Frigidaire Professional Series : FPHC2399KF 36in 22.6 cu. ft. Counter-Depth SidebySide Refrigerator Review

EDITED to add comments after 6 months of use:

People continue to curse at the stupid design of the water dispenser, and continue to spill water all over the place.Now I am also noticing that the plastic that covers the buttons for ICE and WATER on the panel has cracked and split (after 6 freaking months!).Reducing the star rating from original 3 stars to 2.I would NOT recommend this unit, especially for the asking price.If you can find one on clearance, maybe, but again, there is NOTHING special about this that qualifies it to be priced above $1K imo.
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Replaced a GE fridge with this model:

Due to my space limitations, I narrowed it down to the similar Kitchenaid model (kind of wish I had gone for this), and the Whirlpool at the same level.Bought online sight unseen fwiw.

Honestly, I don't see why the "PROFESSIONAL" designation on this.Nothing about the quality makes me think it's anything other than a very average refrigerator.Cheap, plastic bins just like every other average unit I have seen.

PROS:
- Best thing about this is the good looking AND practical stainless steel finish.It's great really - NO smudging (except on the handles) AND it's magnetic (something rare in SS models).

- "theater" lighting...when you open the doors at night, supposedly it doesn't blind you immediately, but rather gradually, as the lights ramp up

- Has a changeable air filter.I like this...no more arm and hammer boxes taking up space and tipping over. OTOH, another filter to replace.

- External, digital temp controls for both sides.I like the idea of this...but in reality, how often are you going to be changing the temperature?If you have to change it a lot, maybe there is a problem with the thermostat?

- this is a small thing, but I really like that some of the side compartments in the fridge have a non slip surface.Very nice touch.Instead of your jars of jelly sliding around and clanking into each other (except when the door closes, see below), things stay nicely in place.CONS:
- OMG THE DOOR SLAM.This one kills me, and for such a small thing, makes such a big negative impression because it's EVERY time you deal with the fridge.When you close the door, there is NO "cushion" for lack of a better or more technical word.On my very low end GE (and most every fridge out there for that matter), there is a built in governor I guess that slows the speed of the door so it doesn't just slam closed.I think what happens is that the resistance is just greater as you approach the closed position.Whatever that feature is, WP for some reason decided to leave it out on this fridge (maybe none of theirs have this, no idea).It is sooo annoying. We have gotten used to it more or less, and most of the time we carefully and slowly close the door so it doesn't rattle the whole kitchen.But anybody else (who of course is also used to the normal, slower fridge door behavior) closing the fridge door is always startled and usually jumps when the door SLAMS shut with a huge rattle.This is just piss poor design imo, and is a big negative. I am sure we will eventually get used to it, but shouldn't have to.

- another horrible, non standard design implementation re: water dispener.Unless you have an extremely wide cup (think wide coffee mug or even soup bowl/mug, you can't just push your glass into the unit expecting water to hit.Nooooo.Because of the design, any normal rim sized glass will be overshot by the water squirter, so you have to wrap your hand around the glass and then insert, to make up for the space.Never seen another fridge with this problem, and like the door slam issue, because it's so unusual, every time someone not living in our house goes for water, they end up getting it all over them and the floor.That tells you right there it's not just me being picky.I swear they designed the thing and never actually tested it in a real live situation. Inexcusable imo.

Because these two things have relatively easy workarounds, I am not going to go into below average territory.I doubt there is a perfect fridge out there, but I do wish I had gone for the Kitchenaid.I wonder if their engineers made similar mistakes.

3 stars, barely, and that is assuming that this unit will last many years w/o probs.

IMO, look at the Kitchenaid before buying this one.

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Product Description:
Frigidaire FPHC2399KF Professional 22.6 Cu. Ft. Counter-Depth Refrigerator - FPHC2399SS. SpaceWise Organization System. PureSource Ultra Water Filtration. PowerPlus Ice And Freeze. Pro-Select Controls. Energy Saver Plus Cycle. Automatic Alerts. SpillSafe Shelves. Stainless Steel Finish

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