Outstanding, Large and Beautiful

One day about two years ago, I came home from work to discover that my boyfriend had purchased a new refrigerator to replace the unit that had come with our home. The new refrigerator was a Whirlpool Gold GC5SHEXNS. It was a gift, and it was quite beautiful.

Ordinarily, I research purchases of this size carefully before purchasing. The expense is high, and it's likely that I'll be living with the purchase for years to come. Further, there are many factors that make an appliance like this a "fit" for your home, and being aware of what will fit your space and lifestyle can avoid a bad fit for years. I wouldn't say this refrigerator was a mistake, but I would not have chosen this myself for our current circumstances. This is not because the refrigerator isn't absolutely BEAUTIFUL, and well made. It is simply because of its size.

Be aware that this refrigerator is HUGE. At 25.5 cubic feet, it has a real presence in a kitchen -- more-so than in a big box store surrounded by other units. The box is a full 69 3/4" high, 35 1/2" wide and 33 3/4" deep. The subtly sloping curved doors seem to make it seem like it's growing, which looks attractive, but adds to the presence it has in a room.

On the plus side, this refrigerator can be put into confined spaces, as it requires only 2" clearance for air circulation. This does allow for more flexibility in placement than some other units. I suspect that when our kitchen remodel is complete, we will be able to incorporate the fridge into a wall of cabinets, where the sheer size of the unit will not be so overwhelming. Right now, the entire unit is exposed, and everyone comments on what a (beautiful) large fridge we have.

That said, the design of the unit is striking and attractive. The doors have a subtle curve to them -- they call it a radius design I believe -- that makes the unit less of a box than most refrigerators. The stainless doors are "fingerprint proof" -- which seems to work pretty well for dog paws as well. Also, the doors have had nickel incorporated into them so you can use magnets with these doors, unlike many stainless appliances. The stainless is durable, and stays beautiful. It takes a *lot* to scratch. The sides and top of the fridge are a durable slightly shiny black material that looks great and is easy to clean. There aren't any awkward crevices or grooves in the exterior of the fridge to make cleaning difficult.
The unit does come with a built in filtered door-front ice maker and water dispenser, which is black with blue LED "night lighting". It's attractive enough, and the glow isn't distracting. Cleaning the icemaker can be a bit of a hassle-- but the tray removes easily and can be run through the dishwasher if need be. The fridge all around has a solid, high quality feel to it. It is durable, and there isn't anything that feels lightweight or cheap about it.


Of course, the size of the unit means you can store a LOT in this fridge, and the space is well used, with a lot of adjustability. Almost all the shelves, drawers and door-bins in the refrigerator are adjustable, allowing you to configure the storage as fits your needs.

REFRIGERATOR SIDE:

On the refrigerator side, the door bins are clear plastic, and can be positioned as you choose. They are deep enough to hold gallon jugs of milk.

The door also contains a can rack and flip-top butter drawer, which are fixed in position at the top of the drawer. Air from the freezer is drawn over the cans when the fridge door is cold, to keep cans extra cold.

There is a clear plastic temperature-Controlled Meat drawer at the bottom of the refrigerator that cannot be moved, as air from the freezer is required to keep the temperature low here as well.

There is a humidity-controlled crisper drawer, also clear plastic, which can be positioned anywhere in the fridge.

There is non-specific third drawer.

There are 2 additional shelves in the refrigerator, and the tops of the drawers are glass, and act as shelves if positioned to do so.

The shelves are "spill guard" glass shelves. (I think "Spill guard" means that the glass of the shelves is set into a sealed plastic frame which prevents any spills from overflowing the shelf.)

The unit also has a wine bottle hanger which allows you to chill a bottle of wine on it's side, hanging from the shelf of your choosing.

FREEZER SIDE:

The Freezer side of the unit has wire shelves and drawers.

There are 3 shelves.

There are 2 drawers.

The freezer door comtains tip-out wire bins for additional storage of smaller items.

The shelves and drawers in the freezer are fully adjustable.

Much of the freezer door is occupied by the ice maker's bin, and the top of the freezer compartment also contains icemaker machinery, so some space in the freezer is lost due to it's size. As a result, the freezer is considerably smaller than the refrigerator.

In my opinions, the wire shelves in the freezer are not as convenient as glass. As one can imagine, a baggy of sauce to be frozen will droop into the spaces between the wires and sometimes will freeze stuck to the shelf. Because the wire spacing is rather large, I have had this happen even with chicken breasts. Also, smaller items, like freeze pops, will tend to topple if not carefully positioned to straddle two wires. I find this irritating on a regular basis, although not enough to have implemented the obvious solution -- shelf liners.

Because the doors to the fridge can swing open very wide, all the drawers, bins and shelves can be removed from the unit very easily for washing. This is absolutely GREAT, and my fridge ends up being cleaned far more regularly than any other's I've owned. If your dishwasher is large enough, you can even use it to clean the bins, drawers and shelves, as everything is dishwasher safe.

The temperature controls in this refrigerator are digital, and are located in the upper left of the refrigerator. They are easy to use and intuitive. There are separate controls for the refrigerator and freezer. The unit is very responsive to adjustments. Our unit has worked flawlessly since we purchased it, and I have no significant complaints. I have every reason to believe this model will be reliable and long lasting.


Some other facts worth noting --


This is an energy star compliant refrigerator.

The handles on this refrigerator can be removed quite easily to get it through doors as narrow as 29.5 inches-- the doors can also be removed in a couple of minutes to get the fridge through even more narrow openings, but it helps to have 2 people for that, as they are awkward.

The fridge is heavy enough that pulling it out to clean behind is much easier with 2 people, although 1 motivated individual can do it alone.

The fridge is very well insulated, with foam in the doors and a design intended to make it very energy efficient. When our power goes out, we don’t have to worry about our food going bad as long as we keep the fridge doors closed. I think food would stay frozen in there for a week.