Haier RRTW18VABW 18.2 Cu. Ft. Top Freezer White Review

Ease of Access

One might think that having fewer shelves would mean easier access to food. This is potentially true, but it all comes down to how much food you regularly stock in your fridge. True, the wide open shelves offer unhindered access to most products, but if you take advantage of the full space and start stacking items, you may find yourself having to move things around a lot to get at what's in the back or on the bottom. This is particularly true in the freezer, which has no shelf and as such, requires you to stack items on top of each other.

Controls

There's a small, rotating knob just inside the top of the fridge. It's on an arbitrary scale from one to seven, with no correlation to any actual degree measurement. There's also no marked manufacturer's recommended setting.

The controls are very basic, but have quite a few flaws. They are certainly very easy to read, but the lack of any degree correlation or a manufacturer's recommended setting means you'll be flying blind when you calibrate your fridge for the first time. It essentially requires you to purchase an external thermometer to know what temperature you're storing your food at. Also, it's unusually difficult to turn, as it rotates using a knob set on the bottom. Not being able to see it makes it difficult to grip, and the odd angle makes finding the right leverage a pain.

Water Dispenser

Ice Maker

Cleaning

There is virtually no spill protection anywhere in this appliance. The freezer lucks out by virtue of just being a box - spills have nowhere to go. The door shelves, however, all have slits on the bottom of the front half, which is made of clear plastic. Anything the size of a pea or smaller, including any liquid, will just drip right out, and if a spill occurs on an upper shelf, everything underneath it can be damaged. The wire shelves in the fridge are no better, so any liquid or viscous substances should be kept as low to the ground as possible...just in case.

Noise

The Haier manages to make as much noise as your average fridge. This means that as long as the doors as closed, you'll soon forget it's even there.

Other Features