Product review (4 stars): Beautiful, utilitarian, but the fan motor goes up every 3 or 4 years
I got this 19.7 ft. stainless steel commercial refrigerator at the end of June 2009 to replace a Norge that failed after around 20 years. The Norge was a standard side-by-side refrigerator freezer. I got tired of how the icemaker and water provider on the Norge periodically stop working --- I eventually pulled and discarded these -- and flirted with the notion of getting a separate refrigerator and freezer.

A friend of mine with an engineering bent of mind thought this was a terrific idea, given that a fridge on its own was a simple cooling box and a freezer on its own was a simple freezing box, and both should be more up repair free over time if their systems were separate.

There's no question that I love the look of this commercial refrigerator. An acquaintance laughingly dubbed it quote "Jeannie's deli." I'll upload a photo to show how nice it looks even in a residential kitchen; I've got a lot of compliments on it from folks who are choosy about domestic design.

The advantages of a commercial refrigerator are these:

* It fit in the door of my narrow Baltimore row house once the front door was taken off and it was bought in sideways. Most replacement side by sides that I looked at would not have been able to fit a door that is barely 29 inches wide.

* Tons and tons of refrigerator space. If you have several household members, each can have their own shelf and have plenty of space. It has four adjustable heavy-duty, powder-coated shelves and a non-adjustable base shelf.

* You can stand and look through the glass to figure out what you want to eat for dinner or where stored items are before opening the door.

* The casters on the bace of the refrigerator make it easy to move out for periodic vacuuming of the coils although it is a pretty darn heavy model at 311 pounds so you have to be careful not to break tiles by rolling it all over the place.

* I've been very careful to keep a dry erase board in place on the refrigerator so I can log every six months a reminder to vacuum the coils from the back. Other than that it seems maintenance-free so far.

There's only two disadvantages I see:

* When the door was left ajar one time, the condenser overheated and the refrigerator stopped working. I had to make a lot of calls to potential repair folks, and most said they did not work on commercial models. This seemed odd as a commercial model seems far simpler than a domestic model to work on -- everything is more accessible. At any rate, once I did find a highly rated repair man, he was able to come by and fix it just by tapping the switch and giving me some notes for future issues. I don't think he even charged me! So you will have to track down a good repairman who isn't a ripoff.

* The door sometimes can be difficult to press fully home, or at least that is how it is lately. In other words you have to apply some pressure so that the seal meets perfectly; it won't swing perfectly shut on its own. This leads to a risk of room temperature air entering the refrigerator, making the condenser run and run and run. I should probably call the manufacturer and see if there is some kind of hinge adjustment that would make this no longer a problem; I do think I tested the fridge for being level.

I'm not sure if this is an advantage or disadvantage but obviously you need to buy a separate freezer. To me this is an advantage because I bought an 8 ft.&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Frigidaire-FFC0923DW-8-4-5-Cubic-Foot-Manual-Defrost-Chest-Freezer-White/dp/B000LOAVUO/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Frigidaire FFC0923DW 8-4/5-Cubic-Foot Manual-Defrost Chest Freezer, White</a>, and now I have lots and lots of freezer and fridge space even in a compact rowhouse kitchen.

And if you want an icemaker, or filtered-water dispenser, obviously this isn't part of the bargain either. To me, it's an advantage not to have things that like to break down.

So I'm at the 3 1/2-year mark with only one minor need for repair. I paid around $1,300 for a vendor in my home state to deliver the refrigerator and install it, including removing and replacing the door. They also took away the old  refrigerator as well,  although I did keep a crisper basket from the old Norge to hold fruit in this new commercial refrigerator.  If this model provides ruggedness and longevity  I will be very happy with the price given the utility of the volume of the fridge and the attractiveness of its industrial look.

UPDATE: June 2013, 4 years old -- the fridge began making a kind of shrieking or grinding noise coming from the top of the interior. It was a challenge and a half to find a repair man -- don't rely on the Frigidaire online commercial repair listings, instead call them directly at 1 (866) 738-1640 to get someone, who may be busy running all over three different states handling big commercial accounts. I played him a video I made of the sound (which was intermittent for months, and led to the refrigerator warming) and he immediately said it was the interior fan at the top of box, which it was. It took about a week and repeated begging calls, but he came out and replaced it, and needed to drill out some new mounting posts even with an adapter kit. Just an FYI.

UPDATE 2:

 2016: The same problem as June 2013 -- same grinding noise, and the fan motor went up again. It SEEMS that it only lasts about 3 to 4 years. I cannot decide whether this is a design flaw or just a function of the fan being on 23 hours a day, but anyway, set aside $300 or so for this every time it happens. I am docking a star and revising the headline accordingly.