Side By Side: Best in Refrigerator Efficiency

When looking at Side-By-Side refrigerators in regards to energy efficiency, it’s interesting to note that a lot of the most energy efficient models are 26 cubic feet of capacity. All 3 of our medals are claimed by refrigerators with that amount of capacity in fact.

It’s no surprise that larger refrigerators have an advantage given our method of evaluation, but is somewhat surprising that the larger 30+ cubic feet of capacity models don’t hit even better numbers than the 26 cubic foot fridges on this list. Perhaps it’s because those larger models tend to be high end in other regards, many of those features adding to the energy usage.

Side By Side: Refrigerator Efficiency – Bronze

Just making it to the award ceremony for most energy efficient Side-By-Side refrigerators is Fridgidaire for their FFUS2613** line. Their CEE Tier 3 rating makes them the third most efficient Side-By-Side refrigerators you can buy right now. This is a value line, though you still get filtered water and ice from the door dispensers as well as a great look from these fridges.

The Frigidaire FFUS2613** line of refrigerators is available in Ebony Black (FFUS2613LE), Silver Mist (FFUS2613LM), Pearl White (FFUS2613LP), and Stainless Steel (FFUS2613LS) door finishes.

Side By Side: Refrigerator Efficiency – Silver

CEE Tier 3 is quite an achievement, and so is hitting #2 in our list of best Side-By-Side refrigerators in energy efficiency for 2013. Samsung claims the Silver, falling just short of the Gold with their RS26*TD** line of refrigerators.

There are 3 families we’ve all rolled up into one here. The RS263TD**, RS265TD**, and RS267TD** lines are very similar. They are available in White (RS263DWP, RS265TDWP, RS267TDWP), Black (RS263TDBP, RS265TDBP, RS267TDBP), Stainless Platinum (RS263TDPN, RS265TDPN, RS267TDPN), and Stainless finishes (RS263TDRS, RS265TDRS, RS267TDRS).

If you are wondering what differentiates the lines from each other, it mostly has to do with number of shelves, bins, and some of the exterior LCD functions. Nothing dramatic enough for us to warrant splitting them up to claim both the Bronze and Silver, but we do want to congratulate Samsung on giving the customer such a wide range of Side-By-Side options with extremely good energy efficiency!

Side By Side: Refrigerator Efficiency – Gold

The top spot in our list of Most Energy Efficient Side-By-Side Refrigerators is claimed by Whirlpool. Their GSS26C4XX* Gold Resource Saver line is no longer available from the manufacturer’s website, but they can still be found online from various retailers.

The GSS26C4XX* line is available in White (GSS26C4XXW), Black (GSS26C4XXB), Monochromatic Stainless Steel (GSS26C4XXF), and Monochromatic Stainless Look (GSS26C4XXY) models.

We aren’t sure why Whirlpool has discontinued their Resource Saver line of Side-By-Side refrigerators, but we hope to see it return in the future. Looking at similar models that are available now from Whirlpool they aren’t very competitive in energy efficiency. For instance, the GSF26C4*** models just barely clear the 20% line for Energy Star qualification, being 20.5% more efficient than Federal Standards. Compare that to the 32.2% of the Resource Saver refrigerators that take the top spot here, and it’s not very impressive.

So if you want to get ahold of the most energy efficient Side-By-Side refrigerators available on the market today, you’re going to have to act fast. Supplies are limited and it seems Whirlpool isn’t interested in building any more of them!