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Reviewed / Timothy Renzi
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Credit:
Reviewed / Timothy Renzi
Reviewed's mission is to help you buy the best stuff and get the most out of what you already own. Our team of product experts thoroughly vet every product we recommend to help you cut through the clutter and find what you need.
Learn more about our product testing
The GE GDE25EYKFS has remarkably steady temperatures, useful features, and lots of storage space for a bottom-freezer refrigerator. Read More
Though it requires calibration, this fridge will offer remarkably consistent temperatures and is one of the best values we've seen. Read More
The Beko BFBD30216SSIM is an average fridge with some above-average crispers. Veggie-lovers who need a fridge this size will get the most out of it. Read More
If you’re in the market for a basic bottom-freezer refrigerator with excellent temperature performance, the Whirlpool WRB322DMBM is for you. Read More
This is a great bottom-freezer. It has good performance and bright interior lights. It does lack extra features, but that helps keep its price low. Read More
Whether you’re a new homeowner or just in the market to replace a large appliance you bought a decade ago, shopping for fridges, ranges, dishwashers, and the like can be overwhelming unless you’re an avid follower in the space, which—is not many of us.
If you’re looking online, or actually in-store surrounded by rows and rows of fridges that look more or less identical, panic may set in. Don’t just pick one at random; each has its own set of features and functions, not to mention hefty price tags.
Not to worry. In our labs here at Reviewed, our experts have tested hundreds of refrigerators, from French-door to side-by-side to these here bottom-freezer refrigerators. While each style has its own set of technical pros and cons, there's also a subjective element to it, and that's based on what you need in your home.
We do have a list of the best refrigerators we've ever tested. But when it comes to the specific bottom-freezer style fridges, our favorite is the GE GDE25EYKFS (available at Abt for $1,494.00) , which is an amazing deal on a fridge with some of the steadiest temperatures we've seen outside high-end models.
Consistent temperatures
Lots of storage
Crispers don't hold humidity well
Steady temperatures
Excellent crispers
Some of the components feel cheap
Steady temperatures
Excellent crispers
Some of the components feel cheap
Even temperatures
Effective crispers
Some fixtures feel a bit cheap
Our lab automatically controls for temperature and humidity to ensure a consistent testing environment.
Hi there! We're Reviewed's appliance testing team. Between the us, we've spent many years testing major appliances including washers, dryers, refrigerators, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, and robot vacuum cleaners.
We have plenty of experience testing these products in the lab, but we've also used them as normal people would in the course of their daily lives, which means that we have a great sense for what appliances are bargains at their price points, and which appliances have really useful extra features (as opposed to the kitchen-sink approach to features).
You can read about our testing methodologies here.
We test each refrigerator in our temperature-controlled lab, using a standardized battery of tests.
If your refrigerator just died, chances are that you're in a hurry to replace it. But first, there are some things to know before buying a new refrigerator.
There are four main types of full-size fridges.
There are four major styles of refrigerator: top-freezer, bottom-freezer, French-door, and side-by-side. Top-freezer fridges are the most traditional and the most basic. They're also the least expensive.
If you’re reading this article, it’s because you are considering buying a bottom-freezer fridge, where the fridge door opens to the side, and the freezer door pulls out like a drawer. While many French-door model fridges have a bottom-oriented freezer, their refrigerator compartments are vastly different, so you won’t find French-doors on this list.
Ideally, your fridge should be exactly 37°F and your freezer should be 0°F.
These temperatures are important because food needs to be kept within a very narrow band of temperatures to maximize its shelf life. If your fridge, for example, were to drop to 32°F—just 5°F below the ideal temperature—some food in your refrigerator will start to freeze. On the other end of the spectrum, temperatures of 40°F and higher are dangerous, because that's the temperature at which bacteria really start to proliferate quickly.
If your freezer gets warmer than 0°F, it means your food isn't being truly frozen. Furthermore, if temperatures in your freezer bounce around, that will greatly exacerbate the build-up of freezer burn.
