We are very thankful to the team at CHOICE. They do all the hard yards putting all sorts of things to the test so we don’t have to. We love their gruelling and fiercely independent reviews and they’ve saved us from getting cons and buying duds over and over again.

This time we can’t help being surprised at their most recent appliance test. Smeg has an almost cult following in the world of customer electronics. It’s insanely expensive but super prestigious and seems to have a good reputation for quality. That is…until now.

In an independent lab test, CHOICE has branded Smeg with the dubious honour of the “worst fridge ever!”

The Smeg FAB38RCRAU scored an abysmal 22% overall and 0% for temperature stability.

“This Smeg fridge received a truly chilling score of 22% – the worst fridge ever tested in CHOICE’s independent lab,” says Ashley Iredale, CHOICE fridge expert.

Yikes, So Expensive!

Even more “appalling”, is that the fridge costs an eye-watering $3,990.

“You might get a 50s style aesthetic from this fridge, but you’ll also get the 50s levels of performance,” Iredale said.

The Smeg fridge notched up shockingly low scores in all testing categories including temperature evenness, temperature stability and response to outside temperature.

CHOICE’s experts discovered a number of problems with the Smeg FAB38RCRAU. One of the most concerning issues was its stability score – which was a rock-bottom 0%. This means that the temperature inside varies wildly, particularly in the freezer, which is really bad for food storage.

Lots of Issues

“This fridge also scored 22% for its response to the outside temperature, meaning the temperature inside will change a lot depending on the temperature outside. If you buy this Smeg fridge, you’ll need to constantly adjust the settings as the seasons change, or even if there’s significant day to day temperature changes in the area you live in,” says Iredale.

This Smeg fridge is also really expensive to run, “costing $1,707 over the 10 year life of the fridge.”

Plus, Iredale adds, you need to add in the cost of replacing all the food in the fridge “that is likely going to go off far more quickly than it should.”

Don’t. Buy. This. Fridge!

“Don’t buy this fridge. It might look pretty, but when your food goes off all you’ll have is a smelly Smeg in your kitchen,” says Iredale.

Have you had any experiences with Smeg fridges? What do you think is the worst fridge? Tell us in the comments below.