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(More customer reviews)First, let me say that I'm a huge fan of most Samsung products. I have owned multiple Samsung cell phones, TVs, monitors, computers, and other products. I have heard the praises on Samsung washers and dryers. All of that led me to buy the RF217ACRS (or RF217ACPN) refrigerator. Its size was perfect for the kitchen I had and at first glance I thought it was a good appliance.
Within two weeks of having it delivered the refrigerator and freezer was intermittent. The freezer temperatures varied greatly and I ended up with a freezer of melted ice cream and thawed out products. I used manual thermometers in both the refrigerator and freezer and quickly learned that it hardly ever kept the temperatures that were displaying on its digital readings. The manual thermometers were placed at different areas and it still never matched. The freezer would be at -25 degrees one moment and +30 degrees the next, all the while the digital gauge on the unit said it was -2 or 0. Frost was constantly melting and refreezing.
Thankfully, the store agreed to pick up this unit and deliver a replacement. Thinking I got a lemon, I just got another Samsung RF217ACRS. Within another month, the replacement unit (completely new, although same model) was doing the same thing. The store agreed to replace it again and I then quickly switched brands. After ditching Samsung, I'm happy to say that I'm thrilled. I now have a refrigerator that cools and a freezer that freezes, but it is NOT a Samsung. It's amazing how happy a customer can be when an appliance does what it is supposed to.
Now, even if you decide to buy the RF217ACRS (or RF217ACPN) after reading about the problems I had, let me tell you about the features of the refrigerator. The stainless steel finish is nice and the EZ Open Freezer handle is a great touch. However, you will not get many features on the inside. While the shelving units are adjustable, they do not adjust enough. You can only adjust them a couple of inches in a few directions. Most of the door shelves turn out to be too small to even use unless you just omit one of the shelves to increase the height of the others. Other units offer shelves with much more adjustable heights to them. After you look at other brands, you will see that Samsung missed the mark on designing the interior of this unit.
You can fit a gallon of milk in the doors, but don't even try to fit a one gallon pitcher of tea or something similar on the shelves. The noise level is a bit higher than I expected. It is not quiet, but it is manageable. The lighting is too dim. I know they are using LED lights to save energy, but there needs to be more light. When opening the freezer door you often spill ice into the bottom of the freezer or worse, your kitchen floor. The ice maker comes down too far into the ice bucket causing it to knock cubes off when opening/closing the door.
At the end of the day, I was never thrilled about the abilities or features of this Samsung refrigerator. When major problems surfaced, that just put the nails in the coffin. I was completely dissatisfied with this model and Samsung's customer service (I did call them after the second malfunction). I cannot recommend this model and likely cannot recommend any Samsung refrigerator.
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