Hisense Fridge Evaluate 2022: Spacious Backside-Freezer Fridge

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  • Hisense’s Backside-Freezer Fridges are perfect for small kitchens the place area is at a premium.
  • My associate and I put in the fridge in our small New York Metropolis house to place it to the take a look at for the previous yr.
  • We love having the spacious fridge on the high and the freezer on the backside; it makes accessing the meals we use most a lot simpler.
  • Hisense fridges are available in a number of sizes and are at the moment accessible at Lowe’s for $899 to $999 relying on the mannequin.

I’ve hated the fridge in my house ever since my associate and I moved in almost three years in the past. It was too small, made by some firm I’ve by no means heard of, didn’t adequately cool issues, and was doubtless no less than 20 years previous.

We prepare dinner so much, and have been getting more and more annoyed by the dearth of space for storing in our previous fridge, having to kneel all the way down to get potatoes, and by no means having the ability to discover that sauce we have been on the lookout for in all that muddle. So after years of lusting after shiny new chrome steel fridges, we lastly received one from Hisense.

We selected this model for a number of causes: 

  1. Most fashions are sufficiently small to suit by the slender doorway into our tiny New York Metropolis kitchen (in addition to all the opposite doorways it needed to cross by alongside the way in which).
  2. They’ve a good 17.2-cubic-foot capability, on common.
  3. They’ve the freezer on the backside as a substitute of the highest, which is a design I’ve at all times appreciated for its comfort.
  4. They’re comparatively inexpensive for the dimensions and high quality.
  5. They give the impression of being modern and fashionable with their chrome steel finishes (particularly when in comparison with our previous dingy white one with its ’70s-inspired fake wood deal with).

Now that we have used this Hisense fridge day-after-day for about half a yr, I’ve pulled collectively our impressions of the model’s fridges. 

Dimensions and design

diagram of a hisense refrigerator including dimensions



Hisense/Lowes


Hisense makes a number of bottom-freezer fridge fashions. I examined the 17.1 cubic-foot Backside-Freezer Fridge (HBM17158SS) mannequin, which is at the moment out of inventory. Nevertheless, you could find barely bigger 17.2 cubic-foot fashions accessible in the identical design. Listed below are the specs for the HRB171N6ASE mannequin. 

The freezer is situated on the backside as a substitute of the highest. If you happen to primarily use recent meals and do not look in your freezer too typically, this is a perfect setup, because the meals you employ most continuously are situated proper at eye stage and simply in attain. The freezer has two compartments so you possibly can retailer bigger gadgets within the backside drawer and smaller ones within the high.

The fridge is tall at about 70 inches in top and slim at 31-inches vast, so it may well slot in small kitchens. It requires simply 33 inches of area to suit by a doorway for set up.

The door is reversible, that means you possibly can set up it in order that it opens to the left as a substitute of the suitable if want be. You will have a Philips screwdriver and an 8-millimeter socket wrench to do the job.

Setup course of

interior of hisense refrigerator include door with storage shelves, produce drawer, and main shelf



Malarie Gokey/Enterprise Insider


Getting a brand new fridge right into a small New York Metropolis house isn’t simple, however the course of went as easily as may be anticipated. Our constructing’s upkeep man helped us convey the fridge as much as the sixth ground within the elevator on a big dolly cart.

We selected this fridge partly as a result of it’s truly slim sufficient to suit by the elevator door, the doorway to our house, and the kitchen doorway. Most fridges are just too huge, however this one match within the elevator and our house’s foremost entrance simply with a number of inches to spare.

We could not get it by the kitchen doorway whereas it was nonetheless within the field, so we reduce the field open in sections with a field cutter till it was free. We eliminated the protecting Styrofoam and plastic wrap to start out wiggling it by the doorway inch by inch.

Then, we moved the fridge slowly off the Styrofoam and plastic base to free the wheels up. As soon as that was accomplished, we rolled it into place and plugged it in.

Subsequent up: deal with set up. We discovered the handles secure contained in the fridge, learn the directions, and broke out the included Allen wrench to start out putting in the handles. It was very simple to do: We lined up the handles with the screws on the entrance of the fridge, situated the opening within the deal with, and inserted the Allen wrench to tighten the screw.

Just a few twists of the wrench later, and the handles have been connected. If you happen to want the door to open in the other way, you possibly can change it utilizing the included equipment and the directions. We didn’t want to change it, so we did not strive it.

We eliminated the remainder of the protecting plastic on the fridge and the tape they used inside to safe the drawers and cabinets, and eventually, the fridge was able to replenish with meals. Your entire set-up course of solely took half an hour.

Contained in the fridge

hisense refrigerator loaded with bottles and jars of food and condiments on shelves and door



Malarie Gokey/Enterprise Insider


The fridge has three adjustable glass cabinets inside and 6 heavy-duty plastic cabinets within the door. You’ll be able to transfer them round to fit your wants, although you might be considerably restricted within the changes you can also make, due to the grooves it’s essential to slot the cabinets into for stability. 

There’s additionally a spacious crisper drawer with two sections the place you possibly can home your vegatables and fruits. You’ll be able to regulate the humidity of the drawer with a easy slider that opens or closes holes. You do have to tug the entire drawer out to entry what’s inside, versus opening one drawer, and which means you may want the fridge door open vast sufficient to tug out the drawer.

The fridge has a 12.1-cubic-foot capability, which is a giant improve over our earlier small and historic fridge. We have been in a position to put a 1.53-liter Tropicana orange juice bottle and a 1-liter bottle of Coca-Cola within the backside shelf of the door. In our previous fridge, that merely wasn’t doable, so we at all times needed to squeeze tall bottles into awkward areas or make them lie down and threat a spill. You can too match a bottle of wine or Champagne in there for chilling upright, which we did for New Yr’s Eve.

