GE Adora DSHS6VGBSS 25.9 Cu. Ft. Side by Side Stainless Steel Review

Ease of Access

The shelves both inside the compartments and on the doors are actually quite easy to access. Despite the narrowness of the two sections, the doors open wide enough that you should be able to get at any items without too much of a hassle. The lower shelves, especially the one under the Snack Pan, can be a bit trickier to navigate if you're trying to get something way at the back, but otherwise you shouldn't have any difficulty.

The three drawers in the fridge all have different levels of smoothness that make any stickiness all the more prominent: the Snack Pan can be a pain to get out, and is the only drawer that cannot be removed entirely; the Fruits & Vegetables drawer is the smoothest of all of them; the Sealed Pan falls somewhere between the two. The pull-out bucket in the freezer, on the other hand, is just an utter pain to get to. It doesn't slide out very far, holds very little, and what with it being so close to the ground, it can be difficult for taller consumers or those with back problems to reach.

Controls

The controls strike an excellent balance between comprehensive and intuitive. There's a thermostat which displays the temperature on a small screen, and separate buttons to make the fridge and freezer warmer or colder. There are buttons to select between the dispenser's various outputs, be it crushed ice, cubed ice, or water. Additionally, you have buttons that lock the controls, toggle a door alarm, and notify you when the water filter needs changing.

Normally it's a blessing to have a fridge with a thermostat that actually tells you what degree the inside of your appliance has reached, as opposed to an arbitrary scale of one to four. The GE Adora, however, takes this a step further. Not only does the thermostat tell you what degree you want it set to, it also tells you what the temperature inside your fridge actually is. If, for instance, you need to defrost some items or chill a baked good at a certain temperature, you can adjust the thermostat, then check back in a few minutes to see if the ideal degree has been reached. The other buttons on the control panel are explicitly labeled, and the whole thing is quite easy to use.

Water Dispenser

The water dispenser is perhaps one of the smoothest-working features on the GE Adora. It operates using a single large paddle inside the cavity on the front of the freezer door. The cavity is tall and deep enough to fit even slightly larger drinking glasses with ease, though you'll have to hold onto anything large than that. The small light source makes getting a cool beverage on a hot summer night that much easier, as well.

Ice Maker

The ice maker takes up a fairly large portion of the freezer storage space. Any bulk ice that has been made can be accessed in one of two ways: you can either pull the ice maker out of the freezer completely, or you can simply lift the small flap located at the front and reach in.

Cleaning

The fridge interior is actually quite easy to clean. With the exception of the shelf right above the Fruits & Vegetables drawer, the shelves have small lips around the edges that can contain smaller spills. The shelves themselves are light and slide in and out very easily, and the gaps between the shelf racks are big enough that anything you need to wipe something off should fit in there without a problem. The door shelves are all fully contained, so anything that drips in there just involves taking it out and walking it over to the sink.

The freezer, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. The shelves are all made of wire, so anything narrower than a Brussels sprout is just going to fall right to the bottom. The door shelves, at least, are as self-contained as the ones in the fridge, so they're manageable.

Noise

This is a big fridge, but it doesn't make a terribly big noise. Like many large appliances, the ambient hum lets you know it's working, but unless you have an unusually quiet kitchen, it shouldn't stand out above any other typical appliance hums.

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