Beko BFFD3626SS French-door Refrigerator Review

The Beko BFFD3626SS has a featureless exterior, with just handles and smudge-proof stainless steel.

Opening the top two doors reveals the refrigerator compartment, which features a standard layout of shelves and bins, though you will notice the crispers look a bit bluer than usual, thanks to their produce-boosting LEDs.

The bottom two doors on the device conceal two separate freezer compartments. The leftmost one has three drawers, one of which is the ice reservoir. The rightmost partition has one drawer underneath two shelves.

About the Beko BFFD3626SS French-door refrigerator

Dimensions: 71.63” x 35.75” x 27.75” (H x W x D) Measured capacity: 8.1-cubic-foot refrigerator compartment, 3.5-cubic-foot freezer Finishes: Stainless steel Dispensers: Internal ice and filtered water User manual: Beko BFFD3626SS French-door refrigerator manual

What we like about the Beko BFFD3626SS French-door refrigerator

Its four-door design provides additional freezer organization

Most French-door fridges have a single freezer drawer, typically with a shelf or two to help organize its interior. In practice, most items just end up in a disorganized heap down there.

However, a four-door fridge like the BFFD3626SS offers additional organizational options, by splitting the freezer compartment into two separate spaces and stocking each with multiple drawers. This makes it much easier to organize and store your frozen foods.

While there is a minor downside to this design (we’ll get to that later), this layout will be a huge boon for consumers who’d prefer to keep things tidier and more easily accessible.

Its blue-light crispers can keep salad greens fresher, longer

One of the most interesting features on the BFFD3626SS is its Active Fresh Blue Light system. The claim is that the blue LED lights illuminating the crisper drawers can improve freshness and vitamin content by supporting photosynthesis.

Some studies do suggest blue light can help improve the shelf life and retention of nutrients in leaves, but we’re skeptical of the claim that it directly supports photosynthesis: We measured the light intensity in the drawer and found it was too low, around 500 Lux, and this doesn’t provide enough photosynthetically active radiation.

Even if the lights seem a bit too dim to operate exactly as claimed, there is evidence this technology will still extend the shelf life of your salad greens. We’re excited to keep an eye on this technology to see how it evolves over time, and whether or not this Beko innovation becomes standard in crispers everywhere.

In terms of normal crisper functionality, these crispers are excellent, retaining the perfect amount of humidity to keep your leafy greens from wilting or rotting prematurely.

It has an internal ice-maker and water dispenser

While we do prefer through-the-door ice and water dispensers for convenience’s sake, internal variants are still quite convenient. The filtered water dispenser is located on the left wall of the fridge and the ice-maker drawer is the topmost fixture behind the leftmost freezer door—both are easy to access.

What we don’t like about the Beko BFFD3626SS French-door refrigerator

Inconsistent temperatures mean calibration is important

Refrigerators have a difficult job. They need to maintain a relatively narrow band of temperatures: Anything warmer than 40°F will allow bacteria to proliferate and anything colder than 32°F will freeze items you didn’t want frozen. On top of only having 8°F of wiggle room, temperatures can fluctuate during defrost cycles or when someone opens the door and lets all the cold air out.

The Beko BFFD3626SS struggles in this regard. The ideal temperature for a refrigerator compartment is about 37°F, and we measured the BFFD3626SS averaging about 39.14°F with temperatures in both the top and bottom of the fridge compartment exceeding the 40°F threshold. These aren’t safe conditions for long-term food storage.

We highly recommend calibrating the fridge colder than the manufacturer-specified settings, to ensure you’re not inadvertently shortening the shelf life of your perishables.

It has less storage space than the average counter-depth fridge

The downside of the BFFD3626SS’s four-door design is that drawers aren’t as space efficient as shelves. While the freezer drawers provide enhanced accessibility to frozen foods, in terms of raw storage, you’re missing out—and a counter-depth fridge already doesn’t have much space to work with.

Of course, we aren’t going to be too hard on the BFFD3626SS for this, since it’s a deliberate design choice that does provide the tangible upside of enhanced organization and ease of access. Just be aware that you may not have enough room to fit wide pizza boxes or be able to store quite as much as you would in a traditional counter-depth French-door freezer.

What owners are saying

Unfortunately, there aren’t enough reviews available online to draw meaningful conclusions on how well the BFFD3626SS is doing with its owners. As a new fridge from a relatively new brand (and not exactly a budget buy), this isn’t unexpected. We’ll update this section as more user reviews are posted.

Warranty

Beko offers a 2-year warranty on all their major appliances that covers parts and labor. They will additionally cover any part of the sealed system (compressor, evaporator, condenser or filter) for up to 5 years.

Considering the industry standard warranty is a single year for parts and labor, we’re big fans of Beko going above and beyond here. The issue some U.S.-based consumers may face, however, is a lack of familiarity with Beko as a brand—the Turkish manufacturer has been around since the 1950s, but is still relatively new to the American market, and therefore may not carry the same cachet as Maytag or GE.

Regarding their U.S. infrastructure, David Riordan, the national service manager at Beko Home Appliances, says, “At Beko, we contract with service agencies in each market where appliance dealers sell our products. As for parts, we are a direct supplier and our parts distribution center is located in Bolingbrook, Illinois, just outside of Chicago and centrally located in the U.S. market. We always have an open line of communication with our dealers, service agencies, and customers to make sure we are providing parts promptly and with the best service possible.”

Should you buy the Beko BFFD3626SS French-door refrigerator?

No

While there are elements we like about the Beko BFFD3626SS—its crisper tech is interesting and the four-door design will be a boon for anyone who likes an organized icebox—as a whole we don’t believe it’s a good value.

For starters, you will have to calibrate this fridge lower than manufacturer-specified settings to ensure its sometimes inconsistent temperatures stay in the safe zone. While this is easy to do if you know you should do it, most consumers won’t, resulting in reduced shelf life.

If you’re looking for another four-door option, we recommend the Samsung RF23J/22K series. They’re slightly older models and can be pricey as well, but they have rock-solid temperatures and some great organizational features. We also recommend researching refrigerators equipped with a flex drawer, such as the Frigidaire Gallery FG4H2272UF, which is our current pick for the best fridge you can buy.