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  • Design & Usability

  • Performance & Features

  • An Undeniable Bargain

  • The Cold Hard Facts

  • Temperature Performance

  • Moisture Retention

  • Freezing

  • Storage Space & Energy Efficiency

  • Design & Usability
  • Performance & Features
  • An Undeniable Bargain
  • The Cold Hard Facts
  • Temperature Performance
  • Moisture Retention
  • Freezing
  • Storage Space & Energy Efficiency

Good news: At $699 on sale, the Frigidaire Gallery FGTR1845QF (MSRP $999) is one of the least expensive ways to add a splash of stainless to your kitchen without sacrificing food preservation. This 18-cu.-ft. fridge is nearly identical to the stellar FGHT2046QF, but with a few tweaks to storage and a slightly smaller overall capacity.

Design & Usability

Great style that's also affordable

On the outside, you get Frigidaire’s smudge-proof stainless finish, which is great for households with small children. That said, you might have a hard time matching it with stainless products from other manufacturers, as the Frigidaire finish runs a little darker than normal.

Yes, cost-cutting is evident: The seams on the edges of the fridge and freezer doors aren't finished as smoothly as those on pricier competitors, for instance. But if you're prepping your home for sale and want it to boast stainless appliances, those weld seams won't impact resale value.

On the inside, the FHTR1845QF has almost everything that you’d find in the 2046QF: Bright LED lighting in both compartments, glass shelves in the fresh food section, even the sliding bucket shelves on the fridge door.

We only noticed two differences, and they’re quite small. The 1845QF only has a half-width deli drawer compared to the 2046QF’s full-width version, and it also lacks shelves whose front halves retract.

If you don’t care about stainless, this model also comes in white (the 1845QP) and black (the 1845QE) for about $100 less.

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Performance & Features

Top-notch cooling, low-end controls

One key element that gives away this fridge's price point is the thermostat control. As we’ve seen across all the Frigidaire models in this year’s lineup, setting the vague control dial to the recommended "Normal" mark causes the appliance to run warm.

Fortunately, the 1845QF's temperatures were very consistent over time. That means you can simply turn the thermostat down to fix the excessive warmth, and wind up with a fridge that should have no problem keeping your food chilled and fresh.

Rounding out the overall package, you not only get a pair of crispers that do a great job retaining moisture, but also the knowledge that—according to our power meters—this fridge is an exceptionally energy efficient machine.

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

The Frigidaire Gallery FGTR1845QF's unassuming crispers did a great job retaining moisture.
Credit: Reviewed.com / Matthew Zahnzinger

These unassuming crispers did a great job retaining moisture.

An Undeniable Bargain

It’s a great fridge for a fantastic price

As anyone who’s shopped for a car knows, you don’t have to buy the most expensive model in a series to get a great value. The same is true of refrigerators, too.

The Frigidaire Gallery FGTR1845QF may not sport the manufacturer’s most innovative storage solutions—or even an icemaker, for that matter—but it does offer excellent food preservation in package that's perfect for a low-cost stainless steel kitchen upgrade. At $699, it's one of the least-expensive ways to give your house a new look.

The Cold Hard Facts

The Frigidaire Gallery FGTR1845QW (MSRP $999) offers consumers excellent food preserving technology, and all for a reasonable price. The only catch we found was that its controls didn't always reflect optimal temperatures.

Temperature Performance

First, the good news: This Frigidaire proved to be highly consistent over time. The appliance was placed in our temperature- and humidity-controlled lab, which means any fluctuations we record are a direct result of the fridge itself. Our sensors indicate that the fresh food section fluctuated an average of just ±0.12°F, while the freezer shifted ±0.67°F over time—very good for a top freezer.

The bad news, of course, is something we see almost all the time when dealing with fridges that don’t use a digital thermostat: It ran very warm. Temperatures in the main section averaged 41.01°F at the top, 42.06°F in the middle, and 44.28°F at the bottom. That’s too warm for effective food storage.

In the freezer, we recorded averages of 4.0°F and 4.91°F at the top and bottom, respectively. Again, that’s much too warm. Fortunately, the stability over time means you can just turn the thermostat down for optimal performance.

Moisture Retention

The twin crispers did a great job retaining moisture. Over the course of three days, our carefully monitored test materials lost an average of 0.17 grams of moisture each hour. While we’ve seen better, that’s excellent for a budget top freezer like this Frigidaire.

The Frigidaire Gallery FGTR1845QF's unassuming crispers did a great job retaining moisture.
Credit: Reviewed.com / Matthew Zahnzinger

These unassuming crispers did a great job retaining moisture.

Freezing

To test freezing efficacy, we place room-temperature test materials into a freezer that’s otherwise completely full, and then measure how long it takes for our sensors to reach 32°F. Freezing times in the Frigidaire were right around the average, about 1 hour and 33 minutes.

Storage Space & Energy Efficiency

As with many 18-cu.-ft. top freezers, there were certain sections of this Frigidaire that felt a bit cramped, especially right underneath the deli bin. Nevertheless, the multiple shelves, dual crispers, and sliding door buckets offer consumers plenty of storage space—about 10.99 cubic feet of usable space, as a matter of fact.

The freezer, with its single wire shelf and supplemental door storage, also gives you enough space to suit most individual or small household needs. This model provides 3.6 usable cubic feet of frozen food storage.

Keeping up with the trend of 2015’s exceptionally efficient refrigerators, we found that this Frigidaire used a minimal amount of electricity. Based on a typical American rate of $0.09 kWh, we determined that it would only cost you about $22.63 to power this fridge for a year. Essentially, the fridge uses just 0.05 kWh to cool each usable cubic foot.

Meet the tester

Matthew Zahnzinger

Matthew Zahnzinger

Logistics Manager & Staff Writer

@ReviewedHome

Matthew is a native of Brockton, MA and a graduate of Northeastern, where he earned a degree in English and Theatre. He has also studied at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin and spends most of his free time pursuing a performance career in the greater Boston area.

See all of Matthew Zahnzinger's reviews

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