Kenmore Elite 27.6 cu. ft. French-Door Bottom-Freezer Refrigerator ENERGY STAR®

Our most helpful positive review

3 people thought this was helpful.

This fridge looks and works great! March 25, 2011

I have owned this fridge for about two months now and it is an excellent choice for your money. First of all it looks great! The stainless steel is very classy looking and easy to clean (I have a 2 year old so cleaning the fridge is a regular occurrence in my home). It has plenty of fridge space for long items and the shelves are move/removable on each side of the fridge. So, if you need more storage for taller items you can rearrange or remove any/all of the shelves in the fridge. The shelves on the door are plenty big enough to hold things like milk, condiments, salad dressing bottles, and other items of that general size. The fridge maintains a consistent temperature and runs very quietly.

While some people have complained about the ice maker and storage bin being in the refrigerator door, I have not had a problem with it. It makes and stores plenty of cubed ice for my family of 3 and has a "Turbo Ice" feature that ramps up the ice making capability should you have the need for a lot of ice quickly. And of course you could always make your own bags of ice ahead of time and store them in the freezer. The only problem I have had with the ice maker being in the door of the refrigerator is that it weighs down the door and makes it easier to accidentally slam the door shut.

The freezer is a great size for my family. We have plenty of stuff in there and there is still room for more. The solid upper and lower bins are great for ensuring that skinny items do not fall under or behind the bins. The temperature control in the freezer is great. There is little to no frost on anything in our freezer, meaning its doing its job correctly.

The only drawbacks I have noticed so far is that the two fruit/veg drawers are not able to fully open with only one door of the refrigerator open. Meaning, if you need to open either of the drawers completely, you need to open both of the refrigerator doors. Also, the bottom deli drawer runs the entire length of the refrigerator so it is impossible to open with only one refrigerator door open. Also, the filters for this fridge are a bit expensive, even at other on-line retailers - so expect to pay a pretty penny for your filters with this fridge.

If you do your research and are patient, you can get this fridge for more than 30% off the MSRP. Before any energy star rebates, I got this fridge for a little more than 33% off the MSRP - so keep your eye on the price and buy when the time/price is right!

Our most helpful negative review

3 people thought this was helpful.

Kenmore Elite French Door Refrigerator has the worst ice maker September 02, 2010

   Kenmore Elite French Door Refrigerator has the worst ice maker I've ever encountered. It's one of if not the slowest at making ice. I've had several refrigerators with ice/water dispensers in the door and NEVER had nay issues with any of them. I purchased this model understanding the ice storage in the door was a smaller than normal capacity and was okay with that. I didn't know however how slow ice making was in this model and that if you don't use the ice right away (I use it at least once a day)  the ice sticks together at the bottom of the bin in large clumps and won't come out either cubed or crushed making the ice maker virtually useless. It's also one of the loudest when the ice drops into the storage. I called Sears about it and they sent out a technician saying it might be the temperature wasn't being maintained properly and ice was melting and refreezing causing the clumping. The technician after telling me this a very new model so he didn't have any experience with it said couldn't find any way to prevent the clumping saying everything was working at it should and the temperature was as it should be. He suggested pounding on the bin to break up the ice. So I buy a state of art refrigerator and every time I want ice I have to open the ice maker compartment and pound on the bin before I use the dispenser in the door. Why bother having an ice maker in the door! How long before the bin breaks if you have to pound on it? He confirmed that LG ice makers were one of the slowest at making ice and my only option was to wait and if enough purchasers complained LG might come up with a fix. So please log your complaints! Although I may make Sears that this model back and get something different. He also stated that ice makers in the door versus actually in the freezer are more problematic.

    They tout french door models having more storage than side by sides but that is not the case with this one. I was not able to fit all the items that came out of my smaller cubic foot side by side back into this model. I purchased this because of what looked like added storage on the left door because of the ice maker design but those bins are very narrow and most items I normally store in the doors are too wide to fit in the bin. I purchased the model without the self that slides under and back and regret it. I find there is not enough room for tall beverage containers even with the shelves set to allow the middle shelve the most room possible height wise. A lot of beverage containers are too tall and the right door shelves have limited adjustment so you really only have one door bin for tall beverage containers. Even a half gallon milk carton has to be tipped to clear the bar under the upper shelve to be able to store it on the middle shelve. I liked my old refrigerator better. Don't recommend this model at all.