GE GFSS2HCYSS 22.0 cu. ft. French Door Refrigerator Review

Introduction

Front

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The {{product.name}} is a French door refrigerator without a through-the-door water and ice dispenser. There's a slight curvature to the top of the doors, and the stainless steel finish has a horizontal grain.

All controls for the fridge are inside on a panel at the top of the refrigerator compartment.

Interior

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The top part of the {{product.name}} is a refrigerator, while the freezer drawer slides out from the bottom.

Left and right doors are mirror images of each other with the exception of the butter/dairy drawer. The middle shelves are adjustable.

The freezer drawer features two wire shelves -- one that rolls out with the freezer door, and another top shelf that contains the ice maker.

The ice maker takes up about a third of the top freezer drawer.

Back

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The back of the {{product.name}} has a water hookup for the internal ice maker. The water hose has a non-standard fitting, so be prepared for a minor hassle when connecting it to your plumbing.

Sides

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The sides of the {{product.name}} are gray.

Running Cost

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Assuming that electricity sells for 9.1 cents per kilowatt-hour, the {{product.name}} would cost you $43.52 a year to run. That's low, compared to other fridges out there.

Power Use Per Cu Ft

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In addition to the total energy use, we look at energy consumption as a function of how much space the fridge has, since using a little more energy might be worth it if you're cooling a lot more food. The {{product.name}} chills a single cubic foot with 0.11 kW-h of electricity, which is about average among all fridges, great and small.

Fridge Temperature

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The top shelves of the refrigerator compartment in the {{product.name}} were on average about four degrees warmer than the bottom shelves. That points to inadequate airflow, and cold air falling to the bottom of the fridge cavity. Storing a gallon of milk on that top shelf, however, may make it go bad more quickly.

Despite the variance based on location, the internal temperatures of individual food packages remained very consistent, rarely varying more than a half a degree.

Freezer Temperature

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As the ice maker and vents are at the top of the freezer compartment, food packages in the top drawer were about a degree colder than the bottom drawer. Still, the internal temperatures of each food package stayed consistent -- which indicates that the {{product.name}} does a good job protecting against the slight thawing and refreezing that leads to freezer burn.

Vegetable Drawer

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Veggies won't dry out in the {{product.name}}, as the simulated one we put in the vegetable drawer lost a mere 0.11 grams of water per hour. That's far above average for the fridges we've tested.

Power Loss

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When you lose power, you'll want the food in your freezer to stay cold. The {{product.name}} has no problem with that -- in fact, 48 hours after we pulled the plug, the internal temperature of the food inside the GE's freezer hadn't yet thawed.

Freezing Performance

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The benefit of "flash freezing" food is that ice crystals don't form. When food thaws, those crystals change the texture of the food. At 2 hours and 3 minutes, the {{product.name}} took a little longer that we'd like to freeze room-temperature food.

Usable Space

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With four adjustable shelves, one storage drawer and two crisper drawers, the {{product.name}} offers 10.34 cu. ft. of storage space. That's less than what the manufacturer states, but we only measure the usable space, accounting for shelves and vents and light fixtures.

Both doors feature three shelves each, and all are deep enough to hold a gallon of milk or two-liter soda bottle.

The freezer is made up of two drawers, one which nests inside the other. Together, they offer 3.05 cu. ft. of storage space.

Below are the manufacturers own figures for capacity, and our own measurements for usable capacity. The manufacturers figures do not take account of the shelves, drawers and other removable features, but our measurements do account for the space these take up.

Ease of Access

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Drawers slide with some hesitation, and heavy glass shelves are somewhat difficult to reposition as they must be hooked into slats mounted on the back of the fridge. Some users may find bending down to use the freezer to be difficult, especially since items must be piled on top of each other.

Controls

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All controls for the fridge are inside on a panel at the top of the refrigerator compartment.

The fridge and freezer have separate temperature controls mounted on the interior light fixture at the top of the fridge. Rather than displaying temperature, however, the thermostats offer a single digit numerical display.

Water Dispenser

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Ice Maker

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The ice maker takes up about a third of the top freezer drawer.

Cleaning

Noise

Other Features

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Conclusion

Energy Efficiency

Based on how much usable space it offers and in yearly energy expenses, {{product.name}} is a very energy efficient fridge.

Performance

Though the fridge and freezer both have shelf positions that are warmer and cooler than the overall temperature, food stored in the {{product.name}} stays a consistent temperature, and veggies in the vegetable drawer don't dry out.

Storage Space

The {{product.name}} has a wide, capacious fridge. The freezer is small, but can easily hold wide items like frozen pizzas.

Usability

Some people will inevitably dislike the bottom-freezer setup of the French door design, though it can be convenient having fresh foods at eye level. One thing's for sure: fingerprints don't come off the {{product.name}}'s stainless surface easily.