The Hisense 26.6 Cubic Foot French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker is a beautiful refrigerator that looks more expensive than it is, includes excellent features and is a great way to bring more organization into your kitchen.
Over the last several months, I tested the Hisense HRF266N6CSE refrigerator, which retailed for $1,599. I put this through the paces at home with two teens and a busy kitchen and fell in love with its interior water dispenser, innovative storage and modern style. Since that time, this model number was recalled due to loosening door hinges. The issue has been remedied, and the model name updated to HRF266N6CSE1 (also $1,599). Otherwise these refrigerators are identical.
The Hisense offers a lot of storage inside. Yet it doesn't take up as much space as our previous refrigerator, thanks to its integrated door handles.
Hisense does a fantastic job of designing around the annoyances that most refrigerators force users to deal with daily. This refrigerator is one that I love having in our home and enjoy using.
This may seem a small detail—but it's significant: The water dispenser starts quickly and stops immediately after you pull your glass away. So many refrigerators don't stop sending water soon enough, leading to water on the floor, in a drip tray or on your clothes. Hisense's interior water dispenser is fast and impressive. The interior dispenser is great for cups but can be awkward filling more oversize items.
It is on the inside of the fridge, which means the front of this model is visually very clean. This design choice also means that no water or ice dispenser is taking up storage space inside the door or fridge. This frees up a lot of space for three storage bins on each door. It would be nice if the door storage were adjustable up or down.
There is plenty of space when both French doors are open. This allowed us to fit a charcuterie tray or a large pizza box inside. The shelves are all glass, which looks great, allows for light throughout the fridge and makes it easy to find things. One of the shelves pushes back to allow for taller items like pitchers without a lot of rearranging.
The meat and cheese drawer is wide and deep, making it very easy to organize, and it holds a lot without stacking. This ensures everyone can see what is in the drawer, which can accommodate additional storage bins for smaller snacks. There are two vegetable and fruit drawers, each with a venting option, that can keep different items fresh.
A two-layer freezer allows for a significant amount of storage and organization. The bottom freezer area does require stacking, and though you will need to sort through it to find some items, there is a lot of usable space. The top freezer drawer slides in and out smoothly. This is where the ice tray sits for easy access. We purchased a plastic scoop to fill up tumblers and cups quickly. The water filter lasts six months and is $45.
The Hisense French Door Refrigerator has a modern look with a clean design, thanks to its interior water dispenser and ice maker. However, combined with its stainless steel finish and integrated handles, it looks like a much more expensive appliance. With no handles sticking out, it also opens up the area to walk between the refrigerator and the kitchen island.
The refrigerator's stainless steel front is magnetic, perfect for displaying kids' artwork. It does show fingerprints, but it is easy to clean. The sides of the fridge are gray instead of black, helping it blend into the kitchen rather than standing out and showing dust.
Occasionally something slides off the top level of the freezer drawer into the back of the freezer, but it is easy to reach in from the sides to grab it. Hisense makes a very quiet refrigerator, a must in an open floor plan house in which the family room is just across the kitchen table.
It's rare that a refrigerator brings joy. In fact, there are many times when using the water dispenser or accessing a drawer is annoying or downright anger-inducing on competing appliances. Hisense produced a refrigerator that actually made us smile when we used it.
The internal water dispenser is the best we've ever used. The Ice cubes are a perfect size. Both the refrigerator and freezer do a great job of maintaining the temperature we set them at. The shelve and drawer setup is great for organizing our food, leftovers and the multitude of snacks that we need in a house of teenage boys.
If you are looking for a new refrigerator, the Hisense 26.6 Cubic Foot French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker is a great choice.
Newsweek may earn a commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. We participate in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.
Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters