Samsung French Door Refrigerator vs. LG
Refrigerators with door-in-door storage compartments are not new. Companies are manufacturing sparked innovative design refrigerators with a slew of new convenience features. There are a growing number of refrigerators that enable you access items stored in the door without opening the door itself.
In this article, we are talking about two of such refrigerators manufactured by Samsung and LG and also the difference between them.
Samsung Food Showcase RH29H9000SR:
This Samsung’s French door refrigerator is one of the most luxurious refrigerators. It comes with a great design and is combined with the recessed handles and LED display. Design aside; this refrigerator also displays best performance. With superior temperature consistency in fridge and refrigerator both, the only flaw is an ineffective crisper drawer.
A small bar divides the recessed fridge handle. When you grip and pull above the bar, it gives you access to the entire fresh food compartment or Inner Case. And when you pull below the bar, the outer panel opens that reveals the door shelves from the other side.
This design seems to emphasize practical storage. The provided door buckets are large and almost all of them are deep and wide. The top three shelves contain slots for removable plastic dividers and the two shelves near the bottom have adjustable wire racks. These help organize storage and keep small items from sliding around.
The Samsung French door refrigerator is very sleek with stainless finish and is also surprisingly hard to smudge. There is a bright LED light inside that illuminates the assortment of drawers and shelves.
The only downside of the interior is that it is hard to customize. Both the freezer and fridge compartments get one alternative shelf slot each. There are no adjustable slots on either door. The spacious interior is to be able to accommodate most items. But in this case with almost all side-by-side, long or tall food may require some finagling.
This Samsung’s French door refrigerator manages to cool food almost precisely down to 37F, and the freezer is cold and consistent enough that temperatures never go above 0F. But here the catch is the crisper. Don’t expect the crisper to do your greens any favors.
The door mounted icemaker is efficient and can make enough cubes for dinner time in a single go. With this French door refrigerator, you have got a Power Cool and Power Freeze, Energy Saver and a Control Lock for houses with little children.
If you have never used side-by-side fridges, Samsung’s Food Showcase will definitely make your life. Aside from crisper, it provides phenomenal performance and its improved accessibility via door-in-door storage means this machine earns its place alongside great designs of history. Though it is expensive at $2,999, but in this case you surely get what you pay for.
LG LSC22991ST:
The LG LSC22991ST at $2,699.99 is not only the first side-by-side door-in-door models but also the first to be counter depth. Contrary to the Samsung’s excellent Food Showcase which is a full sized model that might not fit in tighter kitchens, the LG LSC22991ST boasts an excellent fit, finish and also superb cooling performance.
If you are looking for a counter-depth model, the LG LSC22991ST should be on your short list as it is the best side-by-side, counter-depth, door-in-door fridge. Even it is a side-by-side fridge; it adds a unique door-in-door compartment for storing drinks and condiments, similar to what you find on French door models.
Press a button and top half of the refrigerator door opens revealing a small compartment inside the door where you can store bottles of mustard, cans of soda and other frequently accessed items. For access to the entire refrigerator compartment, grab the door handle which will open the whole door. The setup works fine, but it requires a bit more force closing the door than you might be used to. If you shut it too gently, the door can pop back open.
While in the traditional sense you can’t adjust shelves, you can slide the middle storage unit up or down to accommodate items of varying height. For storing cold cuts or meat being marinated for grilling, the drawer is great, whereas shallow bins on the outer door are ideal for sticks of butter, bottles of salad dressing and other narrow items.
The door-in-door storage section is entirely enclosed by a wall of plastic which is fixed and can’t pop open. But it actually makes it difficult to access food if you are looking for items from both compartments.
Despite the counter-depth design, the fridge can accommodate enough food for a sizeable household. One concern is with lighting. The bright LED light is gorgeous when the fridge is empty but a well-stocked fridge gets pretty dark.
Features and flash are great with great performance. Temperatures remain consistent over time, freezer stays exceptionally cold and its energy consumption can lower your electric bill. The crispers are the probably weakest part of this fridge’s performance and over time they lost more moisture than average.
Touch controls on the outside of the fridge responds easily. The feature set is quite limited in this price range. In terms of features, you can lock the controls. There is also an Ice Plus option that makes the icemaker work overtime. There is no vacation mode, no Fast Freeze option, not even a button for turning the door ajar alarm off, which can be quite annoying while cleaning the fridge.
Now that you are aware of the either fridges, the Samsung Food Showcase RH29H9000SR and the LG LSC22991ST. Let’s have a look at the comparison between the two.
Design:
Both the Samsung Food Showcase RH29H9000SR and the LG LSC22991ST have remarkably different aesthetics with more or less same layouts. Both have through the door dispensers, door-mounted icemakers and bright LED lighting.
The Samsung French door refrigerator focuses on minimizing seams: thin edges, tall lines and mostly unbroken exterior surfaces resulting in a fridge that looks both elegant and vaguely futuristic.
On the other hand, LG fridge looks and feels more industrial. It has handles operating like those on a car door and a sense of weight making everything feel firm and sturdy. Its interior color scheme is entirely made of white plastic and metal trim, while Samsung has a bit of color with two blue shelves.
These two are aesthetically different but incredibly attractive refrigerators. Keeping in mind that each customer’s taste is unique, we give these fridges equal credit for exploring new designs.
Performance:
Regardless of how beautiful efficient or accessible a fridge is, it is nothing if it is not capable of cooling food well. Both of these fridges perform great with some subtle differences. The Samsung French door refrigerator is by far one of the best refrigerators. It cools materials to perfect levels of 37F and 0F in the fridge and freezer respectively, as mentioned earlier, with almost no temperature variation over time. This means minimal (if any) freezer burn, longer-lasting produce and the ability to move food from one shelf to another as needed.
On the other hand, LG performs excellent but could not match the Samsung’s performance. The freezer is perfect but in the fridge there is a noticeable increase in warmth from top of the fresh food compartment to the bottom.
Though Samsung also showed a problem with crisper but the lack of consistent cooling throughout the compartment is a black mark in the LG’s record. So Samsung becomes the winner in this area.
Price:
The costs of both refrigerators are pretty close. Samsung’s French door refrigerator goes for $2,999 while the LG costs $2,699.99. Actually LG is at inherent disadvantage here. Counter-depth fridges, despite offering less storage space overall, tend to cost more because of being considered somewhat special. But the lower average price of Samsung gives it a serious edge.
Door-in-Door:
The main feature that sets the two fridges apart is the door-in-door storage. In the American market, LG is one of the proponents of door-in-door but the company repurposed its traditional half-door design in this model.
The door-in-door compartment of LG is accessible by the simple push of the button. It provides a lot of storage space, including one shelf able to slide up and down with a built-in drawer for a touch of customization.
The plastic shell covering prevents too much cold air from escaping, but it can be difficult to access larger items in the main fridge cavity.
At this design Samsung comes from a different angle. It breaks up the entire fridge door into an inner and outer panel. Its outer door is coated with a Metal Cooling sheet to help keep the interior cold. Shelves are not adjustable, though some near the bottom slide out for easier access.
Which fridge is better in this genre depends on you. The Samsung makes it easier to access food from either side, but the slightly superior customizable compartment in LG could be more appealing for spur of the moment grocery shoppers. So we consider it a tie.
Verdict:
Considering design, features, price and performance of both the fridges, the Samsung Food Showcase is a winner because of its cooling process and lower average retail cost. Buying a new appliance is always a matter of subjective preference. If you want something like a counter-depth fridge, LG could be better choice for you. There is also a counter-depth version of Showcase.