We love the smart look of the Viking VCFF036SS cabinet-depth refrigerator, a freezer-on-the-bottom model with stainless steel French-door (three-door) styling. However, this medium-size fridge is nearly $1,000 more in price than similarly featured stainless steel door refrigerators.

Don't get us wrong: The Viking VCFF036SS is a wonderful fridge. Everything about it says "quality," and every feature is completely top of the line. This unit has just about every special feature possible in a fridge in this configuration, including an internal water dispenser, automatic ice maker and nicely designed interior compartments.

It is also very energy efficient and uses just 481 kWh of electricity a year, which means that you will spend just about $53 annually to run this appliance -- so it won't add a lot to your monthly electricity bill. However, this Viking fridge has a small to medium capacity that can make it inappropriate for all households except those with small families or couples. This appliance would likely be overwhelmed by the fresh and frozen foods storage needs of larger households.

The Viking VCFF036SS has a total capacity of just 19.6 cubic feet of room. The fresh foods compartment has 14.1 cubic feet of space, while the freezer has 5.5 cubic feet of space. Some of the freezer space is taken up by the automatic ice maker and storage, so the freezer is relatively small.

This cabinet-depth model has good door storage, including five bins, two of which are deep enough to hold gallon-size containers. The door also has a clear dairy compartment. Within the main fridge compartment are four adjustable, slide-out half-width glass shelves with a spillsaver feature, and one fixed full-width shelf. This Viking model also has two clear humidity-controlled crisper drawers and a wonderful full-width meat/snack drawer that can function as a produce drawer. The interior water dispenser works through an integral filter and is located on the left side of the interior cabinet. The spout sticks out only a bit and won't get in your way as you load and unload fresh foods from the fridge. A clear egg caddy holds up to two dozen eggs and a glass butter dish is also included.

If you need sizable freezer space, you will likely have to purchase a standalone freezer, since the freezer compartment is small. However, it's conviently designed with a pullout drawer and two slide-out wire baskets. The automatic ice maker has a maximum ice setting that sets the freezer to the optimum setting for maximum ice production.

Handy electronic controls keep tabs on the refrigerator's operating state. For instance, the Viking VCFF036SS has a door-ajar alarm that sounds if a fridge or freezer door has been left open for more than five minutes. This model also has a high temperature alarm that signals if the fridge or freezer temperatures rise to warmer-than-usual levels. This counter-depth refrigerator has a stainless steel door and door handle with a black cabinet.

A top-quality, solidly built small- to medium-capacity counter-depth refrigerator, the Viking VCFF036SS is a French-door fridge that has some great performance and convenience features but is priced much higher than similarly featured models in the same configuration.


Pros: Attractive, energy efficient, solidly built, interior water delivery
Cons: Small fridge and freezer compartments

Warranty
90 days, cosmetics (limited); 2 years, parts and labor; 6 years, sealed system (full) ; 12 years, sealed system (limited)