GE Profile PFE28RSHSS Refrigerator Review

While overall performance was still impressive, competition has stiffened over the past year. Some small temperature issues and reduced interior space—likely due to the addition of a second icemaker—led to a slightly lower score. If you don't specifically need two icemakers, you may want to consider GE’s equivalently priced Café alternative.

Design & Usability

Breaking the mold

A stainless finish, that’s easily smudged, and curved handles are par for the course these days. It’s the unusual dispenser niche that really makes this Profile stand out.

Most fridges either have completely flat doors, or—like this GE—have a gentle slope to them. What other fridges don’t have is a bulging dispenser niche. The added depth and unusual height mean you’re all set to fill anything from a gallon jug to a large mixing bowl with water or ice. And you can do so precisely, without a measuring cup, thanks to the Precise Fill feature.

The control panel combines physical buttons with a touch panel that’s very easy to navigate. Each dispenser mode is also accompanied by a neat little animated screen.

The inside is straightforward and almost identical to the previous model. Adjustable shelves, bright LED lighting that ramps up to help your eyes adjust, and a temperature-controlled drawer are all staples of a high-end fridge, and present here.

Some of the door shelves also comes with rubberized mats—great for keeping things in place and containing spills. You also get a drop-down tray underneath the dairy bin, perfect if you like to buy lots of short items like yogurt or extra sticks of butter and cream cheese.

In the freezer, an unusually shaped ice bin sits on the left side of the upper drawer. You’ll want to be careful taking it out of the freezer when full. We found stray cubes could easily slide over the bin’s lip and down into the back of the freezer. When that happened, we had to bend down awkwardly to fish it out.

Controls for both the freezer’s icemaker and the door-mounted one in the fridge are on the external panel, instead of the icemaker itself. So you won’t have to fumble around for a switch if you decide to turn it off.

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Performance & Features

Impressive, but imperfect

This Profile's test results were some of the best we've seen, but uniformly warm temperatures in the main fridge section kept it from achieving perfection. Fortunately, it's an easy fix: Simply turn down the thermostat by about two degrees for optimal performance.

Other test results were even better, especially the excellent crispers and overall energy efficiency, despite the presence of two icemakers. Dual icemakers are probably the most distinctive feature in this machine, but they’re not alone: GE’s Precise Fill allows you to remove the guesswork—and measuring cup—when using a specific amount of water for recipes, or just to make a simple cup of tea.

In addition to traditional fridge features, such as Turbo Cool and Turbo Freeze mode, there’s a setting that allows you to up the overall humidity inside your fridge. If you like to stock each shelf with product, consider giving this option a try.

Underneath the control panel, you’ll find a USB port tucked away. This allows you to upload pictures onto a slideshow that will scroll across the control panel when not in use. Since the exterior isn't magnetic, this is a rather sensible extra.

Inside the fridge, the temperature adjust drawer under the crispers comes with three distinct temperature settings: Meat (32°F), Beverage (34°F), and Deli (36°F). If you just want to keep the drawer at the same temperature as the rest of the fridge, push the drawer’s control button a fourth time and it’ll go into a neutral state.

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

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A Luxurious High-End Fridge

Still excellent

Even if it doesn’t quite live up to the older model's perfection, the GE Profile PFE28RSHSS is nevertheless one of the best fridges on the market. With dual icemakers, plenty of useful features, and a ton of accessible storage space, this fridge is an excellent choice for almost any kitchen.

Some issues with temperature output in both the fridge and freezer kept certain scores down, but there’s nothing unforgivable about this particular appliance—and a lot that makes it a great buy.

If you’re not sold on the bulging dispenser design, or simply don’t need two sources of ice, consider the GE Café CFE28TSHSS. This nearly identical product comes with all the features you find on the Profile minus the second icemaker—but in its place, you get a hot water dispenser. Both products are retailing for a few dollars less than the full $3,100 MSRP.

The Cold Hard Facts

The GE Profile PFE28RSHSS (MSRP $3,100) did an excellent job in almost all of our tests, making this a great buy. Unfortunately, several temperature consistency issues keep it from earning top marks.

Temperature Performance

A little extra heat around the crisper is actually a good thing for produce, but you don’t really want warm spots anywhere else. Unfortunately, the Profile ran rather warm throughout the whole compartment. Average temperatures were 39.03°F at the top, 39.38°F in the middle, and 40.64°F around the crispers. We’d suggest turning the thermostat down about two degrees for optimal performance, though that won’t have much of an impact on this fridge's temperature deviation. A shift of ±0.17°F isn't bad, but we've seen better.

Disappointingly, the freezer was even worse. Average temperatures ranged from -1.88°F near the top, all the way up to 1.97°F at the bottom. Temperature fluctuations were wide, shifting about ±0.78°F on average. That’s more than three times what we normally like to see. When temperatures cross back and forth over 0°F, like these do, there’s a good chance you’ll see some freezer burn.

Moisture Retention

The crispers, fortunately, turned out to be excellent. Over the course of three days, our test materials lost an average of just 0.13 grams of moisture per hour, so your produce will stay nice and crisp for a long time.

Freezing

Freezing times were average. Room-temperature test materials were cooled down to 32°F in just one hour and 35 minutes, more than adequate for all but the most sensitive cuts of meat and fish.

Storage Space & Energy Efficiency

The Profile makes excellent use of its internal space. An arrangement of both adjustable and fixed shelves, twin crispers, and the full-width temperature control drawer provide the bulk of the available storage. Two door shelves are large enough to accommodate gallon-sized items, as well. In total, you get 12.75 usable cubic feet of storage space.

We measured the freezer without the ice bin inside, since its use is entirely optional depending on consumers needs. As such, the two sliding bins—as well as the shallow door shelf—make 6.26 usable cubic feet available.

Even with both icemakers running, this large French door fridge is still quite efficient. We estimate it will cost you about $52.87 to power it for a year at a fixed rate of $0.09 per kWh. Should you turn either of the icemakers off, that number should decrease even further. All in all, it means that you’ll only need about 0.08 kWh to cool each usable cubic foot of space, making this one of the most efficient fridges on the market.