The Frigidaire FFTR1835VW is a budget 30-inch standard-depth top-freezer refrigerator. It's a basic, no-frills unit, with full-width movable shelves, high-capacity door bins, and a pair of crisper drawers. It's also compatible with a twist-tray ice maker, which is sold separately. It's rated as being garage-ready, with an advertised operating range of 45 to 110 °F (7.2 to 43.3 °C).
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Our Verdict
The Frigidaire FFTR1835VW is a decent fridge for everyday use. It's a fairly compact unit but offers pretty decent capacity in both the fridge and freezer cabinets: as long as you aren't regularly making large casserole dishes or storing large amounts of things like yogurt cups or canned drinks, you shouldn't run out of space too frequently. Temperature uniformity is good across the shelves in the fridge, but quite warm on the lower door bin: use that latter space only for items that you want to chill, not necessarily keep cold. The crisper drawers do a decent job of keeping produce crisp and fresh, though you're still likely to notice some wilting after a week or so with delicate foodstuffs like lettuce or celery.
Consistent temperatures across shelves in fridge cabinet.
Freezer temperatures are highly consistent.
Fridge and freezer cabinets have a usable, practical layout.
Does a satisfactory job of preventing produce from wilting.
Lower door bin is quite warm, making it unsuitable for temperature-sensitive foodstuffs.
Fridge cabinet is somewhat narrow.
Freezer cabinet is a little small, especially with optional ice maker installed.
The Frigidaire FFTR1835VW provides decent produce preservation performance. Its crisper drawers don't seal especially tightly, leading to a slight loss of internal humidity inside. As a result, delicate greens like lettuce or spinach will evaporate moisture faster than they would in a better-sealed compartment, and become wilted and mushy within the span of a week or so. The fridge cabinet is quite dry, so you can expect delicate produce stored outside the crisper drawers to begin wilting faster.
Does a satisfactory job of preventing produce from wilting.
Main fridge cabinet is quite dry, causing delicate produce to wilt.
The Frigidaire FFTR1835VW's refrigerator capacity is satisfactory. While the fridge compartment and door bins aren't massive or customizable, the entire space is at least laid out in a way that makes it pretty easy to fit taller or bulkier items, like bottles or stacked meal prep containers.
Fridge and freezer cabinets have a usable, practical layout.
Fridge cabinet is somewhat narrow.
The Frigidaire FFTR1835VW is a decent option for storing frozen food. Its freezer compartment doesn't offer showstopping capacity, but it's laid out practically and has few obvious protrusions or bump-outs that really cut into the usable volume when squeezing in larger boxed items. If you really need more space, not purchasing the optional ice maker nets you roughly 15% more usable space.
Fridge and freezer cabinets have a usable, practical layout.
Freezer cabinet is a little small, especially with optional ice maker installed.
The Frigidaire FFTR1835VW provides impressive overall temperature uniformity. In the fridge compartment, temperatures are very uniform across all the shelves. However, the door bins, especially the lowest one, trend a handful of degrees warmer than the rest and shouldn't be used for highly sensitive items like milk or cream as a result. Freezer temperatures are thankfully very uniform, with consistent compressor cycling and no long temperature spikes due to the defrost cycle.
Consistent temperatures across shelves in fridge cabinet.
Freezer temperatures are highly consistent.
Lower door bin is quite warm, making it unsuitable for temperature-sensitive foodstuffs.
The Frigidaire FFTR1835VW's ice-making performance with its optional IM117000 ice maker is good. While its production rate is nothing to write home about, its ice bucket is amazingly large, especially for a compact appliance like this one, and can hold enough ice for bigger gatherings.
High-capacity ice bucket can hold enough ice for bigger parties.
Ice production rate is insufficient for quickly producing enough ice for larger gatherings.
Performance Usages
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
This fridge is available in three colors, each variant having a different model number. We expect all units to deliver identical performance.
| Model Number | Color |
|---|---|
| FFTR1835VW | White |
| FFTR1835VS | Stainless Steel |
| FFHT1835VB | Black |
We tested the FFTR1835VW, and for those interested, here's the product label.
If you come across another variant of this fridge, let us know in the comments so that we can update our review.
