Samsung RF23DB9700QL Review: Extemely flexible

Verdict

If you’re after a fridge freezer that can match (or contrast) with your kitchen, the Samsung Bespoke Counter Depth 4-Door Flex Refrigerator (23 cu. ft.) with Beverage Zone RF23DB9700QL could be for you.

Available with a choice of finishes, this counter-depth model is easy to integrate. It’s the flexible French Door fridge, complete with auto open doors and a smart Beverage Zone, that make it stick out. Add in low running costs and brilliant temperature control, and this model is great for most.

Introduction

There are plenty of good fridge freezers out there, but exceptional ones that offer more flexible space and more useful features, such as the Samsung Bespoke Counter Depth 4-Door Flex Refrigerator (23 cu. ft.) with Beverage Zone RF23DB9700QL are much rarer.

With flexible internal space, auto-open doors, a useful beverage center and SmartThings integration, not to mention the useful counter-depth size, this is a brilliant high-end fridge-freezer.

Design and Features

• Clever Beverage Zone with Beverage Center
• Auto Open Door
• Showcase door

As part of the Bespoke range of fridges and freezers, the Samsung RF23DB9700QL has customizeable door panels with a choice of 11 colors and two finishes to choose from, so you can find the ideal combination to match (or contrast with) your kitchen.

This particular model is counter-depth, so the fridge-freezer can slot into a gap with kitchen cupboards without protruding. There’s also a larger 29 cu. ft. version available with is a similar product but deeper, to give more room.

Overall, this model has 13.7 cu. ft. of internal space, split between 17 cu. ft. of fridge space, and two 4.4 cu. ft. freezer compartments at the bottom.

As is becoming more common, this fridge freezer is a French Door model, which means the entire top of the unit is a fridge, with the double doors opening onto a compartment that’s the full width of the fridge.

I’m a big fan of this kind of layout, as everything in the fridge can be reached without bending down, and the width makes it easy to get larger items in, such as a whole turkey.

With this model, Samsung has fitted its Auto Open Door. Just gently tap the sensor on the front, and the fridge doors open automatically; it’s brilliant if you’ve got your hands full with a delicate item, such as a dessert.

Inside, the layout is beautifully arranged. There are three shelves, with the middle one able to go in two positions. And, the right-hand side of this shelf has a sliding split, so you can fit taller items below.

There are then two drawers, with the water filter held between them. Having the water filter accessible from the inside of the fridge is a brilliant idea; most fridge freezers have the filter at the back, where it’s hard to reach.

At the top of the fridge is the deodorizing filter, which provides, clean fresh air and helps remove any unwanted smells from this compartment.

On the right-hand door, there are three large door pockets, which will easily accommodate larger items, such as big milk and juice cartons.

There’s only one smaller door pocket accessible from the inside of the left-hand door, but that’s because of the Showcase door, Beverage Zone and Beverage Center.

From the outside, the RF23DB9700QL has a single glass door on the left, which can be opened independently of the main doors. It’s similar to the InstaView door on the LG LRYKC2606S, although Samsung’s version is slightly more flexible.

First, Welcome Lighting turns on the light when you approach the fridge, so you can see the items inside without having to knock. Secondly, the internal space is different.

With LG’s fridges, the InstaView door opens up into the main fridge compartment, letting you grab items from the door pockets. Samsung’s Showcase door is similar, only it opens up onto a sealed Beverage Zone, with two shelves, and the Beverage Center.

The Beverage Center has a cold water dispenser and a self-filling jug, which has an infuser so that you can add fruits or herbs to the jug for flavored water.

With the Beverage Center, there’s a choice of two temperatures: Beverage Mode for drinks or Wine & Dessert Mode.

It’s brilliantly designed, adds to the RF23DB9700QL’s flexibility and hides the water dispenser from view.

The Beverage Center doesn’t dispense ice, but the freezer compartment on the left has an ice maker, producing cubes and smaller ice bites. With a scoop for getting ice out, everything I needed was easy to reach.

The freezer section otherwise has two slide-out drawers and three door pockets. There’s the same layout in the right-hand compartment, although you get a bit more storage space, as the top drawer doesn’t have the ice maker.

As with most French Door products, the right-hand-side freezer compartment can be turned into a fridge, giving more space if you’ve got a lot of fresh food or if you’re just having a party and need space for drinks.

Control of the Samsung RF23DB9700QL is via the control panel on the inside, but this model is also compatible with SmartThings. As well as giving remote control over the target temperatures, the app will tell you if a door is left open or when the water filter needs changing.

SmartThings also has its AI Energy Mode, which monitors how the fridge is used and then can give up to 10% energy savings.

Performance

• Very good temperature control
• Low running costs

To test how well the Samsung RF23DB9700QL performs, I loaded it with freezer blocks to simulate real food, and then monitored energy use and temperatures. The fridge was set to 40°F and the freezer to 0°F.

I found that the fridge averaged a temperature of 37.51°F, which is 2.48°F colder than the set temperature – that’s pretty close to what I was aiming for. Measuring standard deviation, I found that temperatures mostly fluctuated between +/-1.7°F, which shows that this fridge freezer has excellent temperature control.

I found that the freezer was a touch colder than I’d programmed, coming in with an average temperature of -1.57°F. Standard deviation was good, with most temperatures fluctuating +/-1.9°F from the average.

Taking energy readings, I estimate that this fridge freezer will cost around $80.95 per year to run, which gives a low cost of $3.60 per cu. ft. of space. That’s low compared to the similar competition and shows that this fridge freezer is efficient.

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