Verdict
A highly flexible American-style fridge freezer, the Samsung RH69B8941S9 can even be converted into a large side-by-side fridge. It’s not as deep as many of its rivals, but still packs in a clever hidden water dispenser and jug, while SpaceMax tech means that the insulation is thinner so internal space isn’t compromised. As with many large fridge freezers, running costs are quite high.
Pros
- Clever hidden drinks dispenser
- Lots of space
- Creates two types of ice
Cons
- Bottles can stop door closing
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TypeThis is an American-style fridge freezer with the freezer on the left (although this can be converted into a fridge) and the fridge on the right. -
Capacity645-litres of space, split across 403-litres of fridge space and 242-litres of freezer space.
Introduction
While a water dispenser and ice maker can be useful traits in a fridge freezer, they can both spoil the look of the outside, as well as not being the most hygienic. The Samsung RH69B8941S9 is different, as it has a secret smaller door on the front that opens up to the Beverage Center that houses a water dispenser and jug.
Add in flexible storage, two types of ice and excellent temperature control, and this is a flexible and powerful American-style fridge freezer.
Design and features
- Clever bottle rack/shelf
- Beverage Center inside front door
- Lots of space inside
An American-style fridge freezer, with the freezer on the left and the fridge on the right, the Samsung RH69B8941S9 is quite a large model. At 1780 x 912 x 716mm, this model is as wide and tall as much of the competition, but it’s not quite as deep.
Using Samsung’s SpaceMax technology, the insulation in the walls is thinner than on rival models, so there’s actually more room inside, with a total of 645 litres of space, split between 403 litres of fridge space and 242 litres of freezer space. That’s 10 litres more of total space compared to the LG GSXV90MCDE, which is deeper.
Although there’s one large door for the fridge, feel inside the rim, and there’s a latch to unlock half of the door to get into the Beveredge Center. There’s a standard water filter dispenser, which delivers plumbed-in filtered water from your mains source. As this dispenser is washable and kept sealed away from the outside world, it’ll be more hygienic, too.
There’s also a 1.4-litre pitcher inside, which can be set to be automatically filled. I found it handy having a jug of cold water ready to go, plus it has an infusion holder inside so that I could flavour the water with fruits and herbs. It’s dishwasher safe, too, so easy to clean up after.
Through this mini door, there’s room to reach items in the central door pocket. I could just about squeeze in a 1-litre milk carton, but taller bottles won’t fit. This shelf is useful for standard items, such as cans of drink, ketchup and the like, as they can be reached without opening the main fridge.
Inside the door, there are four door pockets. One has a cut-out where the jug goes, leaving a slightly impractical space at the end, which is only suitable for the smallest of items. The other three are a good size, although the largest items will have to go in the bottom one.
In the main area, there are four main shelves and a bottle rack. Well, I say rack, but it’s more of a shelf with indents that makes it more useful than a regular rack: bottles of any shape and size will fit in, plus this doubles up as a normal shelf.
I did have to put my two-litre bottles of lemonade in backwards (caps facing the rear of the fridge), as the other way round the caps hit the door pocket and stopped the fridge door from closing. Of course, the exact size and shape of bottles will make a difference.
There are two decent-sized drawers at the bottom, but no humidity controls available for them.
The freezer section is a good size, with three shelves and two large drawers in the main unit. Each shelf is wide enough to take a regular pizza.
The Samsung RH69B8941S9 dispenses ice into two compartments. The one on the left is for Ice Bites (small chunks) and the other side for larger cubes. There’s even a scoop to help get them out. I quite like this approach, as I found it faster to get ice compared to using a slow dispenser built into a fridge door.
Three of the door pockets are a good size and large enough for boxes of fish fingers or ice creams. It’s handy having quick access to some items, rather than having to rummage through a shelf.
The lower pocket is tiny. I guess it’s better than nothing but it’s not hugely practical for most things. I’ve got a wine collar for cooling a bottle of wine that fits in there, but I’m not sure I necessarily need a dedicated pocket for it.
What’s particularly clever about this fridge freezer is how the space can be used. Rather than a standard fridge freezer, the freezer section can be converted into a fridge, doubling up the amount of space you get, although at the loss of ice, which will melt. Still, that gives a huge amount of space for the fridge and more flexibility than you normally get with convertible fridge freezers: the Hitachi R-WB640VGB1 can only have one of its two freezer compartments converted into a fridge.
And, you can turn the Samsung RH69B8941S9 into a mini fridge: the main fridge is turned off to save power, leaving the smaller freezer section in use as a fridge.
Performance
- Very stable fridge control
- Freezer slightly colder than set
- Quite expensive to run
I test fridge freezers in the same way, setting them up with automatic door openers, and using temperature sensors spread throughout to measure temperature fluctuations. I set the fridge to 4°C, and found that temperatures were similar across the entire fridge from top to bottom.
With an average temperature of 3.19°C, the Samsung RH69B8941S9 was 0.8°C off the target temperature. However, the standard deviation showed that temperatures fluctuated just +/-0.38°C from that average, which shows how incredibly stable this fridge is. A standard deviation of 1 is good, so below that is exceptional.
Moving to the freezer, temperatures were, again, stable from top to bottom, with an overall average of -19.96°C, which is 1.96°C colder than the -18°C that I had set. Here, the average standard deviation showed that temperatures mostly fluctuated +/-1°C from the average, which is very good.
This is a frost free fridge freezer, and during testing I didn’t encounter any ice build up.
As is typical for a large fridge freezer, the Samsung RH69B8941S9 isn’t that cheap to run and has an E-class energy rating. Slated to draw 350W of power per year, with my tests coming up with something similar, this fridge freezer will cost around £119 a year to run, with an overall running cost per litre of £0.18.
To get much lower running costs, you must go with a smaller appliance, such as the 60cm wide Hotpoint H9X 94T SX.
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Should you buy it?
Flexibility: If you want a flexible fridge freezer with built-in water dispensing and ice making, this model gives you a lot of features.
Pirce: If you want something cheaper to run, or need a fridge freezer that’s not quite as deep, look elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
Rather than just being another American style fridge freezer, it’s nice to see Samsung do something slightly different for the Samsung RH69B8941S9. The integrated Beverage Center could be genuinely useful to a lot of families, yet it doesn’t take up much physical space. And, with nothing on show from the outside, this fridge freezer can still dispense a lot of fresh ice. Combined with the flexible interior and option of making this all fridge, the Samsung RH69B8941S9 offers more than a lot of its rivals.
Running costs aren’t the cheapest, although that’s typical for a large item, such as this. Temperature control, particular in the fridge is excellent, helping preserve food items. If you want something slightly different, check out my guide to the best fridge freezers.
How we test
Unlike other sites, we test every fridge freezer we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
We test for at least two weeks.
We use temperature sensors to monitor the internal temperature to help us accurately compare models from different manufacturers.
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FAQs
Yes, it dispenses small and large blocks of ice into the freezer compartment.
Yes, there’s an inline water filter that attaches to the hose at the back.
Trusted Reviews test data
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As part of this mission, whenever we review a product, we send the company a series of questions to help us gauge and make transparent the impact the device has on the environment.
We currently haven’t received answers to the questions on this product, but we will update this page the moment we do. You can see a detailed breakdown of the questions we ask and why in our sustainability info page.
