properly install this component correctly causing ice and water to form on and around the exterior wall of the mechanism.
UPDATE: 3-21-2008. And DOWN GRADED to 3-Stars from 4. I had to call again because of another "No Ice" problem. Between the time you call for a technician until the part is installed is (and was) about 3 weeks. Turns out they've known about a "build up" of ice between the hopper and the housing wall. It causes the "Ice Detection Arm" to jam, telling the refrigerators "Brain" to stop making ice. This service bulletin number can be given to the technician over the phone possibly saving him a trip out: "No.2007.11.07" Models:RF267**. While you're waiting for the parts to arrive from Korea, just try and remove the build up yourself, you'll have some ice in a few hours.
Once again, Ice maker malfunction for SAMSUNG. Does this vital information get back to the Factory?
Update: November 5th 2008: Downrated to 2 stars. I called for a technitian to come out and look at my icemaker again. They know there's something wrong and I don't think there's a fix. yet. This last fix in March-April 08 over corrected the problem now it's doing only 2-3 tray dumps or about 18 cubes a day. I'm note alone here, just google "RF267AARS" and you'll see what I mean.
SAMSUNG RF267AARS:
25.8 cubic feet - French Door with Freezer on the Bottom - Stainless Steel - LED Display - outside Water & Ice Dispenser
Purchase date: 9-19-2007
Delivered on: 10-11-2007
Purchase price: $2287.99 w/o tax Replaced for $199.99 through the Best Buy Performance Service Plan (PSP)
List: $2499 est.
Having recently purchased a new refrigerator back in July
2006 and getting a taste of new technology in refrigeration, that new fridge developed problems that could not be repaired, so we replaced it with this new SAMSUNG RF267AARS. So not to confuse anyone, I did do a review on another fridge in May 2007SAMSUNG RM255BARB, (another review you may also want to take a look at). Please also keep in mind this refrigerator is the largest in it's class and you'll need to consider this before purchasing. It will fit into a standard 36" wide slot but sticks out beyond 36 inches. I keep mine 4 inches from the back wall so it will breath and makes it stick out 39" total from the outside of the handles. As with any appliance this size, I recommend paying or having it delivered. Even at it's widest point it will not fit through the average door without taking something off your house or the fridge. It was entertaining and worth the $50 watching these 2 guys walk it through my back patio door into the kitchen. This can only be compared to getting a small elephant through your house door.
My wife and I spent as much time on the first purchase July 2006 as we did just recently with this replacement SAMSUNG RF267AARS. After getting the go ahead to pick out another comparable or identical unit in the store, I ask the salesman if we don't find what we're looking for then what? The salesman said "Go online or shop another (competitors store) and if you find any brand we carry at any other store, we'll order it". That's exactly what happened. We didn't see anything on the floor with the same size & features so we left the store empty handed and wound up at Lowe's. A much different selection but I noticed a big price difference ( 10%), so if you're like me and don't want to pay $200 to $300 more for the same exact thing, shop prices too!
OLD FRENCH DOOR STYLE VS NEW:
When you check this fridge out, notice when opening the doors either one at a time or at the same time, this SAMSUNG incorporates a better designed sealing feature. Rather than the old rubber to rubber gasket method that wore out quickly this SAMSUNG features a "Vertical Plastic Sealing Strip" that rotates 90 degrees as you open and close the door making perfect contact (SEAL) between both the left and right doors.
We were sticking with the 25 to 26 cu ft and all the high end features we had previous, ice/water in door, LED display, stainless steel. After about 20 minutes of opening and closing doors on 6 other competitive fridges at least a hundred times and thoroughly examining all features, the shelf spacing, imagining where everything was going, it was unanimous. We felt more confident with this design than our previous purchase as I'll explain further on. When comparing we noticed similar models on other brands with almost identical features yet the quality of this SAMSUNG surpassed any of the other brands we looked at yet it was priced competitively. When sliding compartment doors, opening and closing several times we noticed the smoothness of operation as well as a solid feel.
WHAT WE REALLY LIKED:
I'm going to say that this French Door style is going to give you more versatility and storage. You'll be able to see and get to everything much easier. I'm able to put larger or wider items in this SAMSUNG RF267AARS than any other style of fridge I've owned. While it does have more than enough freezer space for me, the thought crossed my mind to eliminate the freezer in the garage. This would make things cramped and you'll have to dig through everything to get to your favorite frozen snack, but it is an option. While this SAMSUNG is the top of the line and has all the bells and whistles I could not find anything close to it's combined quality, functionality and price.
The front door LED display makes temperature settings exact or within 1 actual degree. The front display allows you to turn on a night light, turn on or off the door alarm as well as the typical temperature settings. There's a "POWER FREEZE & POWER CHILL" mode for getting things colder, faster. On the down side to this display is you'll have to teach small
children how to use it. For a glass of ice & water there's a button to push to go to ICE>CRUSHED ICE>WATER, every time it's pushed it'll go to the next mode as there is ONE outlet now for ice and water.
When we loaded everything from the old fridge to the new one there was a big difference, MORE opened space! I've had problems in the past with all these larger items in the fridge at the same time.
