GE Profile PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator Review

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About the GE Profile PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator

• Year released: 2023
• Style: French-door with flex drawer
• Dimensions: 69.88" x 35.63" x 36.75" (H x W x D)
• Depth: Standard depth (also available in counter-depth)
• Measured capacity: 11.82-cu.-ft. refrigerator, 4.54-cu.-ft. freezer
• Finishes: Stainless steel
• Special features: Built-in Wi-Fi and smart features via GE's SmartHQ app, LED backlight, fold-under shelf, custom-temp flex drawer, two gallon-sized door bins
• Dispensers: Internal automatic-refill water pitcher and dispenser, internal ice maker
• ADA compliant: No
• Energy Star rated: Yes
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, SmartHQ app; allows for remote control of interior settings
• Future compatibility: Supports over-the-air (OTA) software and firmware updates and will notify users through the SmartHQ app when available
• Years of expected life: ~15 years
• Parts availability: Excellent
• Repairability: Eligible for on-site repair service during the warranty period
• User manual: GE Profile PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator manual
• Product page: GE Profile PGE29BYTFS Smart 4-door French-door refrigerator

The exterior of the GE Profile PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator is fingerprint-resistant stainless steel. The outside features only the robust handles attached to each compartment.

Opening the top two doors of this French-door fridge reveals its LED-lit interior, with two sets of shelves above a pair of crisper drawers.

The bottom right shelf folds up underneath itself, allowing taller items to be stored in front of it. The right door has a dairy bin at the top and two gallon-sized bins underneath. The left door has three bins and a built-in water pitcher.

Centered at the top edge of the fridge is a display that indicates the current temperature of the fridge and freezer, Wi-Fi connectivity, ice maker status, and AutoFill pitcher status.

The middle flex drawer houses a large open storage area with a movable can organizer. The bottom freezer drawer contains a large bin with a nested pull-out drawer on top of it, which is where you'll find the ice reservoir.

How we tested the GE Profile PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator

We have been testing appliances, including refrigerators, for over a decade. We had hundreds of refrigerators come through our former testing lab in Cambridge, MA: Top-freezers, bottom-freezers, side-by-sides, and French-doors.

The PGE29BYTFS underwent a standardized testing process that examined each element of its performance and feature set, from using sensors to ensure its temperature consistency to manually measuring all the available storage space. Read more about how we test refrigerators.

What we like

Temperatures in the fridge and freezer are consistent

One of the most important aspects of fridge performance is maintaining steady temperatures over time. If a fridge tends to run warmer or colder than you'd prefer, you can always adjust the settings, but if the temperature wavers over time it can be difficult to properly counteract.

Fortunately, the temperatures in both the fridge and freezer compartments of the PGE29BYTFS stayed very close to their set temperature. Temperatures in the fridge compartment didn't get much more than 1°F warmer or colder, despite defrost cycles and opening the door every so often to simulate regular use.

The same is true in the freezer as well, where temperature variation was under 3°F. It's especially important to maintain consistent temperatures in the freezer as inconsistency can lead to the cycle of defrosting and refreezing that causes freezer burn.

The LED backlighting makes it easy to see leftovers

One of our favorite innovations in modern fridge design is LED backlighting. Not only are LEDs much more energy efficient than a traditional bulb; they're also capable of brightening up every inch of the interior and lend an undeniably classier aesthetic to the entire fridge.

One of the more common sources of food waste is low visibility: You can't use up leftovers if they're hidden in shadows until they spoil.

Being able to quickly spot food also has another benefit: You won't let out as much cold air when you browse for ingredients. This is the main way users end up inadvertently raising the temperature inside their fridge, which results in the cooling system kicking into overdrive to cool everything back down.

If you're able to quickly spot your target and grab it, you can skip this energy-expensive reaction. As a result, the temperature will also be more consistent, which means your food won't spoil as quickly.

The refillable water pitcher is an excellent alternative to a through-the-door dispenser

While we like how through-the-door dispensers provide easy access to filtered water and ice, they can be a bit of an eyesore, and repair nightmare. They also require much thicker, heavier doors to hold all the infrastructure that makes the through-the-door design possible, which eats into overall storage space.

The GE Profile PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator tackles this problem with its AutoFill water pitcher integration. True to its name, this vessel automatically refills after each use, ensuring you always have cold, filtered water within easy reach.

The pitcher itself has a sleek design. It's easy to remove and replace, provided you use your other hand to steady the door. You can remove the pitcher from its enclosure and pour it, or leave it holstered and simply use the tap underneath its handle. We love how versatile this pitcher's design is.

The AutoFill pitcher is a great way to address the downsides of a through-the-door dispenser while still providing the convenience of on-demand filtered water.

