Whirlpool W Collection WQ9I FO1BX UK fridge freezer review

For those who are inclined to affiliate Whirlpool with budget-friendly home equipment, you may be shocked on the luxurious of this French door fridge freezer. It’s a part of Whirlpool’s premium flagship vary, the W Assortment, and it has all the pieces we love in an equipment of this type.

French doorways on a fridge are beautiful and have that beautiful double-door Parisian balcony really feel by which your fridge inside is laid out earlier than your eyes in a panoply of comestibles – all helped, on this mannequin, by lighting on three sides of the inner cupboard.  

Then you’ve gotten a pair of freezer cupboards, considered one of which is convertible from freezer to fridge temperature for these instances once you want extra fridge or bottle house: that’s proper, the right-hand freezer cupboard may even double as a beer or wine cooler.

Plus, there’s a water and ice dispenser that you may programme for particular glass volumes, and cubed and crushed ice. The equipment additionally has sensible options.

Design and construct

• Sturdy
• Taller than common
• Recessed door handles

The very first thing you discover about this W Assortment fridge freezer is that it’s a stable, well-built equipment. Trendy and gunmetal gray, the fridge doorways have a bunker heaviness to them that reminds you extra of a chilly retailer door than a fridge.

The recessed handles are beneath the fridge door panels, and regardless that you’ve gotten the standard French door state of affairs the place the left door wants to shut earlier than the suitable door to permit for the sealing mechanism to have interaction, they’ve a effectively weighted swing and no bounce-back.

At 187.6cm excessive, the fridge freezer is barely taller than common for a fridge freezer of this type, so it has one thing of a monolithic presence and shorter than common folks would possibly battle to achieve the again of the highest shelf.   

However, all in all, there’s one thing that feels very stable and reliable about this fridge freezer. And the ability twine is an efficient 180cm lengthy.     

Sound

Whirlpool states this fridge freezer operates at about 41dB, which isn’t the quietest mannequin we’ve ever examined, however very typical for an equipment of this kind. In the true world, it hardly makes a discernible noise in any respect.

You do get a door alarm if the door is open for greater than a minute or so, however it’s not intrusive, and you’ll flip it off by way of the management panel if you wish to clear the fridge. 

Operating value

• Power F ranking
• 430 kWh pa

This equipment has an F vitality ranking, which was A+ on the outdated ranking scale. Whirlpool says that you may be taking a look at 430 kWh pa to run the equipment, which is on the upper finish of vitality consumption for a fridge freezer of this dimension and storage capability, nevertheless it’s a distinction, roughly, of about 40 kWh pa from the common.          

Management

• Touchscreen management panel
• A number of options
• Sensible-enabled

You management the fridge by way of a black touchscreen panel, with extra touchscreen mode buttons to the aspect, above the water and ice dispenser.

When activated, the display offers you the time and date, the present temperature of the fridge freezer cupboards, the chosen mode for ice, and whether or not the equipment is Wi-Fi related. The show is white, shiny, helpful and fairly perky.

Alex Greenwood / Foundry

The 4 mode buttons are “Instruments”, “Dwelling”, “Favourites” and “Ice”. House is self-explanatory, as is Ice, which toggles between cubed and crushed, however “Instruments” and “Favourites” take you right into a world of personalisation.

“Instruments” hosts lots of choices. You may activate quick cool or quick freeze, which will increase cooling for a set period of time once you introduce new meals into the fridge or freezer, or once you’re utilizing the fridge or freezer loads. There’s a vacation mode, which turns off the water and ice dispenser and lowers the temperature of the fridge.  There’s additionally a “no freezer burn” characteristic that sub-cools the freezer cupboard previous to defrost. 

Naturally, you’ll be able to set the working temperatures of every cupboard, and that is the place you’ll be able to change the temperature of the right-hand freezer, primarily swapping the cupboard from freezer to fridge to cooler.

Additionally within the management panel, you’ll be able to set the time and date, how a lot water to dispense, plus there’s a helpful kitchen timer characteristic. You may flip the water dispenser mild on and off right here as effectively.

However probably the most intriguing management panel characteristic is the “big day” menu. Right here you’ll be able to select a state of affairs, and the equipment will reply accordingly.

From “loading a giant grocery store” and “marinating meat” to “having a celebration”, “chilling drinks within the freezer” or “cleansing contained in the fridge”, the fridge freezer will set timers, flip off fridge cooling and the door alarm, or activate quick cooling by simply deciding on the choice you need.

Alex Greenwood / Foundry

The equipment is smart-enabled. To set this up, obtain the Whirlpool Sixth Sense app, create an account and pair your fridge with the account by way of your cellphone. The Wi-Fi connection will assist you to change the temperatures of your cupboards out of your smartphone, test your water filter standing and allow you to routinely reorder equipment. It’ll additionally ship you a door ajar alert if wanted.

Settle down and heat up

In higher-than-normal atmospheric temperatures, this Whirlpool cooled to five°C and -18°C in two and a half hours, which is typical for an equipment of this kind with out partaking the quick cool or quick freeze capabilities.

We discovered that the cupboards warmed up very slowly after switch-off. Whirlpool states you’ve gotten about 15 hours of storage within the occasion of an influence failure, and we reckon that is roughly correct.

Lighting

The lighting on this fridge freezer is outstanding and, in our view, elevates this fridge to the upper finish of home equipment in its class.

Alex Greenwood / Foundry

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The fridge cupboard boast 4 inner LED lighting strips: two on the high of the fridge cupboard and one on both aspect, left and proper. Every strip is 15cm by 2cm, and the visibility contained in the fridge cupboard is exceptional.   

There’s additionally a 6cm x 3cm mild on the high of every freezer cupboard, which is a characteristic we love however that you simply don’t routinely get in a luxurious equipment of this kind.  

