The Cool Monster (Samsung SR-3928)

Member Name: Forestia

Product:	Samsung SR-3928
Date:	31/10/02 (692 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lost of space, drinks dispenser, ice maker

Disadvantages: you may need to stand on a chair to clean the top

Recently my partner finally gave in to my nagging and agreed that it was time to get a new fridge. The old one was working, but the seal on it was gone and frankly, I was fed up of defrosting the freezer every month.

We did some window shopping at Iceland, Comet, Currys and online and the Samsung fridge stood out straight away. It has a slick design, appeared to have a lot of space and had a drinks dispenser, which was something my partner had always wanted. The price was not cheap but it was very reasonable for what it offered.

When the fridge arrived we had the dubious pleasure of having to bring it in ourselves as the Comet delivery person decided our passage was too narrow (nonsense, but I won't get into that). That gave us the opportunity to see that despite the size, it wasn't a lot heavier than the old, much smaller, fridge.

One of the nice things about the fridge is that you can change the direction of the door to open the way you prefer it, it took us a little while to work it out but the change was not too difficult.

The best thing about the fridge is the incredible amount of space. Even on the day of of our weekly shop, even if it was a particularly big shop, the fridge is never crowded. There are two drawers for fruit and veg, both very spacious, the shelves are adjustable, the door can contain two 2 litre drink bottles easily as well as other bits and pieces (eggs, small jars, butter, etc.) and the drinks dispenser is large enough without taking up much space in the fridge, as is often the case with those contraptions. I am sure that we've saved a lot of money since we had the fridge, by using the dispenser, drinking less bottled drinks and opening the fridge much less often. Oh, and the fridge has an A energy rating which means it is very energy efficient.

The shelves are attractive glass shelves, very easy to keep clean with a damp cloth.

Another major advantage is the fact that the fr
idge is on top of the freezer, which means no bending down every 5 minutes, a great advantage with a big pregnant belly!

The freezer is also very spacious. It has a nice little ice making compartment with a container for the ready ice, this gets used a lot in this house and it such an improvement over the traditional ice trays. No more spills, balancing the water-filled trays or struggling to get the ice out. The trays go in their own compartment and when the ice is ready, you turn a little round handle and the ice drops in the drawer below. Simple. The freezer drawers are spacious and give easy access to every item in them, such a relief after years of digging at the back of shelves and finding long lost chunks of dubious looking meat!

The freezer is meant to be frost free and so far, not a single icicle has been spotted.

The fridge controls are simple and easy to use, there is an economy feature, a fast freeze feature and a vacation feature. We haven't used any of those yet, but I can see their usefulness. The digital display at the top lets you know the temperature of the fridge and the freezer and the current working status (i.e. regular, vacation, fast frost, economy).

Another great feature is the alarm that sounds when the door is left open. In a house with a man who seems to have an aversion to closing any kind of door, this is without doubt a great thing. It can get a little annoying at times when the alarm starts going when you are loading up the fridge with the shopping, but it is not too bad.

The fridge light is quite bright, takes time to get used to, but it is absolutely great for those night trips to the kitchen... If it wasn't for the alarm you could use the fridge light as soft illumination for a romantic meal if you happen to be out of candles ;-)

The doors take a bit of strength to open, I can see how that can be a major advantage in a few years time when we will have a toddles wanti
ng to open every door in sight. Both fridge and freezer door should be a bit too difficult for a little one to open, though I can't guarantee it is child proof until we actually test this theory.

The only flaw I have found so far is that once opened, the door tends to fly back and does not like to be in a half-way position. It either shuts, or opens all the way. Not a big deal but a bit annoying. 

Summary: