GE Profile Bottom Freezer Refrigerator

Who knew shopping for a funcitonal appliance could be so much fun?

The Hunt For Black Refrigerator

A 25 cu ft. White Profile Performance French door model with ice dispenser stood in the way of “The Perfect Kitchen” so a replacement was sought so the formerly functional fridge could hang out in the garage and a newer, more empty-nester friendly fridge could take its place. While the French door models look sleek and modern, their many flaws –like the very narrow freezer shelves that wouldn’t hold a large frozen pizza showed after years of use. The top-freezer model would not serve either, since the freezer wasn’t the most used part. An alternative showed up a few years ago, and seems to combine the great looks and features of the French door models with a huge and convenient freezer section; the Bottom Freezer model.

GE Profile™ PFSF5NJW

This 25.1 Cu Ft. GE Profile French Door Bottom Freezer filled almost all of the requirements of the “I Want That” list. There were some requirements filled that weren’t realized until after comparison shopping and updating our “Must Have” column.

The cabinet layout of the kitchen lends itself to the largest of refrigerators, so the choice of a 25 Cu Ft size was easy. The PFSF5NJW has 2 doors of the fridge compartment that open like a book, exposing all of the contents of the fridge and doors at once, or you can open just one fridge door at a time. The freezer compartment pulls out on rails and all of its contents are either in the deep box or on the railed wire shelf.

The water dispenser of the former French Door model was something that was also desired in the new fridge, and comes in this model, but what is lost is the ice crusher that usually broke on everyone’s model after a few year’s use.

The control panel on the right-hand door features external control of the temperature of the fridge or the freezer sections. The recommended 0 degrees for the freezer and 37 degrees for the refrigerator are displayed when you push the up or down touchpad to change the interior temperature if you have a need for higher or lower temperatures.

The exterior door controls also have an Open Door Alarm if one of the fridge doors are not securely closed. Since this one flaw; the refrigerator doors do not close automatically, you need to push them shut, this alarm is occasionally put to use.

Other exterior controls are for Energy Saving cooling or Turbo Cooling and also a Lock feature to keep little hands from playing with doors.

Once inside the refrigerator, the left side of the fridge has 3 adjustable door shelves –two of which can hold gallon-sized containers. The bottom shelf is not deep, perfect for condiments. On the right side door, there are 3 more shelves and a 4-can holder. One of the right-hand shelves is for butter type products, and the 2 other shelves could hold a gallon each, but a moveable divider can be employed for smaller bottle organization.

The main refrigerator compartment contains 4 clear adjustable shelves and one fixed shelf and 3 slide-out shelves. The 2 half-width shelves have humidity controllers and the one full-width slide-out shelf has a temperature controller. All of the shelves are see-through with white or gray trim. The top 4 shelves also slide out for easy reach of items in the back.

The bottom freezer is so much more spacious than a Top Freezer or Side-by-Side model. Even though it is only 7.7 Cu Ft capacity, the openness of the deep basket that can hold several large frozen pizzas or gallons of ice cream makes it seem so much bigger. There is a shallow wire basket on top of the deep bottom basket that can roll back for easy access to the bottom section, or come even more forward for small frozen items such as frozen tamales. There is an automatic icemaker and storage shelf for ice in a fixed shelf on rollers on the left and a fixed shelf that slides out that contains enough room again for frozen pizzas or gallons of ice cream. This higher-level shelf is where the day-to-day frozen items are kept, while the bottom; deep shelf is used more for long-term frozen storage needs.

Some Reality Checks

While this refrigerator has so many great features and functions, there are some issues that have become apparent over time. They are minor, but must be mentioned.

The large bottom temperature controlled shelf has a little plastic lid that flips back when you slide open the drawer. The lid blocks the 2 smaller humidity controlled shelves from opening if the lid doesn’t go back into place.

And as mentioned before, the two French doors do not close on their own, you have to make sure that they are pushed all the way closed or the Door Alarm sounds.

And missing from the whistles and bells is the 'In the door' Ice Crusher.

Recommendations

This is a much more convenient alternative to the Side-By-Side or Top Freezer models. The convenient storage options allow more optimal storage of your groceries. Almost everything is at your fingertips, unlike the old days where you pulled out stuff to get to things in the back. This is a functional appliance and makes the kitchen look great