The LG LF30S8210S is a mid-range 36" standard-depth French door refrigerator. It shares a lot with the LG LF29H8330S, as it's also equipped with a climate-controlled Full-Convert drawer with five temperature presets for storing either refrigerated or frozen goods, soft-close doors, and Wi-Fi integration through LG's ThinQ smartphone app. The app also supports Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa integration, so you can make setting adjustments using voice commands.
We've recently started testing refrigerators. We purchase each unit independently from major retailers, just like you, to keep our reviews free of manufacturer influence. Each refrigerator undergoes the same tests to measure objective metrics such as temperature uniformity, produce preservation, and actual storage capacity, so you can easily compare results.
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Our Verdict
The LG LF30S8210S is a decent fridge for everyday use. Its fridge cabinet is remarkably large, making it a great option for large families that need to make big grocery runs. The climate-controlled drawer can be used to tidy up either the fridge or freezer by keeping smaller items out of the way. However, it isn't necessarily a showstopper in terms of performance. While temperatures inside the freezer cabinet are very consistent, the fridge door bins are quite a bit warmer than the desired setpoint, and should mainly be used for chilling unopened drinks and other shelf-stable items. Its single-evaporator design also results in a dry fridge cabinet, meaning that fresh produce stored inside will wilt quickly.
Remarkable fridge capacity.
Full-Convert drawer is useful for keeping smaller items out of the way.
Excellent freezer temperature consistency.
Freezer cabinet has good overall capacity.
Notably warmer temperatures along lower fridge shelves and door bins.
Dry air inside fridge cabinet wilts fresh produce quickly.
The LG LF30S8210S's produce preservation performance is sub-par. The environment inside the fridge cabinet is quite dry due to the unit's single-evaporator cooling system. In addition, the crisper drawers don't do a great job of sealing in moisture. As a result, you can expect to see wilting in produce with a high water content, like celery or lettuce, within the span of a week or so.
Dry air inside fridge cabinet wilts fresh produce quickly.
The LG LF30S8210S has remarkable capacity in its fridge cabinet. This is a standard-depth 36" appliance without any space-hogging water or ice dispensers, so it should come as no surprise that the cabinet is easily capable of accommodating huge grocery runs, a handful of Tupperware containers, and even large oven trays. There's also the climate-controlled Full-Convert drawer, which lets you keep smaller items out of the way, where they won't clutter the main cabinet. The door bins are also more than capable of fitting jugs or cartons of milk or juice.
Remarkable fridge capacity.
Full-Convert drawer is useful for keeping smaller items out of the way.
The LG LF30S8210S's freezer capacity is good. The freezer itself is reasonably deep, and the lower bins can accommodate bigger boxed items without too much effort. That said, the ice tray on the top shelf does take up a fair amount of room, and as a result of the Full-Convert drawer above, the cabinet has a little less vertical space than units with similar exterior dimensions.
Full-Convert drawer is useful for keeping smaller items out of the way.
Freezer cabinet has good overall capacity.
Large ice tray cuts down on fridge shelf space.
The LG LF30S8210S has great temperature uniformity. The fridge cabinet shows a bit of temperature deviation, most notably in the door bins, which are a few degrees warmer than the setpoint and should mainly be used for chilling condiments, unopened beverages, or other shelf-stable items. Fortunately, there's little temperature deviation within the freezer, however, so you don't need to be too diligent when putting away frozen groceries.
Excellent freezer temperature consistency.
Notably warmer temperatures along lower fridge shelves and door bins.
The LG LF30S8210S is a great option for making ice. Its in-freezer system can produce enough ice for small to medium-sized dinners in a hurry, though you'll want to take the time to fill the tray if you're expecting to serve iced drinks to six or more guests.
Excellent ice production rate.
Impressively large ice tray.
Performance Usages
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The LG LF30S8210S is only available in a stainless steel finish. For those interested, here's the product label for the unit we bought and tested. If you come across another variant of this refrigerator, let us know in the comments below so that we can update our review.
Popular Refrigerator Comparisons
The LG LF30S8210S is a standard-depth 36-inch French-door refrigerator. Like its close mechanical stablemate, the LG LF29H8330S, it sits squarely in the middle of the market, priced below high-end models from GE's Café or Frigidaire's Gallery lineups, but above more mainstream models thanks to added touches like a climate-controlled drawer, Wi-Fi integration, and soft-close doors. Compared to its closest internal rival, the aforementioned LF29H8330S, it performs very similarly overall, but its lack of an in-door water and ice dispenser frees up even more fridge space and eliminates a potentially costly point of failure, making it the smarter buy overall. It also offers more fridge space than models like the Bosch 100 Series B36FD10ENS or the Samsung Bespoke RF30BB6200QL, though its produce preservation performance lags behind both of them.
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The LG LF30S8210S and LG LF29H8330S are both similarly designed and priced French-door refrigerators, but ultimately, the LG LF30S8210S is the smarter buy. The LF30S8210S doesn't have the LF29H8330S's in-fridge water and ice dispenser, resulting in more fridge space and, more importantly, eliminating a costly potential failure point.
The Samsung Bespoke RF30BB6200QL and LG LF30S8210S are both 36" French-door fridges, but the former is the stronger overall performer. The Samsung's dual-evaporator design results in a higher-humidity environment inside its fridge cabinet, so fresh produce stays crisper for longer. It also does a better job of maintaining uniform temperatures in its fridge, especially along the door bins. That said, the LG has more space inside its fridge and freezer, so it's worth a look if capacity is your main concern. Neither brand is top of the class as far as serviceability goes: Samsung's supply of spare parts is a little more consistent, but the brand's service network doesn't extend as far as LG's in more rural states.
The LG LF30S8210S is better than the Bosch 100 Series B36FD10ENS. The LG has a roomier fridge cabinet and a similarly big freezer, and its temperature-adjustable drawer can make it easier to organize your groceries in either cabinet. The LG also does a better job of maintaining consistent temperatures across its fridge shelves, though the Bosch's door bins are slightly more uniform in temperature. The LG also lacks the Bosch in-door water and ice dispenser, freeing up fridge space and eliminating a potentially costly point of failure. Part availability for the LG is less erratic than it is for the Bosch, though Bosch's network of authorized service providers has a longer reach than that of LG.
Test Results
The LG LF30S8210S has a remarkably spacious fridge cabinet, at least when used with its Full-Convert drawer, which accounts for 1.32 cu. ft. (37.38 L) worth of space. That drawer has five different temperature presets to choose from:
- Freezer
- Meat/Seafood (30 °F/-1 °C)
- Cold Drink (33 °F/1 °C)
- Deli/Snacks (37 °F/3 °C)
- Chilled Wine (41 °F/5 °C)
The cabinet itself is wide, deep, and tall, allowing it to accommodate large grocery hauls. There are four movable shelves, making it a little easier to reconfigure the space to fit taller items inside, too.
Similarly, the door bins are big enough to accommodate multiple standard-size wine bottles, or jugs of milk or juice. Unlike the LG LF29H8330S, it doesn't have an in-door ice maker that takes up space in the fridge.
Freezer storage space is good. Some space on the top shelf is taken up by the relatively high-capacity ice tray, but there's enough room in the lower bins to fit larger boxed items, or even tubs of ice cream.
The LG LF30S8210S's cooling system is pretty standard for a unit in this price range. It consists of an inverter compressor and a single evaporator in the freezer.
Single evaporators are standard in budget and mid-range refrigerators. Although this design choice is relatively mechanically simple and well-proven, it can lead to low humidity in the fridge, as cold air is shared with the comparatively dry freezer cabinet, so fresh produce can dry out fairly quickly.
Generally speaking, inverter compressors are more efficient than fixed-speed compressors, since they can run consistently at a low speed to maintain a setpoint rather than cycling on and off. That said, the inverter controller represents a costly potential failure point.
This refrigerator's Smart Inverter Compressor uses a traditional inverter design, as opposed to LG's much-maligned Linear compressors
This fridge has a single twist-style ice maker in its freezer. This style of ice maker is simple and compact, but tends to be less robust than ejector ice makers (the other style you'll encounter in most household fridges). This is largely due to their flexible plastic ice mold becoming brittle from below-zero temperatures and repeated mechanical stress.
This fridge has a simple internal water dispenser on the left side of the cabinet, activated by a large fill button.
This refrigerator's part availability is okay overall. Generally speaking, both commonly replaced wear items and parts vital to the continued function of the appliance are consistently available from at least one major US parts supplier. That said, you might have to shop around a bit, as some parts are seldom available from more than one retailer at a given time.
Authorized service coverage is very robust in major US metropolitan areas, although it becomes more limited in rural states.
This fridge has decent temperature consistency. The lowest shelf in the cabinet is a few degrees warmer than the desired setpoint, while the upper and middle ones are cooler due to their proximity to the cooling vent at the top of the fridge. All the same, temperatures generally reside within food-safe range, so you shouldn't be worried about premature spoilage. The same can't be said for the door bins, with the coolest of them being warmer still than the lower shelf. As a general practice, you should avoid placing items like milk or cream in these areas.
This unit provides excellent temperature uniformity in its freezer cabinet. There's minimal difference in temperature between the bins and the top shelf: no need to worry about items like ice cream freezing rock-solid if left in one spot or thawing near the point of melting if placed in another. Its inverter compressor also results in minimal temperature deviation around the setpoint.
Produce preservation performance is middling. Due to this fridge's single-evaporator design, cold air is shared between the freezer and fridge compartments. This cold air is low in humidity to discourage frost buildup, but it creates a dry environment in the fridge, leading to high moisture loss for items like celery or lettuce. The poorly sealing crisper drawers do little to alleviate this issue.
The LG LF30S8210S's ice production rate is amazingly quick. While it can't quite compare to the LG LF29H8330S, which boasts two ice makers, the LF30S8210S's in-freezer system can churn out enough ice within a 24-hour span for quite a few iced drinks.
This fridge's ice tray has great capacity. Once filled, you'll probably empty it pretty quickly if you're serving iced drinks at a backyard BBQ, but it holds more than enough ice for a few days' worth of casual dinners.
This fridge is pretty quiet overall. It isn't quite as whisper-quiet in standard operation as something like the KitchenAid KRQC506MPS, but it's far from distracting.