Whirlpool Gold Gets Counter Depth Refrigerators Right

Our counter depth Whirlpool gold side-by-side refrigerator is top notch. The design is nearly as good as the designer high end refrigerators without the high cost. This is a very quiet refrigerator, and fits cabinet depth very cleanly.

Our Whirlpool GC5HEXNB00 (the B00 for black) is now two years old and we have very little to complain about. This is a very quiet, energy efficient, stylish refrigerator with lots of great design features that give you lots of storage. I like to focus my reviews on what’s unusual, different, better performing, well designed, and/or a problem rather than writing to what a refrigerator does, which I’ll assume you know very well.

INSTALLATION: To get maximum counter depth counter depth benefits, I recommend that you recess the water line into the wall behind the refrigerator. This unit requires standard ice maker and electric hook ups. You can place it very flush with the back wall, and by using the front wheel levelers (see owners manual), you can adjust to a nice flush fit with your counters. The doors open without hitting the adjoining counter edges and surfaces, so you can install very tightly to counters and back wall.

PERFORMANCE –VERY LOW NOISE: The refrigerator runs very quiet which is very important to us. The only audible noise is when the ice maker fills, then the rushing water is loud but not annoying, and only lasts about 5 seconds. Once in a while, when I’m standing nearby, I hear what sounds like water trickling. At fist, I looked all around for leaks but there were none; this noise has turned out to be the refrigerant moving around the unit. The noise is very low and only comes around once a week or so. When dispensing ice, the unit makes typical ice dispensing noise, which is totally understandable.

COOLING: Very even cooling and freezing, nothing in the refrigerator side is every frosty, but it’s always ice cold (we keep setting on 34-degrees.) Frozen foods are quickly frozen, and there is a quick freeze feature that is designed to more quickly make ice and have a colder freezer; we’ve used this twice and it seems to make a difference, but don’t expect microwave like speed.

STORAGE: Shelving can be adjusted as needed, and remains clean, but can be easily removed, disassembled and washed. Looks like new after hand washing.

FINISH: Fit and finish appear tight and everything has been nicely aligned. I have noticed that to maintain a shine, you do have to polish the cabinet surface with appliance polish something we never had to do with our prior refrigerator.

ICE MAKING: Ice making has been fast and no significant problems. However, the ice bucket is difficult to remove from the door if you want to pour out a bunch of ice. Also, ice tends to clump together, which is not a problem for ice dispensing, but is a bit of an annoyance if you take ice out of the bucket by hand.

MAINTENANCE: Other than cleaning, the water filter change signal went off after about 1 1/2 years. Changing was easy but as the filter filled, you have to flush air out of the line, the instructions do not speak to that. The sound of the air and the water making its way through is normal, but until you've done it once, you worry about leaks the whole time! (and there were none)

ONLY PROBLEM: After year 1, we had had only 1 problem as the refrigerator door handle would feel loose with a bit more flex in it than the freezer handle. I went to an appliance Q&A web site, learned that I could grip the handle and shift it up to take it off, tighten the latches, and then reinstall (a 5 minute job); this fixed the problem totally.

WARRANTY: We have had no warranty service claims, and it’s now out of warranty with no problems.