Haier HNSE045BB 4.5 Cu. Ft. Black Compact Refrigerator Review

Introduction

Front

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A single black door finished in glossy black gives this product a slightly classier appearance than some older compact models. The only thing breaking up the consistent appearance is a small {{product.brand.name}} logo found at the top and center, right in the middle of the handles.

That glossy black exterior may look sleek now, but just wait—after a few months of fingerprints and oily hand smears, this fridge will be in dire need of cleaning. It hides this better than stainless steel, but wait until the light hits it as just right angle, and get ready to stare in shock when you learn just how filthy your roommate's hands are.

A tiny knob set next to the freezer shelf has a scale running from zero to seven. The knob itself is easy to turn, but it's far enough in that seeing it will require some stooping.

The door is reversible, so there are matching indented handles on either side of the {{product.brand.name}} logo. They're easy enough to grip, and slightly deeper than most compact handles.

Interior

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The interior is one big fridge cavity, with a small tray for frozen goods up at the top.

The fridge consists of three official shelves. We say official because the plastic tray at the top, while usable as storage, is designed to catch any water that drips from the freezer if the door is left open too long. And no, there aren't any parts missing: the very bottom has an indented cavity under the lowest shelf, right where you might expect a drawer to be found.

There's a small spout at the back designed to filter run off trickling down off the back of the fridge interior. Make sure this stays unblocked, or you may wind up with soggy groceries.

The fridge door consists of four fixed and a can dispenser. The dispenser can fit up to four standard cans at a time, which should be enough unless you plan on throwing a large party.

The freezer—and we use that term loosely—is essentially a glorified shelf set at the very top of the fridge next to the control dial. There's a small flap in the front, presumably installed to try and keep cold air from escaping every time you open the door.

Back

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The internal workings of the {{product.brand.name}} are all exposed at the bottom, though the only thing of interest to most people here will be the power cord.

Sides

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The sides are also finished in a glossy black, giving the fridge a pleasingly uniform appearance. Just watch out of dust build up, especially if you store this machine in the corner.

Running Cost

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It will cost consumers a meager $17.68 to operate this machine every year; that's using a standardized rate of $0.09 per kW-h. Sacrifice a lunch out once, and you've got all the money you'll need to power your fridge.

Power Use Per Cu Ft

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Compacts aren't generally the most efficient fridges out there—they work twice as hard to cool a fraction of the space found in a full-sized model—but the {{product.brand.name}} proved to be the best of the bunch that we've tested so far. It will take 0.17 kW-h to cool each cubic foot of usable space inside this machine. That's quite respectable, and should keep people concerned about energy consumption rates fairly happy.

Fridge Temperature

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Naturally, the closer you're storing something to the freezer shelf, the colder it'll be. For such a small fridge, though, a difference of about five degrees on average from top to bottom is quite a lot. That's usually quite disappointing in a full-sized model, so to have that much of a discrepancy in such a tiny fridge is that much more disappointing. Keep the most perishable food right in the middle, though: that managed to maintain an average temperature of about 37 degrees, the ideal for fresh food storage.

Freezer Temperature

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To be blunt, the freezer shelf was too small to really have any temperature fluctuation from one spot to another. The good news is anything you store in there will be kept at roughly the same temperature. The bad news is that there's no spot where you'll be able to escape the 1.5 degree shift over time; eat your frozen food quickly, otherwise it'll develop some pretty nasty freezer burn.

Vegetable Drawer

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A lack of a vegetable drawer doesn't mean consumers won't be putting fresh fruit and vegetables in here, so we tested the moisture retention of the area where a drawer would theoretically have been located. It's probably comes as no surprise that the lack of drawer resulted in a pretty significant lack of moisture retention: our test materials lost an average of 0.33 grams of moisture per hour. Buy this fridge and you may find yourself shopping like a European...which means buying only what you need for that day, in case you didn't know.

Power Loss

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A small plastic flap does not good insulation make. Anything frozen inside this fridge will thaw out in a shockingly brief span of time that amounts to just 218 minutes, or about three and a half hours.

Freezing Performance

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The small freezer shelf managed to be surprisingly effective at freezing room temperature items. Our test materials were frozen in just one hour and 24 minutes, a very respectable length of time indeed. To give you an idea, an hour and a half freezing time is fairly average in full sized models which have fully enclosed freezers.

Usable Space

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The fridge will hold a total of 2.87 cubic feet worth of goods, a very respectable number for a compact fridge. Keep in mind, though, that we reached that number calculating what can fit on not only the three shelves and lower section, but the plastic tray under the freezer, as well. That plastic tray catches any water droplets from the freezer, so you may want to restrict storage there to items that are sealed up in plastic.

The fridge door adds three versatile shelves, as well as the can dispenser. The lack of any lower portion on the shelves means you won't be storing anything but large items that will fit standing up.

The most frustrating thing about the freezer is actually the plastic flap in front of it. You can take it out, but it's difficult to do so, and leaving it off means more cold air will escape every time you open the door. It means getting anything but the shortest or most malleable of frozen items can be a challenge; that said, you'll be able to fit just 0.21 cubic feet worth of items in there anyway.

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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You'd think that a compact would be small enough to prevent food from getting lost in the back. The fact that there are three adjustable shelves in the fridge, however, means that no matter how you arrange them, two will be fairly close together. Since the fridge is so low to the ground, getting to food at the back of the shortest shelf may require some crouching. Also, the freezer's flap door can make getting bulky items in or out a bit of a pain in the neck.

Controls

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A tiny knob set next to the freezer shelf has a scale running from zero to seven. The knob itself is easy to turn, but it's far enough in that seeing it will require some stooping.

The control knob works without a problem, but there are still two small gripes that we had with it. First, it's set rather far back into the fridge, which means you'll have to bend down in order to adjust it. Once the fridge is calibrated, it shouldn't be much of an issue, but that brings us to our second complaint. There's no actual thermostat, so you'll have to get an external one if you want to make sure you're putting the knob at the correct setting.

Water Dispenser

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Ice Maker

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Cleaning

Noise

Other Features

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Conclusion

Energy Efficiency

Using just 0.17 kW-h per cubic foot of usable space, the {{product.brand.name}} is actually the most energy efficiency compact we've tested to date, even compared to some models that are Energy Star approved.

Performance

The fridge section was quite consistent over time, but not from top to bottom. Conversely, the freezer did great spatially, but fluctuated an average of a degree and a half. Add some really disappointing moisture retention rates into the mix, and you're going to want to eat whatever you put in here pretty quickly.

Storage Space

The fridge is actually quite spacious for a compact, especially if you store things on the moisture catching plastic tray under the freezer. Speaking of which, don't plan on keeping more than one frozen meal at a time in this baby.

Usability

Most of our issues fell under this category: the fridge door had shelves without any bottom, the main fridge section had so many shelves that they felt cramped, and the freezer flap prevented us from easily getting items inside it.