Its flex drawer provides customizable storage for every occasion

If you've ever found yourself wishing you had an area dedicated to drinks, you should consider buying a fridge with a flex drawer.

A flex drawer is an adjustable-temperature drawer, separate from the fridge and freezer. In the case of the PGE29BYTFS, it also has its own customizable temperature setting.

You can set this drawer to one of four temperatures: Meat (29°F), Beverages (33°F), Snacks (37°F), and Wine (42°F).

Flex drawers are perfect for providing storage that's either too warm or too cold for the rest of your fridge. In this case, while the drawer does technically provide both, we would've liked to see a freezer temperature setting as well, like the Frigidaire Gallery GRMC2273CF has.

Even though the temperature range means you can't convert the drawer into bonus freezer space, we love the flexible functionality it provides.

The smart features add a lot of value

The full name of this fridge is the GE Profile PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator—with "Smart" included in its name, you know it comes with app support.

In this case the app of choice is GE's SmartHQ, which provides the usual functionality and then some. It covers the basics—remote control, notifications when a door is left open—and also goes above and beyond, both in its slick presentation and the number of settings available.

You can customize your notifications, and this fridge offers a lot of them. While "open door" notifications are common, SmartHQ has separate settings for the fridge and freezer doors. You can receive notifications when they're opened, or when they've been left open. Other notifications include: The temperature getting too high, when the water filter needs changing, if the ice-maker's reservoir is full, or if there's a leak.

The app also lets you toggle Sabbath mode, Turbo Cool and Turbo Freeze modes (these use extra electricity to cool more rapidly), and track the volume of water dispensed. It will even aggregate the fridge's daily energy expenditure into an easy-to-read graph. These data points are mostly just fun to know, but can be useful if you're keeping track of your hydration or monitoring your home's total carbon footprint.

As a delightful cherry on top, whenever you've updated the app you'll get a notification reading, "Update Successful: You have a happy appliance."

Its crispers do an excellent job retaining humidity

If you eat a lot of fresh veggies, the PGE29BYTFS has your back. According to our test results, these crispers hang onto humidity more than twice as effectively as the average crisper, which means your fresh produce will go longer without wilting.

We see a lot of different crisper styles in our testing, and well-performing crispers win top marks. Not every fridge has humidity-controlled drawers to keep produce fresh like this GE French-door refrigerator. Good crispers not only increase the overall shelf-life of produce, but also help save money and reduce food waste.

What we don’t like

The freezer's stated temperature is slightly inaccurate

This is a minor complaint, but still worth noting: The built-in temperature display can be off by several degrees, even while the fridge retains a consistent temperature. In the past, when we used to control the temperature with a dial, we may not have had exacting standards. Today, when a digital readout tells you the fridge is at a specific temperature, it's reasonable to expect the fridge to maintain that exact temperature.

In the PGE29BYTFS, this discrepancy is small enough to not pose any real problem, but it's still worth noting. When we programmed the freezer to be 0°F, we found items inside were frequently a little over 3°F on the upper shelf. Because the temperature in the freezer can wobble by up to 3°F, that means items on the top shelf sometimes have internal temperatures around 6°F.

Proper freezing requires the temperature to be at or below 0°F, so turn the temperature in the freezer down to ensure everything gets properly frozen.

Again, for context, this is a common problem for many modern refrigerators. While not ideal, the PGE29BYTFS's temperature inaccuracy is by no means the worst we've seen. Just adjust the freezer to be slightly colder and you'll maximize the longevity of your frozen foods.

The notification for an open fridge door comes later than we would expect

Anyone who's woken up to an accidentally ajar door and spoiled food knows fridge notifications can be a lifesaver. In the case of the GE Profile PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator, our only complaint is that the door-open notification comes too slow.

We clocked the time it takes to get a notification about an open door at just over 15 minutes. We stuck our hand into the compartment to roughly gauge how much cold air had stuck around and it felt like it was mostly all gone by that point.

While getting a notification is still better than no notification—food tends to hold onto its temperature pretty well, even when not surrounded by cold air—we wish there was an option to reduce the wait time. Dialing it down to five or 10 minutes could help users catch the issue faster and save some of that cold air before it escapes, saving your fridge some work.

You could theoretically close the door on the open dairy bin lid, breaking it

While we don't see this issue causing many problems, it's something owners of the PGE29BYTFS should be aware of, so they can exercise proper caution.

The dairy bin sits high up on the door, so much so that when the lid is open it extends above the top of the fridge's frame. Shutting the door while the lid is open like this would trap it between the door and frame and could easily shatter the lid.

Fortunately, the lid automatically falls closed unless somehow obstructed. So in order to break the lid in this way you'd need to keep it propped open as the door closed.

