Samsung RF27T5201SG French-door refrigerator review

The RF27T5201SG features a standard French-door layout, with its double doors at the top and a pull-out, drawer-style freezer at the bottom. It features flat, square-ended handles, and the left door houses a through-the-door ice and water dispenser.

Opening the doors reveals an interior that has a standard main compartment, with the ice maker occupying the top left corner. Underneath are the crispers and a full-width deli drawer. On the doors themselves, you'll see a wide arrangement of bins, most of which you can reposition in a variety of ways (though some of the positions are more cumbersome to access than others).

About the Samsung RF27T5201SG French-door refrigerator

Dimensions: 70" x 35.75" x 36" (H x W x D) Measured capacity: 10.8-cubic-foot refrigerator compartment; 5.2-cubic-foot freezer compartment Finishes: White, fingerprint-resistant stainless steel ($90 extra), fingerprint-resistant black stainless steel ($180 extra) Dispensers: Through-the-door water and ice (cubed and crushed) User manual: Samsung RF27T5201SG French-door refrigerator manual

What we like about the Samsung RF27T5201SG French-door refrigerator

It consistently maintains ideal fridge temperatures

The RF27T5201SG's great design doesn't stop with its sleek exterior. This fridge excels at keeping temperatures remarkably close to the ideal.

Fridges need to maintain a relatively narrow band of temperatures—anything colder than 32°F might cause some items to freeze, and anything warmer than 40°F is a health concern. These temperatures need to be maintained, even when you've had the door open for 15 minutes while you consider whether you want to reheat yesterday's takeout or Tuesday's chicken parm.

During testing, temperatures in the RF27T5201SG's fridge compartment averaged 37.54°F, which is within 1°F of a perfect 37°F. This temperature only varied a couple of degrees throughout the day, despite defrost cycles and us opening the door every so often to simulate normal use.

This is some impressive performance. Feel confident that you'll get the maximum shelf life out of your perishables with the RF27T5201SG.

It's a great-looking option for those who don't want smart features

While fridges tend to have the best and most useful smart features of any large appliance category, we recognize that smart features are not for everyone. That's why we appreciate models like the RF27T5201SG, which provide minimalist design for those who want to up their kitchen's aesthetics, and a lesser price point for those who don't necessarily want to exceed a budget because of special features they just won't use. Built-in touchscreens aren't cheap.

A convenient through-the-door dispenser for quick access to water and ice

We love through-the-door dispensers, and Samsung offers a great design on their newer fridges. This RF27T5201SG's dispenser features an activation paddle that puts forth the perfect amount of resistance, which means you won't accidentally activate the dispenser, but also don't have to fight with it.

The dispenser supports both cubed and crushed ice, with its transparent reservoir visible inside the freezer compartment, which makes it easy to eyeball your ice reserves at a glance.

What we don’t like about the Samsung RF27T5201SG French-door refrigerator

The freezer has slightly inconsistent temperatures

While maintaining a refrigerator compartment's temperature can be difficult, maintaining a freezer compartment's temperature is amplified. After all, opening your freezer door lets out cold air the appliance has had to work significantly harder to maintain. Also, while wobbling a few degrees is normal for a fridge, even relatively small temperature fluctuations in your freezer can hugely affect the quality of the food stored there. For example, inconsistent temperatures are the primary cause of freezer burn and prematurely spoiled foods.

The storage capacity isn’t quite as good as what the marketing boasts

Looking at the RF27T5201SG’s site, one of its headlining features is its Space Max layout, which claims it provides a 27-cubic-foot interior.

While we generally like this fridge’s layout, which has a lot of customization options and puts important bins within easy reach, we measured the total usable storage area at only 10.8 cu. ft. While this is about the average storage space for most French-door fridges, it is significantly—almost two-thirds—less than Samsung's stated capacity.

We also found the ice reservoir's capacity was smaller than advertised: Samsung claims it can hold up to 4.2 pounds, but our RF27T5201SG’s full ice reservoir only weighed about 2.5 pounds on average. It's possible that if you filled the whole reservoir up with water and then let it freeze in a solid block, you could get it to weigh 4.2 pounds, but this is not a realistic scenario.

While we don't like how these stated capacities can mislead consumers, over-stated or overly optimistic measurements are such a common practice in all appliances that it's hard to single out just this one Samsung for doing it.

Another small storage issue: Some of this fridge's bins aren't particularly useful. For a fridge that puts so much emphasis on design, we were surprised to find such a narrow bin as the one pictured above, which is only 2.5 inches deep. This is so narrow that it limits what can be stored inside. Likewise, there's a shelf below the tapered ice-dispenser that is awkward to access: You have to lift out items at an angle, and taller items will run into that tapered ice chute above it.

We do like bins to have variable sizes to better accommodate a wide variety of needs, and more bins are better than fewer, but some of these bins seem too niche in what they can actually store.

What owners are saying

Owners like the Samsung RF27T5201SG, awarding it an average of 4.2 out of 5 stars across major retailers. Many users appreciate how much extra storage space the RF27T5201SG provides, in addition to its sleek design, quiet operation, and through-the-door dispenser.

The most common negative criticisms revolve around the ice dispenser being slow to replenish and lack of repositioning options for shelves. We didn’t run into any issues with the ice maker during tests, and the ice reservoir can hold 2.5 pounds of ice, which should be enough for most users (though more and more people are stepping up their ice game recently).

Warranty

Samsung's warranty covers parts and labor for one year. The sealed refrigeration system (compressor, evaporator, condenser, drier, and connecting tubing) is covered for up to five years, for both parts and labor. The digital inverter compressor is covered 10 years for parts and five years for labor.

Typically, warranties will only cover the first year, so we're happy to see Samsung guarantees selected parts further into the refrigerator’s lifespan. This is one of the better warranties in the business, so you can feel confident in your purchase.

Should you buy the Samsung RF27T5201SG refrigerator?

Yes

Ever since the idea of a fully integrated smart home exploded onto the scene, it's been increasingly difficult to track down nice-looking, mid-range fridges that aren't also trying to be a high-tech command center. The inflated smart features that come along with complex software and the built-in touchscreens inflate the price tag of your fridge, but it's not much value to you if you just want a standard, low-tech experience. You may not mind spending extra money for a higher-quality product, but spending extra money for something you won't use is a much tougher pill to swallow.

This is why we think fridges like the RF27T5201SG are important: They provide a classy, mid-range option for those who are primarily interested in performance and design. We love this model's minimalist design and the fact that it focuses on (and mostly aces) its temperature performance. While the fridge isn't cheap, for a French-door of this quality, it's a great price.

If you are looking for a fridge with Family Hub, the RS27T5561SR is the best entry point for beginners.