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Chilling out with the Frigidaire Gallery French door (pictures)

This mid-range model looks the part of a classy kitchen upgrade, but how does it perform?

Ry Crist
Originally hailing from Troy, Ohio, Ry Crist is a writer, a text-based adventure connoisseur, a lover of terrible movies and an enthusiastic yet mediocre cook. A CNET editor since 2013, Ry's beats include smart home tech, lighting, appliances, broadband and home networking.
Ry Crist
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1 of 16 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Frigidaire Gallery French Door Refrigerator (FGHB2866PF)

There's no shortage of stainless steel French door refrigerators on the market today -- it is, after all, one of the trendiest designs money can buy. Frigidaire hopes you spend that money on this particular model -- click through to see what it has to offer.

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2 of 16 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Smudge-proof stainless steel

The FGHB2866PF features a "smudge-proof" stainless-steel build that isn't quite as glossy as other stainless steel appliances. It's definitely a little easier to keep clean.

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3 of 16 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Open wide

Inside, you'll find 27.2 cubic feet of total capacity, 18.5 cubic feet of which is dedicated to the fridge compartment.

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4 of 16 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Store it in the door

That capacity includes ample and adjustable in-door shelving, much of which is deep enough to accommodate bulky items like this jug of juice.

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5 of 16 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Iced in

Speaking of bulky, the ice maker is located inside of the fridge, and takes up a fair amount of real estate on the upper shelf.

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6 of 16 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Ice issues?

We've found quite a few reports of ice maker failure with this model, though Frigidaire tells us that the build is regularly updated and improved. For what it's worth, we didn't have any difficulties in our tests.

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7 of 16 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Customizable capacity

Moving the shelves around isn't too tedious, and you have a couple that are capable of sliding to the back or folding up and out of the way for on the spot storage tweaks.

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8 of 16 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Load testing

In our tests, those sliding and folding shelves were the key to squeezing in larger items like that bulky cake tray.

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9 of 16 Ry Crist/CNET

Built to spill

The Frigidaire's spill-proof shelving is capable of isolating messes, like these 8 ounces of water.

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10 of 16 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Touch controls

You'll find a digital display on the front of the fridge that tells you what temperature each compartment is set to. You can also adjust settings with a few simple taps.

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11 of 16 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Deep freeze

The drawer-style bottom freezer has two levels and plenty of space for your frozen goods.

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12 of 16 Jared Hannah/CNET

Temperature by the numbers

Here's a heat map of the average temperature in each section of the fridge when set to 33 degrees for 72 hours. The inside of the fridge is a couple of degrees warmer than the target temperature, but fairly steady otherwise. That orange area in the upper right is the butter bin -- it's designed to be a little bit warmer.

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13 of 16 Ry Crist/CNET

Minute-by-minute

Here's the minute-by-minute results from that same test. Temperatures in each of the fridge's three main regions fall a few degrees above the target of 33, but they stay fairly steady, and never come close to 40.

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14 of 16 Jared Hannah/CNET

Next, let's look at the same test, but this time, with the fridge set to 37 degrees. Again, most of the numbers fall above the target temperature, and this time, we've got an average in the main fridge area that falls above 40 degrees.

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15 of 16 Ry Crist/CNET

Here's the minute-by-minute results from that 37-degree test. That orange line represents the average temperature on the top shelf, up by the ice maker. As you can see, it spends quite a bit of time up above 40 degrees -- 44 hours out of 72, or roughly 60 percent of the test.

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16 of 16 Tyler Lizenby/CNET

The price point

The Frigidaire Gallery FGHB2866PF retails for $2,599, though you can probably find it for closer to $2,200. Is that enough fridge for your buck? Read our full review for the verdict.

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