IKEA Nutid S25 S ID5HHEXWS03 Review

Introduction

With strengths and weaknesses comparable to the Amana in virtually every way, this $1,299 fridge just isn’t worth it when you consider the availability of other products that perform better and cost less. Plus, the odds of finding the Nutid on sale are slim to none: It’s an IKEA-exclusive product, so you’re only going to find it new in one place.

Design & Usability

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If you remove the product label from the Amana ASD2522WRD, you’re essentially left with an IKEA Nutid.

A stainless steel front makes this fridge look like nearly every other mid-range side-by-side that we’ve tested. It’s got an industrial quality to it, which may be a pro or a con, depending on your tastes. The through-the-door water and ice dispenser is set within a border of cheap-feeling black plastic that stands out from the IKEA’s stainless front.

The inside of this fridge is—surprise, surprise—nearly identical to the above mentioned Amana. The only thing particularly interesting about the internal layout involves the two drawers. The upper drawer has an adjustable humidity control, while the lower one is a convertible drawer with a temperature adjustment switch, making it suitable for either vegetables or meats.

The freezer has three wire shelves—the upper two of which can be moved around, though there’s only one other slot for them to go into—and a pull-out bucket drawer. Near the top is the large ice maker, which has enough space above it to store additional items.

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Features

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A dreadfully designed water filter and awkward wire shelves detract from the interactive experience.

Fridge shelves and drawers slide out for easy access to items located in the back, but they don’t move all that smoothly. Luckily, there’s plenty of vertical space between them, so getting at items regardless of where they are shouldn’t be a problem. You’re really only dealing with the problems inherent in every side-by-side: Since the fridge and freezer run the full height of the appliance, items at the very top or bottom may be difficult to reach, but no more or less than other fridges of its kind.

The controls, located inside the fridge compartment, are easy to use, if somewhat vague. The dial doesn’t correspond to any degree scale, so you’ll want to invest in a thermometer if you need to monitor the temperature. Also, the external controls for the water and ice dispenser are just a glorified switch with a plastic cover over it. It feels cheap, but at least it gets the job done.

While the water dispenser itself is fine, the water filter is a complete pain in the neck to access. It’s located at the absolute lowest point on the fridge, just underneath the freezer door. It’s a pain to get in and out, and will prove to be especially difficult for consumers with bad backs or knees. Make sure you sweep, because it’s likely that you’ll be down on the floor every time you need to change it.

Performance

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Average performance across the board means this fridge will do a decent job protecting your food... just don’t expect anything above and beyond the call of duty.

Almost every side-by-side we test suffers from an increase in temperature from top to bottom. The Nutid was no exception, though the temperature shift was a bit more pronounced than what we usually see. It’s never ideal, but as long as you keep more perishable items like soft cheese or other dairy products near the top, you should be fine.

The ambiguous temperature dial for this model’s freezer was set to the “3” setting, and proved to be just a bit too warm. No section ever hit our preferred zero degree mark but everything was nonetheless frozen. Turning the dial to a colder setting will lower the overall temperature, but you’ll still be stuck with a discrepancy from top to bottom. Thankfully, the shifts over time and space were both less than what we saw in the fridge. This means frozen food should be well preserved here, with only a low chance of developing freezer burn.

The Nutid’s designated vegetable drawer did an adequate job retaining moisture, but just barely. It’s adequate, and vegetables placed in here should remain fresh and moist for about a week. Also, on a different note, this fridge is one of a small handful that failed our power loss test. If you live in an area that suffers from frequent power outages, don't buy this fridge.

Conclusion

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A mediocre fridge that should be sold at a cheaper price, but won't because it's an IKEA exclusive

The Nutid S25 S ID5HHEXWS03 is one of the fridges available at IKEA, and has an MSRP of $1,299. It's virtually identical to the Amana ASD2522WRD, complete with similar strengths (we’re using the word loosely) and weaknesses. As such, we have to echo the same sentiment that we expressed in the older review: This fridge simply isn’t worth the price. While performance wasn't terrible, the Nutid is going to stick you with a high electric bill and has the worst water filter location we’ve come across. The sad part is, a really good sale could make it worth the investment for consumers looking to buy a budget side-by-side. Given that the product is exclusive to IKEA, though, the odds of finding a reduced price tag aren’t very good.

Science Introduction

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The IKEA Nutid S25 S produced some satisfactory performance results that were very similar to the fridge it was based on (the Amana ASD2522WRD). The fridge temperature fluctuated a bit from top to bottom, but it wasn't anything drastic. The same goes for the freezer temperature: The bottom was a few degrees warmer than the top, but temperatures did not fluctuate much over time. While freezing items took slightly longer than average, the Nutid's ability to keep food frozen when power is cut was pretty bad. Fortunately, the storage offered is ideal.

Temperature Performance

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Lukewarm performance across the board

Like the Amana it's based on, the Nutid performed adequately in terms of temperature output. From top to bottom, we saw an increase in average temperature of 5 degrees in the fridge. It's definitely more than we like, but even so, temperatures fluctuate less than a degree throughout. As long as you keep similar types of items on the same shelves all the time, you should be okay.

The freezer performed at roughly the same level of mediocrity as its warmer counterpart. The top portion averaged about 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit, while the lowest portions got up to about 3.35 degrees. While finding the true zero mark is always difficult with temperature controls that use an arbitrary scale, at least everything remained frozen. The best part? Temperatures fluctuated less than a quarter of a degree over time; that means minimal freezer burn, if any, for long-term frozen goods.

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Moisture Retention

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Neither mind-blowingly awful, nor drool-inducingly excellent

Losing an average of 0.18 grams of water per hour, this fridge just gets by. It's a tad worse than what we'd like for a purely average product, but most of your fruit and veggies—except perhaps the truly sensitive ones—should be fine as long as you eat them within a reasonable time period.

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Freezing & Thawing

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Freezing time isn't bad, but if you live in an area with frequent power outages, beware!

Taking 1 hour and 46 minutes to freeze a room-temperature item isn’t great… but it isn’t bad, either. There are some freezers that take over two hours, while some of the best can freeze food in half that time, placing this model on the poorer side of adequate. But freezing time wasn't the only thing that disappointed us.

Like the Amana ASD2522WRD, this fridge also failed our power loss test. After unplugging the Nutid to simulate a power outage, our frozen items had defrosted in just under 20 hours. A decent freezer should remain frozen for at least 36 hours, and really good ones can remain chilled for more than two days. If you do have a problem with your power supply, hopefully your electric company will respond quickly, otherwise you’ll be throwing out a lot of food.

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Storage Capacity & Energy Efficiency

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Surprisingly ample storage, with surprisingly high energy consumption

For all its other faults, this fridge is actually quite spacious. After subtracting the room taken up by items such as light bulbs and the actual shelves, we determined that you'll get 10.1 cubic feet of usable space in the fridge with another 5.13 cubic feet in the freezer. It's a surprisingly balanced amount, something you don't usually get in a side-by-side.

Fridges of this size do tend to run up a fairly sizable electric bill, but the Nutid is even a bit pricier than usual. Using a standard electricity rate, we determined that this model will cost a consumer an average of $69.53 per year to operate. Even the decent amount of storage can't make that high number work, though: This machine uses 0.14 kWh per cubic foot of viable storage space. Regardless of size and type, this makes it far less efficient than many other fridges.

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Other Tests

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