While the lifespan of any appliance can vary wildly due to several factors, you should expect your fridge to last for about 10 years.
Most manufacturers will at least cover the first year in their warranty, but some companies will offer more robust programs that will cover specific parts up to five years, 10 years, or for the lifetime of the product.
This is a somewhat ambiguous question that we get asked a lot.
If you’re looking to fit your new fridge into an existing enclosure, then getting the right measurements is crucial, and not particularly difficult. The only area people generally get tripped up by is the door: If the front of your fridge is flush with your cabinetry, you won’t be able to open the door properly. Fortunately, this is an easy fix: just make sure enough of your fridge is sticking out past your cabinetry that the door can swing freely.
Measuring the interior of your fridge is a much more complicated issue. Most manufacturers measure the interior of a fridge by essentially flooding it with water and accounting for every empty inch inside the fridge. While it makes a kind of sense, we don’t use these measurements, because they don’t cleanly translate into a usable datapoint. Nobody is storing food in the crevices around their ice maker or hovering in the gap between the shelves and door (if you are, please let us know your technique).
The way we measure the interior of a fridge is to get the measurements of each shelf, bin, or other storage location—the places you can actually put food—and add those together. That way we’re only accounting for the usable storage inside the fridge, and different models’ capacities are more cross-comparable.
Cold air needs to circulate around your fridge for it to work properly. Stacking shelves to the ceiling will cut off airflow and lead to hot spots around your fridge where food will spoil much faster. On top of that, overstocked fridges often result in lower visibility, which means food will get hidden and forgotten, only to be uncovered later, teeming with new life. Keeping clutter controlled will keep this kind of food waste to a minimum.
The most basic storage options include built-in shelves in the fridge, one or two crisper bins, and some shelving options on the fridge's doors. When it comes to extra storage, bottom-freezer refrigerators have a slight advantage over top-freezers: Their drawer-style freezer provides more storage and is often easier to dig through (and there's a much smaller chance frozen leftovers will fall onto your toes). This design also keeps the freezer much lower to the ground, which is great if you want your kids to get access to frozen treats, though maybe something to avoid if your kids are likely to help themselves to Ben & Jerry’s for breakfast.
Bottom-freezer fridges are slightly better alternatives to the basic top-freezer refrigerator in terms of its freezer design. However, if you are aging in place or have back problems and trouble stooping down, a bottom-freezer fridge may not be the choice for you.
Bottom-freezer fridges are mid-range refrigerators when it comes to price. Unless you’re talking higher-end brands like Bosch and Beko, most fall between $1,000 to $2,000—and that’s because they often lack the extra touches you'd see on more expensive side-by-sides or French-doors, such as a through-the-door ice and water dispenser, a flex drawer, or smart features. Brands from LG to Maytag to Whirlpool all carry bottom-freezer refrigerators.
Mark Brezinski works on the Home Team, reviewing refrigerators, minifridges, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, air conditioners, air purifiers, and fans.
Jonathan Chan currently serves as the Lab Manager at Reviewed. If you clean with it, it's likely that Jon oversees its testing. Since joining the Reviewed in 2012, Jon has helped launch the company's efforts in reviewing laptops, vacuums, and outdoor gear. He thinks he's a pretty big deal. In the pursuit of data, he's plunged his hands into freezing cold water, consented to be literally dragged through the mud, and watched paint dry. Jon demands you have a nice day.
Leigh Harrington has 25 years experience as a writer and editor for myriad print and digital publications.
At USA TODAY and Reviewed, Harrington oversees large appliances, including refrigerators, dishwashers, ranges, and laundry, and manages Reviewed's overall home content, including areas of focus like home improvement, cleaning, gardening, cooking, and parenting. She focuses on developing and editing consumer ed content, product reviews and buying guides, but she also writes, too.
Harrington is also an experienced travel writer, and has authored books including Fodor's Boston, 100 Things to Do in Boston Before You Die, and Colorful Boston, an adult coloring book. www.leighharrington.com
Our team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and lab technicians obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.
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