Popular Refrigerator Comparisons
The Frigidaire FFTR1835VW is a basic 30-inch top-freezer refrigerator. It's a decent, but not spectacular performer in many respects: temperatures are quite uniform from the top to bottom shelf in the fridge cabinet, barring a rather high door bin offset, and foodstuffs placed in the freezer will be cooled to a similar level regardless of where you place them, beating out alternatives with an inverter-controlled compressor like the LG LTCS20020S in this respect. However, it's worth noting that the latter does a better job of keeping produce crisp. While the Frigidaire's interior layout is simple, it makes very good use of its interior space, with a similar refrigerator capacity to wider 33-inch models like the GE GTS22KGNRWW.
Test Results
The Frigidaire FFTR1835VW has decent overall storage capacity. On paper, it has a bit less capacity than the similarly designed GE GTS22KGNRWW, with a slightly narrower fridge cabinet. That said, there are a few minor design differences that make it a little more flexible overall. The Frigidaire has a wide variety of shelf slots, making for a slightly more flexible space. Its deli drawer can also be slid from side to side, depending on where you need more vertical space. However, while the Frigidaire's door bins are wide and deep, they don't have any alternate positions. As a result, you'll need to place taller items like narrow-neck bottles on the bottom shelf.
This unit has decent freezer storage capacity. Its lower shelf is rather short when the ice maker is installed, so that section is best used for smaller containers or items you don't mind crushing a little, like frozen fruit or veggies. The upper section is quite a bit taller, to the point where you should be able to fit bulkier items like smaller frozen pizzas upright, though it's still quite narrow. The door bins are best used for smaller things like butter or ice packs.
The Frigidaire IM117000 ice maker is an optional accessory that can be purchased separately. Removing the ice maker and tray yields a usable freezer volume of 4.73 cu ft (133.94 L) and provides a more usable space in the lower half of the fridge since you can move the shelf up.
The Frigidaire FFTR1835VW uses a single fixed-speed compressor, with an evaporator located in the freezer. This is a very simple, well-established design as far as cooling systems are concerned. While this doesn't necessarily mean that the fridge will be completely bulletproof from a reliability perspective, it does mean there are fewer obvious failure points compared to a higher-end unit that would use an inverter compressor and separate evaporators for the fridge and freezer compartments. There are some inevitable trade-offs with this kind of simplicity: a fixed-speed compressor like this one won't operate as efficiently, and consequently as cheaply, as an inverter-controlled unit, which is able to modulate its speed based on cooling requirements.
This fridge is sold without an ice maker, but you can purchase Frigidaire's IM117000 ice maker kit separately. The IM117000 is a twist-style ice maker; as the name implies, the ice mold is twisted by a motor to release the cubes inside. Traditionally, these ice makers aren't quite as robust as an ejector-style unit, with their almost entirely plastic construction becoming brittle in sub-zero conditions and being liable to cracking as they twist.
If you want a top-freezer fridge with an ejector-style ice maker, which uses a metal mold and a heating element to release ice, then the GE GTS22KGNRWW, with its IM4D ice maker, is worth a look.
Temperature uniformity in this refrigerator is good for the most part. There's no major difference in temperature from the top to the bottom shelf, so you don't have to be picky about placing more temperature-sensitive items like sour cream inside the main cabinet. On the other hand, the door bins, especially the lowest bin, are notably warmer than the rest of the compartment. As a result, you should mainly use that space for items like condiments or beverages like juice or soda that you want chilled.
The temperature uniformity inside the Frigidaire FFTR1835VW's freezer is excellent. Consequently, items should be cooled to a similar level regardless of where you place them within the compartment.
The temperature within the freezer of our test unit averaged out to over 0 °F. If you also have this fridge and have noticed that food isn't quite as cold as you'd desire, you should set its thermostat to a lower level.
This unit's produce preservation performance is decent. It doesn't do quite as good a job of maintaining a high humidity level in its crisper drawers compared to the GE GTS22KGNRWW. As a result, moisture from delicate greens like celery and lettuce can evaporate faster and render the produce wilted and floppy within the span of a week or so, though it's still a long way from terrible in this respect. Unfortunately, as expected for a single evaporator fridge, humidity levels within the main fridge cabinet are rather low, so don't expect delicate produce to fare well outside of the crisper drawers.
The ice maker's production rate is only passable. In a pinch, it'll only really put out enough ice for a smaller four- or five-person dinner. If you're expecting company, it's best to get the ice maker running a few days in advance to keep the ice tray filled.
