LG LSC22991ST Door-in-Door Counter Depth Refrigerator Review

By contrast, Samsung’s excellent Food Showcase is a full-sized model, which means it might not fit in tighter kitchens.

Aside from its unique qualifiers, the LSC22991ST boasts an excellent fit and finish plus superb cooling performance. Calling it the best counter-depth, side-by-side, door-in-door fridge may not be much of a complement at this point—since it’s currently the only one on sale—but it's an excellent fridge nonetheless. If you're in the market for a counter-depth model, this one should be on your short list.

Door-in-Door Storage

A door-in-door that fits your kitchen

Even though, the LG is a side-by-side fridge, it adds a unique door-in-door compartment for storing condiments and drinks—similar to what you’d find on one of the manufacturer’s French door models.

Press a button, and the top half of the refrigerator door pops open to reveal a small compartment inside the door, where users can store cans of soda, bottles of mustard, and other frequently-accessed items. Grab the door handle, and the whole door opens for access to the entire refrigerator compartment. The setup works fine, but closing the door requires a bit more force than you might be used to; shut it too gently, the door can pop back open.

While you cannot adjust shelves in the traditional sense, the middle storage unit can slide up or down to accommodate items of varying heights. A drawer is great for storing cold cuts or meat that’s being marinated for grilling, while shallow bins on the outer door are ideal for bottles of salad dressing, sticks of butter, and other narrow items.

The designated door-in-door storage section is almost entirely enclosed by a wall of plastic. Unlike what we found in LG’s French door models or Samsung's Food Showcase, this plastic wall is fixed and cannot pop open. That actually makes it bit harder to access food if you're looking for items from both compartments—like lettuce and salad dressing, for instance.

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Design & Usability

High-end, but unique

Unlike Samsung’s Food Showcase, whose exterior seemed to highlight a smooth and seamless design, there’s something a bit more industrial about this LG.

For instance, the recessed handles are found about two-thirds of the way down the front of the fridge, and work very similarly to the handles on a car door or an industrial freezer. They pull out on a small hinge before bringing the rest of the door along, and have a weighty feel.

Aside from the door-in-door shelving unit, the interior should feel very familiar. There are ways to customize shelves, and a thin, door-mounted icemaker uses space efficiently in the freezer.

Despite the counter-depth design, this fridge is capable of accommodating enough food to satisfy a sizable household. Wide, shallow shelves make it hard to lose track of leftovers. Wide frozen pizzas might not fit, but that's always a challenge for side-by-side storage.

Our only real concern is with lighting: The bright LED lights look gorgeous when the fridge is empty, but since they run down the back wall, a well-stocked fridge will get pretty dark.

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Performance & Features

Counter depth without compromise

Features and flash are great, but our performance tests proved that this LG is a truly excellent fridge. In our lab, we measured temperatures that were consistent over time, a freezer that stayed exceptionally cold, and energy consumption that could lower your electric bill.

We did notice some disconcertingly warm temperatures down by the crisper. It could be intentional—produce should be stored at higher temperatures than most other refrigerated foods—but it's still something you should keep in mind.

The crispers themselves were probably the weakest part of this fridge’s performance. Over time, they lost much more moisture than average. That could shave a few days off the life of your lettuce. Unfortunately, the drawers don't have adjustable controls, so users can't remedy that problem.

Touch controls on the outside of the fridge respond easily enough, though the feature set is surprisingly limited for a fridge in this price range.

As for features, you can lock the controls, and there’s an Ice Plus option that makes the icemaker work overtime during summer parties, but that’s really it. There’s no Fast Freeze option, no vacation mode, not even a button for turning off the "door ajar" alarm—which could get quite annoying if you’re trying to clean out the fridge and want to leave the door open for more than a minute.

For in-depth performance information, please visit the Science Page.

Why We Love It

Space efficient, exceptional performance

The LG LSC22991ST is exceptional, and not just because it's the only side-by-side counter-depth on the market. Future competitors will likely have a hard time building a better product.

Even if you don't care about the perk of door-in-door storage, this LG is still a well-designed fridge that does a great job chilling, storing, and preserving food. Samsung's Food Showcase slightly edges it out in our performance tests, but it will also stick out in your kitchen.

If counter-depth is your thing, be sure to check out this LG, especially if you can find it on sale. We found prices as low as $2,200, which make this great fridge a great value.

The Cold Hard Facts

When we put the LG LSC22991ST (MSRP $2,699.99) in our labs to test how well it stores, cools, and preserves foods, we found that it's one of the better fridges available today. Performance proved exceptional, with only a few flaws of note.

Temperature Performance

Cool and even

The fridge compartment did decent job evenly cooling our test materials, with an average fluctuation over time of just ±0.18°F. Most of the fridge was able to maintain excellent temperatures, averaging 36.08°F at the top and 37.88°F in the middle. The bottom was a bit too warm for our tastes, clocking in at 41.98°F.

See, warmer temperatures are great for storing produce, but 41°F is warm enough that bacteria may start to grow in items like soft cheeses and stored leftovers. We recommend only storing fresh produce down there, or turning down the thermostat about two degrees.

The freezer, on the other hand, was flawless. Average temperatures ranged from -4.07°F at the top to -3.2°F at the bottom, with an average fluctuation of just ±0.21°F. Since temperatures that fluctuate or go above 0ºF cause ice crystals to form, those numbers mean this LG will keep freezer burn at bay.

Moisture Retention

Lousy crispers

We've been seeing lots of fridges without user-adjustable crisper drawers, and few of them have done well in our tests. Much like the Food Showcase, the unadjustable crispers were easily the worst part about this LG.

Our test materials lost an average of 0.38 grams of moisture per hour over the course of three days. This is worse than average, and 90 percent worse than some of the best fridges we've tested. Coupled with the excess warmth down by the crisper, you’ll definitely want to keep a close eye on the bottom of the fridge.

Freezing & Thawing

Average performance

Freezing is something most refrigerators do reasonably well, and this LG is no exception. From the time we put a room-temperature food substitute in the freezer until the time it reached 32°F, an hour and forty minutes passed. That's slightly slower than average, but still acceptable in preventing ice crystals from forming during a too-slow freeze.

Insulation was also no problem. After 36 hours without power, internal temperatures had crept up from 0ºF to just about 29.08°F.

Storage Space & Energy Efficiency

Roomy and efficient

This LG has plenty of space to go around. A large number of shelves and drawers give you plenty of storage options in the fridge. Despite all the extra plastic enclosing the door-in-door shelves, the interior is quite customizable. All told, this fridge provides 11.12 cubic feet of usable storage, excellent for a counter-depth.

The freezer, too, makes efficient use of its space. The door-mounted icemaker takes up very little room, and the assortment of shelves and drawers manage to serve up 4.88 usable cubic feet. It’s not much compared to a full-sized product, but for a counter-depth it’s pretty impressive.

Even more impressive, though, is this fridge’s efficiency. Our data shows that this fridge only needs 0.08 kWh to cool each usable cubic foot. That's an exceptional energy-to-space ratio.