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Great looks but a real dud where it counts Electrolux EW26SS65SS Stainless Steel Side by Side Refrigerator I purchased this refrigerator in July 2008 from HH Gregg at the insistence ...

As functional as it is beautiful. They thought of *almost* everything! Electrolux EW26SS65SS Stainless Steel Side by Side Refrigerator We almost didn't get this fridge. In fact, I hadn't really even heard of El...

We almost didn’t get this fridge. In fact, I hadn’t really even heard of Electrolux when we began shopping. Usually I do a lot of online research before ANY purchase….and this time I’m happy to say that I made an exception.

Let me preface my review of the product by giving you a little background on my situation. I am completely renovating a kitchen in a home that I just moved into. The old one had no appliances and was so trashed I wouldn’t even consider it salvage-able. One of the big items on my to-do list was to buy all new appliances for the kitchen. Being an avid cook…I’ve got some pretty high standards for my appliances to meet.

Since we were putting in new cabinets, we considered cabinet-depth, however that adds extra expense and gives you less storage space. We decided standard-depth would probably be the best bet, but found something wrong with almost every model we looked at.

Our main requirements:
- Stainless Steel (to match other appliances)
- Side-by-side configuration
- Water/Ice dispenser in the door
- Affordable
The LG was nice, but it was only stainless on the front. The sides were an ugly black/grey. This is something we hadn’t considered at first. When you buy a standard depth refrigerator, the sides are going to be visible. Who wants to see ugly black or grey sides sticking out like a sore thumb?

Another brand looked better on the sides, but the lighting inside consisted of bare bulbs with ugly plastic cages around them….yuck. Another model had really nice LED lighting inside, but wasn’t side by side and looked ugly outside. Other models looked great but didn’t have in-door dispensing, weren’t side-by-side, or they were just ridiculously expensive. We couldn’t find a single one that we liked.

We finally decided to buy a GE (I think). As the sales lady went back to see what she could do for us on the pricing, I walked around a bit and noticed this Electrolux fridge off by itself. I immediately noticed the stainless sides and the WaveTouch control panel….”hey, it matches the oven!”. I opened the door and the lights slowly ramped-up…that was cool. Lots of storage space, bright light…this thing looked great. Then I looked at the price tag….$2500. Yeah, it’s expensive. It’s more than I thought I wanted to spend on a refrigerator….would I do it again? Absolutely!

We’ve had the fridge in for less than a week now, but I’ve had a chance to see how it performs.

Initial set-up
The delivery guys got this thing plugged in and connected to our water line. They did have to run the dispenser for about 3 minutes as required by the instructions. Shortly after they left we noticed water dripping from the water filter. Removing and replacing the filter took care of that.

As the unit is cooling from room temperature, the display showes the current temperature in the freezer and the refrigerator compartments, along with a light that says “adjusting temperature”. Normal Operation:It didn’t take long for the freezer and refrigerator to adjust to their normal operating temperatures of 0F and 37F, respectively. Once this was done, ice production started. (The instructions say to throw away the first few rounds of ice and the first few gallons of water from the dispenser.)

Water Dispenser
Water from the dispenser is cool, but doesn’t seem quite as cold as the 37-degree drinks inside. The built-in water filter makes every glass tastes like bottled water. The stream of water coming out is as smooth as glass…kind of looks neat with the LED lighting…though it does take a while to fill a glass (perhaps this is due to the filter).
9″ Clearance is nice for filling taller glasses.

Ice Dispenser
The ice-maker is pretty similar to the standard “half-moon” shaped ice, but the “cubes” are smaller and it looks like it makes less ice per cycle. Don’t be deceived….it makes a lot of ice. Our bin was full in less than 24 hours. The ice is good, too….the water that feeds the ice maker passes through the same filter the water dispenser uses. Crushed ice is a nice feature. It’s no sonic but it’s nice.
My only ice complaint is that the ice is the standard half-moon shape. It’s 2008! Couldn’t the bright minds at Electrolux have built in an ice maker that makes squares? They thought of almost everything else.

Interior lighting
When you open the door to the freezer or the refrigerator, the lights “ramp-up”. (Basically start dim and adjust up to full brightness). At full-brightness, the lighting is better than most refrigerators. Lots of light, almost no shadows anywhere. I can’t think of how many lights there are, but there must be several in each compartment. The only improvement which could have been made would be to have used LED lighting. I saw another brand’s model with that and it looked really snazzy.

Interior space
Lots! Gallons of milk fit easily in the door compartments. Several drawers for storage. One of them is designed for meats and has its own temperature adjustment. The drawers all glide out smoothly. The instruction manual mentions a can holder for soft drinks, but we don’t have that. It’s a separate part, perhaps ours was missing.
The freezer compartment has a special pizza rack where pizzas can be stood up on their sides next to the ice maker….a nice touch. There are also tilt-out door compartments on the freezer side and a special shelf in front of the ice maker that can hold a box of ice cream, or something you need to freeze fast. Freezer baskets extend fully.

Wavetouch Controls
If you’ve never tried the wavetouch control panel in person…try it. It’s basically a touchscreen. Instead of printed buttons, there are lights which illuminate behind it to show you what’s being selected.This control panel allows you to manually, and individually, set the temperature of the freezer and refrigerator, turn temperature display or dispenser lights on/off, etc.
The controls for water/ice/crushed ice are also on this panel. The wavetouch panel/display has 3 modes:
1)Sleep - Only displays water, cubed, and crushed buttons…the active button is lit more brightly (Temperature can also be displayed in this mode if you change the appropriate setting)
2)Active - Touching the display causes the temperature to be displayed, as well as options for fast ice, fast freeze, lock, dispenser light, and the “options” button.
3)User-variable options - This is the meat of the control panel, allowing you to change temperature setpoints, F or C, as well as mute sounds, etc.
The display will also illuminate reminders to order or replace the air/water filters.
Other Features
Vacation mode - Saves energy by reducing “auto-defrost” cycles.
Fast Freeze - MFR says it activates a faster freezing mode. We haven’t used this yet so I’m not sure what it does, specifically.
Control Lock - locks all buttons on the wavetouch until it is unlocked (probably useful in households with curious children).
Fast-ice - will make a lot of ice in a hurry. Haven’t used this one yet because the standard ice-making is fast enough for us, but the manufacturer claims “up to 50% more ice”.

Conclusion
This is a great refrigerator. It looks nice, functions well, it’s energy efficient and super quiet..and it holds a ton. I know it’s a lot of money..but if you want a nice fridge, and the little things are important to you..you can’t go wrong.

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