Hisense Fridge



Guillermo Garzon/Enterprise Insider


The quite a few cabinets within the door additionally make it simple to retailer smaller gadgets like sauces in addition to eggs and butter so it can save you area for bigger meals inside on the three huge glass cabinets. We put our many alternative sauces and jams on the door cabinets, and it has been a revelation. We are able to lastly discover the hoisin sauce with out having to maneuver issues round frantically whereas the tofu burns.

As for negatives, we discovered that you may solely match a full gallon of milk within the fridge if you happen to take away one of many inside glass cabinets totally and make do with two cabinets as a substitute of three. We ended up deciding to purchase half gallons any longer as a substitute of dropping the additional area created by having all three cabinets in place. Nevertheless, if your loved ones commonly buys gallons of milk — and lots of do! — that is necessary to notice. Every little thing else matches in place simply.

You’ll be able to set the fridge temperature utilizing the management panel on the high of the fridge’s inside. Hisense recommends the pre-set 39-degree temperature for the most effective outcomes, so we left it at that initially. After a number of months, we discovered that it was a bit too chilly, so we adjusted the temperature to 42 levels Fahrenheit. Altering the temperature was simple: I pressed down on the “Fridge” button on the management panel for 3 seconds till it beeped after which saved urgent it to get to the temperature I needed.

The within of the fridge is illuminated by energy-saving LED lights, which is widespread on new fridges, however nonetheless thrilling for anybody who’s coming from an previous fridge with a fragile bulb that wanted changing.

Contained in the freezer

Hisense Fridge



Guillermo Garzon/Enterprise Insider


The freezer is situated on the backside of the fridge, but it surely’s nonetheless simple to entry. Once you pull the deal with, the freezer opens easily.

It has a 5.1-cubic-foot capability and two compartments: a top-level drawer that pulls out and a deeper backside stage compartment. We put all our most continuously used frozen gadgets, ice dice trays, and smaller meals within the high drawer for straightforward entry and saved the underside compartment for greater gadgets (in our case, an enormous bag of frozen peas and a stash of smoked salmon). It is necessary to not overload the highest drawer with heavy gadgets, as a result of it may well get off the drawer pull-out tracks when overloaded.

Hisense recommends the pre-set temperature of -2 levels for finest outcomes. Identical to the fridge temperature, the freezer is simple to set. You merely press down the “Freezer” button within the fridge’s management panel for 3 seconds till you hear a beep, after which hold urgent it to cycle by the totally different temperature settings.

We discovered that temperature to be greater than chilly sufficient. We put a brand new bottle of Coca-Cola in there to sit back earlier than dinner, and throughout the 20 minutes we spent cooking dinner, it was icy chilly and even partially frozen. In our previous fridge, it would not even have been chilled in that period of time.

If you happen to want issues to freeze shortly, the freezer additionally has a brilliant freeze perform that drops the temperature all the way down to -13°F in a matter of minutes to quickly freeze the meals. Hisense says it additionally helps the freezer preserve its -2 temperature if you’re including a bunch of unfrozen (or partially unfrozen) gadgets to the freezer without delay.

In each day use

full shot of interior of hisense refrigerator showing lots of storage for food, beverages and other food including produce like tomatoes



Guillermo Garzon/Enterprise Insider


After about six months of each day use, I can confidently say this fridge has made our lives higher. We prepare dinner so much, so having a fridge that not solely shops all of the totally different meals, sauces, and drinks we wish to have readily available, but in addition retains all of it organized makes getting ready meals a lot simpler. When you could find what you are on the lookout for in seconds as a substitute of minutes, you do not smash your meal or your temper. 

The various totally different cabinets within the fridge door made it tremendous simple for us to arrange all our sauces and hold small containers off the big foremost cabinets. Now we are able to use all of the area for bigger meals and really see all of the meals we’ve got. Our drinks are additionally a lot cooler — I do not suppose I noticed simply how badly our previous fridge was working till I had a degree of comparability.

We additionally love having the freezer on the backside. It’s so a lot simpler to seek out issues within the fridge when you do not have to bend over, kneel down, or as I typically did, sit on the ground whereas rummaging round within the crisper drawers on the lookout for the garlic.

The underside line

  • Must you purchase it? Sure — if in case you have a small kitchen otherwise you merely favor a smaller fridge, it is an awesome alternative, due to its spacious inside. It is also an excellent choice for anybody who needs a fridge with the freezer on the backside. It’s fairly priced when in comparison with fridges with the same capability, and it is without doubt one of the solely bottom-freezer fridges with the same capability that you may purchase for lower than $1,000.
  • What are your options? There are such a lot of fridges to select from, so you’ve lots of options. You’ll be able to try our information to the most effective fridges below $2,000. At The Residence Depot and Lowe’s, there are not any bottom-freezer fridges with the same capability for lower than $1,000 (on the time of writing). You will discover a number of fridges with a freezer on the high and the same capability for a bit much less — costs at The Residence Depot begin at $710 and go as much as about $800 (on the time of writing) — however you will not have that nifty backside freezer.

Professionals: Slim sufficient to slot in small areas, spacious inside, backside freezer is handy, simple to arrange, two freezer compartments, Power Star rated, comparatively inexpensive, reversible door, adjustable temperature, ample shelving

Cons: Not the largest fridge, no fancy options, cannot match a gallon of milk with all three cabinets inside, high freezer drawer can get off the tracks if overloaded

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