Which? Don't Buy fridge freezers

A bad fridge freezer will struggle to freeze and cool, meaning your food won’t last as long as it should. See the Don't Buy fridge freezers you should avoid.
Lisa GalliersProduct testing team leader

Our in-depth fridge freezer testing helps us uncover the very best fridge freezers, which will cool and freeze to perfection, as well as those that you need to avoid – our Don't Buy fridge freezers. 

Don't Buy freezers will leave you feeling hot under the collar by adding extra costs to your energy bills and they'll give heat-loving bacteria ample time to grow and spoil your weekly grocery shop. 

Here's how we root out the Don't Buy fridge freezers you should stay clear of.

What makes a Don't Buy fridge freezer?

We've tested hundreds of fridge freezers from all of the big appliance brands, including Beko, Bosch, LG, Miele, Samsung and Zanussi. Some fridge freezers are so bad they fail our chilling and freezing tests. The worst also cost lots to run, which is a bad combination no matter how cheap the appliance might be to buy.

To help you avoid buying a terrible fridge freezer, we highlight the very worst culprits as Don’t Buys.

  • The worst fridge freezers struggle to chill and/or freeze our food-equivalent gel packs in two whole days of testing. The best manage the job in a few hours.
  • Our temperature tests expose the fridge freezers that can’t keep your food evenly chilled and frozen, causing your food to over-cool or warm up several degrees when the temperature in your kitchen changes and giving heat-loving bacteria a chance to thrive. 
  • We measure how much energy a fridge freezer uses to do its job and highlight the energy guzzlers that cost a fortune to run for the amount of food they hold.

The best fridge freezers cool quickly and keep food evenly chilled and frozen 24/7, no matter what the temperature is in your kitchen. Our tests help to identify those models as well as those that won't break the bank. And if you're after a model that won't cause a rise in energy bills, look out for those appliances we've labelled Eco Buys, as these are also cheaper to run.

Join Which? to find out which fridge freezers we've named as Don't Buys

How we test fridge freezers

Fridge freezer

Every year, we test and review the latest fridge freezers from all the big brands, including Haier, Hoover, LG and Samsung. We don’t want you to end up with a bad fridge freezer, so our lab experts put them through an exhaustive series of tests, including investigating how effective and quick each model is as cooling, and how energy efficient they are. 

  • Our lab experts load each fridge freezer up with food-equivalent gel packs to simulate food stored inside and then also test how quickly the fridge freezer cools a load of room-temperature gel packs to see exactly how well it will look after your food. 
  • We measure the volume of fridge freezers from the space you can actually use for storing groceries. Some manufacturers include unusable space as they measure with the drawers and shelves taken out. 
  • To see whether a fridge freezer is cheap to run for its size, we also rate its energy use against the amount of useable storage space it offers.

All our tests go towards calculating the Which? test score. There's no room for unconscious bias, so you can trust our results and easily compare the best and worst fridge freezers. We're not influenced by third parties and we don't accept freebies from product manufacturers or retailers. We buy all the products that we test ourselves, so our advice helps you to make the right choice first time and avoid costly mistakes.

Our reviews will help you to avoid a bad choice when it comes to buying a fridge freezer. Join Which? for instant access to our Best Buy and Don't Buy recommendations.