LG Studio Smart 3-Door French Door Refrigerator Review: Cool Customer
I personally has had LG brand refrigerators for 15 years. When I bought my first refrigerator from LG (an acronym for “Life’s Good”) in 2011, the French door model was highly rated and the combination of price and features was unmatched by other brands. In fact, I loved it so much that I bought a second, identical one when I moved seven years later. That’s why I was dismayed when it suddenly stopped freezing earlier this year. “We get this call all the time,” the mechanic explains as he replaces the apparently faulty compressor.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t wrong. Even a quick internet search turns up a wealth of damning evidence of LG’s history of faulty linear compressors. One class action lawsuit was settled in 2020 regarding LG compressors in refrigerators manufactured between 2014 and 2017 (my second refrigerator was unfortunately in this range and I was unaware of the lawsuit), but others were filed in subsequent years for refrigerators manufactured in 2018 and beyond, both for compressor issues and faulty artisan ice makers. This is not a good overview.
That said, LG sells hundreds of thousands of refrigerators a year – LG sales account for a third of the appliance market, behind only Samsung, according to data platform OpenBrand – and other brands also face class-action lawsuits. (In fact, Consumer Reports says that of all new refrigerators purchased since 2014, regardless of brand, 50% had a problem.)
I decided to give LG another chance by testing one of its new Studio refrigerators, from the brand’s premium, engineered line, released around 2015. The newer LG refrigerators have smart capabilities thanks to LG’s ThinQ system and, according to LG, a different linear compressor than my older model. The Studio Smart 3 French Door Refrigerator has been in the kitchen of my home for five months, where my family uses it like any other refrigerator. There’s no denying that it looks good in person and on paper, but will it last?
Color me Interested
Photography: Kat Merck
I specifically decided to test a Studio in Essence White, a proprietary brand from LG, because I noticed that stainless steel appears less in high-end home builds and remodels. (If you own a stainless steel appliance, you know it’s a magnet for fingerprints and smudges.) Cabinet-fronted SubZeros have always been de rigeur in luxury custom homes, but until recently, there weren’t many non-stainless options for what appliance makers call the “mass premium” market, aside from retro-inspired designs from brands like Smeg and Big Chill. And in fact, the trend toward lighter woods and colorful cabinets is paving the way for a more contemporary take on white, softer than the institutional tone of the ’80s and ’90s.
“Essence White is not a traditional bright white,” explained Dean Brindle, head of product management at LG. “It’s not a blue-white that you traditionally see in white appliances. It’s a warmer white, so a bit of yellow.”
Indeed, I can see it: the Essence White Studio is matte, almost glossy, with sharp edges and square bronze hardware. It would not stand out among luxury European household appliances like La Cornue or Bertazzoni. I’m in it. I’ve read complaints that the hardware looks gold in promotional photos online, but is actually rose gold in color, and it’s true: the color is not what it appears in photos. It certainly wouldn’t directly match the gold hardware elsewhere in the kitchen. Brindle said the unusual tone of the hardware was deliberately matched to the refrigerator’s hue.
