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 mixture of worth and options was unmatched by different manufacturers. Actually, I liked 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 call all the time,” the mechanic defined as he swapped out the apparently defective compressor.
Sadly, he was not fallacious. 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 had 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 stated, LG sells a whole lot of 1000’s of fridges a 12 months—LG gross sales make up one-third of the equipment market, behind solely Samsung, based on information platform OpenBrand—and different manufacturers are on the hook for sophistication motion lawsuits as nicely. (Actually, Shopper Studies says that of all new fridges bought since 2014, no matter model, 50 % have skilled an issue.)
I made a decision to present LG one other shot by testing one in every of its new Studio fridges, from the model’s premium, designed-focused line that got here out round 2015. Newer LG fridges have good capabilities by way of LG’s ThinQ system, and, based on LG, a special linear compressor than my previous mannequin. The Studio Sensible 3-Door French Door Fridge has been put in in my residence kitchen for the previous 5 months, the place my household has been utilizing it like every other fridge. There’s no denying it seems good each in individual and on paper, however will it final?
Colour Me 
{Photograph}: Kat Merck
I particularly settled on testing a Studio in LG’s proprietary Essence White, as I’ve observed chrome steel is showing much less in high-end residence builds and remodels. (If you happen to’ve had any form of chrome steel equipment, you already know it’s a magnet for fingerprints and stains.) Cupboard-fronted SubZeros have at all times been de rigeur in customized luxurious properties, however till 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 Massive Chill. And in reality, the development towards lighter woods and coloured cabinetry paves the way in which for a extra modern model of white, softer than the institutional tone of the ’80s and ’90s.
“Essence White is not a traditional stark white,” defined Dean Brindle, LG’s head of product administration. “It’s not a blue-white that you traditionally see in white appliances. It’s a warmer white, so a little bit of yellow.”
Certainly, I can see it—the Essence White Studio is matte, nearly 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 gold in on-line promotional pictures however is definitely rose gold-ish, and that is true—the colour will not be the way it seems in pictures. It positively would not be a direct match with gold {hardware} elsewhere within the kitchen. Brindle stated the weird {hardware} tone was intentionally matched to the fridge’s hue.
