Best Refrigerators for $1,500 or Less
CR's tests find that you don’t have to sacrifice style and performance to get a good value
By Daniel Wroclawski
There are plenty of reasons you might not want to shell out thousands of dollars on a new refrigerator. Maybe yours died suddenly, but you have other financial priorities. Maybe you recently purchased an older home and need to replace a fridge that’s past its prime. Or maybe you’re doing a kitchen remodel and can’t splurge on appliances.
No matter the reason, there’s no need to worry. Consumer Reports has done the testing and research for you, and found no shortage of great options for $1,500 or less.
“We’re seeing fridges for less than $1,500 that offer nice features, such as dual evaporators, icemakers, and compartments you can convert from fridge to freezer and back again,” says test engineer Larry Ciufo, who oversees CR’s refrigerator labs.
Below, CR members can see ratings and reviews of the 10 best refrigerators from our tests for $1,500 or less. Because our ratings are now organized by width (one of the most important factors in choosing a refrigerator), we’ve selected top models in each configuration at a variety of widths to help you find a fridge that fits in your kitchen. The list includes models from Amana, Frigidaire, Haier, Insignia, LG, and Whirlpool that offer fantastic value.
To test refrigerators, we outfit each model with thermocouples in a climate-controlled chamber and monitor it for a month, collecting more than 5.4 million temperature readings that identify warm and cold spots, to determine which fridges will keep your food fresh longer. We also factor in survey data from thousands of CR members to judge brand reliability and satisfaction. All that data—and then some—inform CR’s refrigerator ratings charts and each model’s Overall Score.
One caveat: Prices fluctuate throughout the year, so depending on when you look, you might spot models here listed for more than $1,500. (What you won’t find are any built-in refrigerators because they’re too pricey to make the cut.)
French-Door Finds
Side-by-Side Steals
Bottom-Freezer Bargain
LG LBNC15231V
CR’s take: The 28-inch LG LBNC15231V packs quite a punch in a small package. In CR’s lab tests, this slim bottom-freezer earns an Excellent rating for thermostat control, Very Good ratings for temperature uniformity, noise, and energy efficiency, and a Fair rating for ease of use. Based on our latest survey data, LG bottom-freezers earn an Excellent rating for predicted reliability and a Very Good rating for owner satisfaction. This model is missing some desirable features—it has no icemaker, external water dispenser, or built-in water filter—but that helps keep the unit’s cost down.
Top-Freezer Treat
Whirlpool WRT112CZJZ
CR’s take: At just 24 inches wide, the Whirlpool WRT112CZJZ is one of the smallest top-freezers available, but it’s by far the best-performing model of any size. And thanks to its sub-$600 price, it’s also a CR Best Buy. It earns an Excellent rating for crucial cooling functions and for noise output, making it the quietest top-freezer we’ve tested, and it receives a Very Good score for energy efficiency. It earns only a Poor score for ease of use, but that’s on a par with many other top-freezers. In surveys of our members, Whirlpool top-freezers rate Excellent for predicted reliability but Fair for owner satisfaction, a common combination among top-freezer brands.
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