Introduction

The fridge itself was more or less a traditional stainless model, albeit with a very striking visual pattern on it. That alone would have been enough to hold our magpie attention spans for a few minutes at least, but an unusual variation on a traditional layout made us look a bit closer.

Similar to Samsung’s earlier Quatro Cooling fridge—which had four separate compartments, two of which could be adapted to intense cold for additional freezing or thawed out for additional fresh food storage—this particular model could turn the bottom right compartment into either a fridge or freezer compartment. The idea of flexible storage is intriguing, but unlike the Quatro, which had balanced fridge to freezer proportions in its upper sections regardless of how the bottom two portions were utilized, it seems like using the alternative function here could result in marginalized freezer storage.

Design & Usability

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It’s a gorgeous refrigerator, so much so that it received more attention than some of Samsung’s newer, more innovative displays.

If a French door fridge and a side-by-side had a child, this might be what it looked like. It has a traditional French door layout for fridge access, but down below, the freezer is split across the middle into a left and right compartment.

The stainless exterior was embossed with an exotic pattern that's as attractive as it is unique. We imagine it would actually act as a deterrent to fingerprints and smudges: the difference in color would make the odds of a hand print visually popping out at you decrease.

The wide-open fridge section is nothing we haven’t seen before, with a traditional set-up seen in French door models. We confess… the massive number of waters bottles was pretty impressive, especially considering that bottled water sold for around €2 at the convention center in Berlin. There are two vegetable drawers in here as well, although they were also stuffed full of bottled liquid.

The freezer is broken up into two compartments, utilizing drawers for most of the storage. The left side was being used as a traditional freezer compartment; the right was housing water bottles, quickly chilling them to make them suitable for consumption. The freezer compartments have individually alterable temperatures, which results in assorted cooling possibilities such as defrosting items and the aforementioned quick chill.

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Features

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Very few accessibility issues… unless you count the number of conference goers who were also drawn to the shiny exterior.

We didn't measure it, but the fridge seemed quite spacious. Perhaps it was the ploy by Samsung to stock it full of bottles in a room full of thirsty conventiongoers, or perhaps it was legitimately huge. Either way, it didn’t seem like accessing fresh food would be a problem here. The freezer drawers slid out with no fuss, but the deep drawers seem like a great place to put food you never want to see again.

The relegation of controls to the inner portion of the door handle made for an unusually streamlined look. Typically this is achieved by placing the controls inside the fridge, but in this case you get the smooth exterior with the convenience of external controls. The buttons themselves required a small degree of force to manipulate, so you don’t have to worry about accidentally defrosting your freezer when you get a midnight craving for a cheese sandwich.

Conclusion

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This Samsung refrigerator was, primarily, a visual delight.

The Samsung KSC IEC 62552 is an unusual blend of French door practicality, side-by-side design, and stainless steel with exotic flair. A convertible compartment that could be either fridge or freezer meant it got plenty of onlookers at IFA.

Once you get past the sparkly exterior, it becomes clear that this may not be the most sensible of fridge designs. In order to take advantage of the extra fridge compartment, customers would have to halve their freezer's capacity, which is tough to do if you've already got a lot of food stores. The most disappointing thing about the fridge, though, was not being able to find out if we may see it on sale in America.