I’ve personally owned LG-brand fridges for the previous 15 years. Once I purchased my first fridge from LG (an acronym for “Life’s Good”), in 2011, the French door mannequin was extremely rated, and the mix of value and options was unmatched by different manufacturers. In reality, I beloved it a lot I purchased a second, equivalent one after I moved seven years later. Which is why I used to be dismayed when it all of the sudden stopped freezing earlier this 12 months. “We get this name on a regular basis,” the mechanic defined as he swapped out the apparently defective compressor.
Sadly, he was not mistaken. Even a cursory web search brings up reams of damning proof of LG’s historical past of defective linear compressors. A category motion lawsuit was settled in 2020 over the LG compressors in fridges manufactured between 2014 and 2017 (my second fridge was, sadly, inside this vary, and I used to be unaware of the lawsuit), however extra have been filed in subsequent years for fridges manufactured in 2018 and past, for each compressor points and malfunctioning craft ice makers. It’s not look.
That mentioned, LG sells lots of of hundreds of fridges a 12 months—LG gross sales make up one-third of the equipment market, behind solely Samsung, in response to knowledge platform OpenBrand—and different manufacturers are on the hook for sophistication motion lawsuits as effectively. (In reality, Shopper Stories says that of all new fridges bought since 2014, no matter model, 50 % have skilled an issue.)
I made a decision to provide LG one other shot by testing one among its new Studio fridges, from the model’s premium, designed-focused line that got here out round 2015. Newer LG fridges have sensible capabilities via LG’s ThinQ system, and, in response to LG, a unique linear compressor than my outdated mannequin. The Studio Good 3-Door French Door Fridge has been put in in my dwelling kitchen for the previous 5 months, the place my household has been utilizing it like some other fridge. There’s no denying it seems to be good each in individual and on paper, however will it final?
Coloration Me
{Photograph}: Kat Merck
I particularly settled on testing a Studio in LG’s proprietary Essence White, as I’ve seen stainless-steel is showing much less in high-end dwelling builds and remodels. (In the event you’ve had any sort of stainless-steel equipment, you recognize it’s a magnet for fingerprints and stains.) Cupboard-fronted SubZeros have at all times been de rigeur in customized luxurious houses, however till just lately, there haven’t been a complete lot of non-stainless choices for what equipment producers name the “mass premium” market, other than retro-inspired designs by manufacturers like Smeg and Huge Chill. And actually, the development towards lighter woods and coloured cabinetry paves the way in which for a extra up to date model of white, softer than the institutional tone of the ’80s and ’90s.
“Essence White shouldn’t be a conventional stark white,” defined Dean Brindle, LG’s head of product administration. “It’s not a blue-white that you just historically see in white home equipment. It’s a hotter white, so a little bit little bit of yellow.”
Certainly, I can see it—the Essence White Studio is matte, virtually glowy, with sharp edges and squared, bronze {hardware}. It wouldn’t look misplaced amongst luxurious European home equipment like La Cornue or Bertazzoni. I’m into it. I’ve learn complaints that the {hardware} seems to be gold in on-line promotional images however is definitely rose gold-ish, and that is true—the colour shouldn’t be the way it seems in images. It undoubtedly would not be a direct match with gold {hardware} elsewhere within the kitchen. Brindle mentioned the weird {hardware} tone was intentionally matched to the fridge’s hue.