Carbon footprint for the GE Profile PGE29BYTFS

Materials used

The Profile PGE29BYTFS has an energy-conscious build with steel (textured) case and stainless-steel finish. Shelves made of glass and drawers of high-density plastic. GE specifies the refrigerant used in this model is R-600a, a low-GWP (global-warming-potential) hydrocarbon refrigerant—which lowers direct refrigerant-emission impact compared to older high-GWP systems with CFC/HCFC/HFC refrigerants.

Energy efficiency

The annual electricity consumption of the GE Profile PGE29BYTFS refrigerator is listed as 681 kWh/year, which is average for top-freezer refrigerators. This model is Energy-Star certified as meeting (or exceeding) the energy-efficiency requirements for its category.

Under typical U.S. electricity rates (~$0.12 to $0.15/kWh), expect the PGE29BYTFS to cost around $80–$95 per year to run. Your actual costs will depend on your utility rates, usage, and maintenance.

Given the use of the low-GWP refrigerant R-600a, and a premium build (steel case, stainless finish, glass shelving, advanced electronics), a plausible total lifetime carbon footprint might be on the order of 4.5-5 t CO₂e.

Data and privacy

If your appliance has a smart component, connects to the internet, or features a companion app, chances are it's collecting a wide range of information about you, including your habits and lifestyle. If your gadget has a camera—a robot vacuum, for instance—it may even be mapping your home. Scary, huh? Different companies have varying privacy policies and handle the data they collect in different ways.

GE collects data from users through its SmartHQ app, which consumers use to remotely control such things as the refrigerator's temperature settings and track water usage. GE collects both personal (name, contact info, product model/serial, purchase/installation date) and non-personal data (device/usage data through cookies, web/app activity, device information) for the purpose of providing the service (remote alerts, diagnostics), improving products and services, maintenance/support, analytics and marketing (including personalized offers).

GE also shares this information with trusted third-party service providers (installation, repair, marketing, analytics) and in certain business transactions like mergers or acquisitions.

What this means if you own a GE smart fridge

When you connect your GE smart refrigerator to WiFi and the SmartHQ app, you are allowing the appliance to transmit usage, performance, and diagnostic data—which may include how often you open the door, temperatures, whether filters need replacement, etc.

The data collection supports features like remote control (if you change the temperature from your phone), alerts (door left open), maintenance notifications—which is helpful for convenience and potentially extending the life of the appliance.

At the same time, that means GE (and its service/analytics partners) will have access to quite detailed operational data about your appliance, and possibly your home network device info (IP/MAC) and usage patterns.

Users who care about data privacy should review the SmartHQ privacy policy, check app permissions, manage which services are enabled (voice assistants, voice control, third-party integrations) and possibly limit the connectivity if they prefer minimal sharing.

Because major components (model/serial, purchase date, software versions) and usage metrics are collected, if you ever want to revert to “offline” mode (no WiFi) you’ll lose remote features but gain more privacy.

You can access GE's full Privacy Statement and Policies.

Accessories and add-ons to consider

Complete the kitchen suite

What owners are saying

The GE Profile PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator has an excellent 4.7-star average rating across appliance retailers.

The most common point of praise is the LED wall, which many users report is a feature they didn't know they needed until they had it—we tend to agree with this sentiment. Users also like the flex drawer, auto-fill pitcher, and overall storage space.

The negative reviews primarily revolve around a unit that didn’t work on arrival, or malfunctioning auto-fill pitchers. While we didn’t encounter either of these problems, some reviews also complain about the dairy bin lid, which we can certainly understand from experience.

Warranty

The base warranty covers parts and labor for up to one year. GE will also replace the water filter if you find a defect within the first thirty days. Profile fridges have additional coverage as well: The sealed refrigeration system has parts and labor covered for up to five years.

We're happy that the most important part of the fridge has a longer warranty. It helps make the purchase feel like more of an investment and provides peace of mind that your fridge won't suddenly stop working on day 366.

You can also opt to purchase an extended warranty for greater peace of mind and convenience of repairs after the initial warranty period.

Should you buy the GE Profile PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator?

Yes. This sleek fridge provides excellent performance and usability for its price

The GE Profile PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator may not be perfect, but it's definitely better than the overwhelming majority of fridges in this price range.

What's not to like? As you can see above, there is an answer to this question but the list is short and the points are negligible in comparison to what this GE French-door refrigerator does right. Between its clean look, great performance, and unique feature set, we think this smart refrigerator is a good value at its current price.

While the PGE29BYTFS did very well in our rankings, it's not at the top, and if you're shopping in this price range you owe it to yourself to also check out the Hisense HRM260N6TSE PureFlat Refrigerator, a similar feature-set at an even better value.