You could only have but 3 of these 4 things at one time, #3 or 4 had to go in our outdoor patio compact fridge:
(1) Gallon of milk
(2) Picture of Ice tea
(3) 1/2 gal O.J.
(4) 1.5 liter of Wine or boxed wine
Now these are all in the new fridge PLUS room for more soda cans and bottled waters or what ever!
After we finished loading and had room to spare it took only a few hours before it was making ice and temperatures had stabilized. WE have not had any problems with ice or ice production as in our prior Samsung ice maker. Ice cubes are crescent shaped and well formed in one piece. I can now make a picture of Margaritas and there's plenty of ice for more.
CLEANING:
As with any stainless steel appliance it's recommended you use a dedicated stainless steel cleaner such as "Sprayway" for the doors. It not only cleans but protects and helps prevent smudges and water marks that may spill from the water dispenser. In the lower freezer compartment the main drawer hopper can be removed easily as well as the upper slide in basket. Inside the fridge you may remove the 4 shelves independently and the 6 door bins easily as well, same with the 2 Vegetable & Fruit Drawers and large PANTRY compartment drawer.
FEATURES THAT MAKE THIS OUTSTANDING:
Cool Select Pantry:
Twin Cooling System or 2 separate evaporators keeping the fridge & freezer independent. You have 2 cooling zones in the refrigerator, there's a very large and wide "PANTRY" compartment tray at the bottom. It has 3 different temperature settings, from DELI>FRESH>CHILLED. You may select 1 of 3 temperatures down to 34 degrees separate from the fridge itself.
When “Deli” is selected, the temperature of the pantry can be kept around 41 degrees. When “Fresh” is selected, 38 degrees. When “Chilled” is selected around 34 degrees.
We keep deli meats, cheeses, bottled waters, or anything we want to keep longer with out spoiling or just keep ice cold as mine is at 34 degrees.
Power Freeze: You can set the temperature between 8°F and -14°F or if the door was left open or if you need to quickly freeze easily spoiled items. You'll have to microwave your ice cream just to scoop it out when you select freezer temps below ZERO!
VEGI & FRUIT BINS:
2 separate drawers that slide in and out easily as well as independent control setting for "Humidity Control" To remove them entirely for cleaning you'll need to remove the 2 lower refrigerator door bins. This Samsung includes a clear plastic Egg Bin that holds at least 2 dozen eggs.Ours is filled with small condiment containers such as mustard/catsup/mayo packets.
Power Cool: You can set the temperature between 34°F and 46°F. Or It can be helpful if you need to quickly cool easily spoiled items or if the temperature in the fridge has warmed dramatically, i.e. if the door was left open a while.
There's an energy save mode button, If condensation occurs on the doors, turn the Energy Saver function off.
SECURE AUTO CLOSE:
The secure auto close feature will automatically close a door that is slightly open. If the doors do not close an alarm chime will sound, not that loud but you can hear it from 20 or more feet away.
VERSATILITY:
Inside the main refrigerator compartment, the top shelf is not only adjustable up and down over 6 inches, it is a 2 piece design with the left side having a 9 X 17inch flap that you can push up allowing very tall items such as 2 liter soda bottles or even a magnum champagne bottle. The 2 piece middle shelf is 32 X 17 total with the right side having a slide-In feature allowing an additional 13W X 8D X 15H opening. In other words 1/2 the right side shelf converts to allow more tall items. Some of the other fridges we looked at did some of the same transformations but not all at the same time.
The well lit freezer is ample and the main drawer has 2 dividers and a 28L X 4W basket style shelf (upper inside face of door) with a flap that opens up to allow one 16" frozen Pizza box. While the freezer drawer is opened
you'll see an additional slide out drawer 27W X 15D X 8H with a small removable clear plastic 10W X 15D basket for storing frozen chocolate cookie dough balls (which I have now). This drawer can also accommodate items up to 8.75" in height, that's where my beer mugs are....
I'm going to also add that this is the first time I've been able to place everything I have or will want to have in a refrigerator plus a little room for more.
CONS:
The only one we can come up with is when filling a glass with ice and water from the dispenser you have to press the button on the front digital display to dispense each item. There's one flap for the 3 items instead of the typical 2. I personally don't mind this and I'm sure you'll get over it too. The ice maker does make a loud noise when the ice hits the hopper but I'm glad to have ice "period"
PIZZA BOX SLOT: great feature but you'll have to move what's in the way, out of the way for the box to slip in. No big deal, (just a heads up to prepare for) so if the "door is opened" to long, the alarm won't "Beep on You"
Having experienced a technician come to my house 4 times to perform service and replace parts on a previous Samsung refrigerator purchase you need to anticipate a 3 week turn around time. Most if not all parts for these are not stocked in the USA and will come directly from Korea. Hopefully you won't have a problem and it is rare but does happen.
FINALLY:
I'm going to also add that this is the first time ever I've been able to place everything I have or will want to have in a refrigerator plus a little room for more. It's a very quiet, well lit, very versatile refrigerator you'll love to own for years to come. Expect typical replacement of the water filter and this Samsung will remind you in 6 months via the front LED display.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 2287
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walkerpkw
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 in Computer Hardware, Cars & Motorsports |
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Location: Granite Bay California
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