I got this 19.7 ft.³ stainless steel commercial refrigerator at the end of June 2009 to replace a Norge that failed after around 20 years. The Norge was a standard side-by-side refrigerator freezer. I got tired of how the icemaker and water provider on the Norge periodically stop working --I eventually pulled and discarded these -and flirted with the notion of getting a separate refrigerator and freezer.A friend of mine with an engineering bent of mind thought this was a terrific idea, given that a fridge on its own was a simple cooling box and a freezer on its own was a simple freezing box, and both should be more up repair free over time if their systems were separate.
There's no question that I love the look of this commercial refrigerator. An acquaintance laughingly dubbed it quote "Jeannie's deli." I'll upload a photo to show how nice it looks even in a residential kitchen; I've got a lot of compliments on it from folks who are choosy about domestic design.
The advantages of a commercial refrigerator are these:
* It fit in the door of my narrow Baltimore row house once the front door was taken off and it was bought in sideways. Most replacement side by sides that I looked at would not have been able to fit a door that is barely 29 inches wide.
* Tons and tons of refrigerator space. If you have several household members, each can have their own shelf and have plenty of space. It has four adjustable heavy-duty, powder-coated shelves and a non-adjustable base shelf.
* You can stand and look through the glass to figure out what you want to eat for dinner or where stored items are before opening the door.
* The casters on the bace of the refrigerator make it easy to move out for periodic vacuuming of the coils although it is a pretty darn heavy model at 311 pounds so you have to be careful not to break tiles by rolling it all over the place.
* I've been very careful to keep a dry erase board in place on the refrigerator so I can log every six months a reminder to vacuum the coils from the back. Other than that it seems maintenance-free so far.
There's only two disadvantages I see:
* When the door was left ajar one time, the condenser overheated and the refrigerator stopped working. I had to make a lot of calls to potential repair folks, and most said they did not work on commercial models. This seemed odd as a commercial model seems far simpler than a domestic model to work on -everything is more accessible. At any rate, once I did find a highly rated repair man, he was able to come by and fix it just by tapping the switch and giving me some notes for future issues. I don't think he even charged me! So you will have to track down a good repairman who isn't a ripoff.
* The door sometimes can be difficult to press fully home, or at least that is how it is lately. In other words you have to apply some pressure so that the seal meets perfectly; it won't swing perfectly shut on its own. This leads to a risk of room temperature air entering the refrigerator, making the condenser run and run and run. I should probably call the manufacturer and see if there is some kind of hinge adjustment that would make this no longer a problem; I do think I tested the fridge for being level.
I'm not sure if this is an advantage or disadvantage but obviously you need to buy a separate freezer. To me this is an advantage because I bought an 8 ft.³ Frigidaire FFC0923DW 8-4/5-Cubic-Foot Manual-Defrost Chest Freezer, White, and now I have lots and lots of freezer and fridge space even in a compact rowhouse kitchen.
And if you want an icemaker, or filtered-water dispenser, obviously this isn't part of the bargain either. To me, it's an advantage not to have things that like to break down.
So I'm at the 3 1/2-year mark with only one minor need for repair. I paid around $1,300 for a vendor in my home state to deliver the refrigerator and install it, including removing and replacing the door. They also took away the oldrefrigerator as well,although I did keep a crisper basket from the old Norge to hold fruit in this new commercial refrigerator.If this model provides ruggedness and longevityI will be very happy with the price given the utility of the volume of the fridge and the attractiveness of its industrial look.
I selected this model for it's size and simplicity.I cringe at the "features" offered by other high end appliances... An ice maker that takes up 1/3 the volume of the freezer?No thanks!Without boring you with the other obvious differences you'll find with this model (window, etc.) I'll summarize some things I have noticed over the last few months of ownership:
Sound.It's a little more noisy than I expected.Albeit a subjective observation, the noise sound of it humming along was noticeable the first few nights.I do not have the wheels installed, and do plan on enclosing it for a built in look.
Glass design a non-commercial setting.Some of my friends thought the glass design would look too commercial in my home.Once they saw it installed they were blown away with how good it looks, especially next to the matching freezer.The light stays on and serves as a nice night light as well.There is a switch to turn the light off if you choose.
Door closing.I read up on as many reviews as I could find prior to purchasing.Some people noted door closing problems.I have had none, and in fact noticed it closes itself well when the door is released (without any effort). FWIW, The door seals on the matching FREEZER are very good.Once you close the door, you can hear the pressure equalizing for 10 seconds. During this period it's VERY hard to open.So if you grab something, close the door, then decide to open it again, you have to wait a few more seconds.
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