Fridge capability

• 355 litres of storage
• Chrome steel again cooling panel
• Three cabinets and three drawers

You get a complete of 355 litres of storage within the fridge, which you’ll set between 2°C and eight°C. 355 litres is roughly 18 to 19 grocery store purchasing baggage.

Contained in the fridge, the cupboard feels sturdy and well-built. The inner casing is silver, with a stainless-steel again cooling panel, and there are two 77cm x 30cm glass cabinets with a chrome trim and a decrease pull-out glass platter that sits above the “contemporary field” vegetable drawers.  

The “contemporary field” drawers really feel strong too and have a pleasant chrome trim on the handles. There are two side-by-side under the pull-out platter: every one 32cm x 30cm x 15.5cm, so roughly 14.8 litres of capability or three quarters of a grocery store bag of purchasing.

Under these, you’ve gotten an entry panel for the water filter and a “delicates” drawer that holds about 14 litres of purchasing. This can be a vast, shallow drawer for meals that you may’t stack on a shelf, both as a result of they are going to be crushed or simply squashed: charcuterie, dairy, desserts – that sort of factor.

Alex Greenwood / Foundry

The one draw back to the vegetable drawers is that you simply don’t get a humidity management, both digital or mechanical. We might have anticipated, at this value level, for the equipment to have this characteristic as the flexibility to change the humidity of a bin could make a giant distinction in relation to the longevity of contemporary fruit and greens. 

Door storage

• Seven inner door balconies
• Programmable water and ice dispenser
• Water and ice dispenser requires plumbing in

As a result of presence of the water and ice dispenser on the left-hand fridge door, the 4 inner door balconies are half as deep as these on the right-hand aspect, so that you’ll want to make use of these balconies for thinner jars and bottles. You do get 4, nevertheless, and so they span 30cm throughout the door. On the suitable, you get three balconies at 14.5cm deep, so you should use this aspect for wider grocery store milk and soda bottles.        

The water and ice dispenser requires plumbing into the water provide, so that may be a consideration when you concentrate on positioning, the design of your kitchen, and the very fact you’re in all probability going to wish knowledgeable to plumb the equipment in for you – a service that your stockist could supply as a part of your buy settlement.

That stated, the water dispenser has just a few good bells and whistles. You may programme the dispenser to dispense particular quantities by way of the “favourites” display, and you’ll swap between cubed or crushed ice simply. The meting out paddle additionally has a pleasant resistance to it, and there’s additionally an under-light that illuminates once you press the paddle for these late-night glasses of water.

Freezer capability

• 237 litre of storage
• Convertible cupboard
• A pull out shelf and two bins per cupboard

The general freezer capability is an efficient 237 litres, or twelve to 13 baggage of purchasing. Each decrease cupboards have the identical inner fixtures: a high pull-out, glass-bottomed shelf of 31cm by 29cm, so roughly sq., and a deep center drawer that holds about 19 litres, or one grocery store purchasing bag, and a backside drawer that holds about 10.5 litres.

Alex Greenwood / Foundry

There are three slender inner balconies, 33cm by 8cm, in every cupboard door. Whirlpool suggests you utilize these for ice lotions, frozen sachets, boxed frozen items, or, for those who convert the right-hand freezer compartment right into a drinks cooler, you’ll be able to match bottles of wine into the decrease balcony.

It’s this convertibility and adaptability that actually marks this fridge freezer out. The left-hand cupboard is a typical freezer; the temperature vary is from -22°C to -15°C. Your right-hand cupboard, nevertheless, ranges from -22°C to 10°C, so not solely can you utilize it as a freezer or a fridge, you too can use it as a cooler inside the vary of 5°C to 10°C.

This skill to transform a freezer house from sub-zero temperatures proper as much as 10°C is one thing we haven’t seen earlier than in a convertible cupboard equipment. Usually, convertible cupboards cease at 5°C, which is simply too cool for many white wines and rosés, that are optimally saved between 9°C and 13°C. Champagne, once more, needs to be roughly about 8°C to 10°C, with lagers coming in round 6°C to eight°C.

So the suggestion that this cupboard capabilities as a drinks cooler, with a be aware under the ten°C temperature choice within the management panel that it’s the best option for storing wine, makes lots of sense.

In lots of respects, you’ll be able to adapt this fridge freezer to swimsuit a spread of family varieties: from busy households who want extra freezer house to skilled {couples} who wish to calm down with a wine after work to retirees who need a separate house for storing home-grown produce – the W Assortment fridge freezer works for everybody.          

Worth and availability

The WQ9I FO1BXW is the one French-door fridge freezer the model presently gives. It’s a feature-packed, luxurious equipment and its value definitely displays that. Nonetheless, we expect that you simply’ll get your cash’s value for those who purchase it.

However you would possibly need to think about the place you purchase it from, as costs fluctuate significantly. On the time of writing, one of the best value we discovered was from Donaghy Bros, however Beacon Electrical additionally has a very good supply.

Don’t neglect that to get pleasure from its full performance, you’ll must get it plumbed in, so it’s possible you’ll need to discover out if that may be completed as a part of the supply service.

Verdict

We actually just like the W Assortment’s four-door fridge freezer. In addition to its convertible cupboard and intelligent management panel that gives so many customisation choices, it’s sturdy inside and outside.

Okay, it doesn’t have humidity management for the vegetable drawers and it’ll take just a little bit extra vitality to run, nevertheless it feels top quality: the drawers don’t rattle once you pull them out and in, the lighting is nice, it feels child- and teenager-proof, and it has these additional pull-out drawers and door balconies that simply make life a bit simpler and extra pleasurable.

To see our different fridge freezer suggestions, take a look at our round-up of one of the best fridge-freezers we’ve examined.