Hitachi fridge freezer R-BGX411PGB1 review

Design and appearance
We tested the black model and found ourselves in front of a dark mirror that boasted a graduation fade to gunmetal grey roughly around the split between fridge and freezer. Suffice to say, this is not an appliance for a pastel country kitchen. It will not go with chintz curtains or braided garlic hanging from an exposed ceiling beam.

No, at 190cm tall and 60cm wide, this Hitachi is a sleek, urban appliance that would suit an absolute black granite worktop, polished to perfection, over stark white cabinetry – with a robot vacuum scooting over a high-sheen floor. With pocket handles tucked away in the side of the doors, both left and right should you wish to reverse their opening direction, the only other front feature is the touchscreen control panel in a dark shade of grey. Nothing else interrupts the high-gloss finish.

Add to that doors that passed the bounce test every time, no matter how hard the slam or gentle the nudge; and dual fan cooling, one fan for the fridge and another for the freezer, backed up by a compact but high-power inverter compressor that generates huge volumes of chilled air, and this appliance obviously aims to match modern styling with quality refrigeration.

Operating volume
Hitachi states that the operational sound of this appliance is 41dB, which is roughly the sound of a whisper. We could hear a mild hum when it was turned on, but it was nothing intrusive or unusual. There is also an alarm that sounds if you leave the door open. There are two sets of beeps as an introductory warning, then a continual beep if you still don’t close the door. You can, however, turn this feature off through the control panel.

Cost
This appliance has an F rating on the new 2021 energy rating scale, A+ on the old rating scale, and Hitachi says the total annual energy consumption is 310 kWh/pa. This level of consumption is consistent with other appliances that offer this kind of chill and freeze storage capacity.

Due to recent changes in power pricing in the UK, it’s tricky to give an estimate of average running cost per year.

Control panel
The fridge freezer is controlled through a dark grey touchscreen panel on the front of the fridge cabinet. Visually non-intrusive, it’s 148cm from the floor, rising to 165cm, so it’s easy to reach even if you’re not tall.

To change the temperature of the fridge or freezer, you press R/F Select, then Temp control, to move up or down, in nine increments, from cold to coldest. You can’t programme in a specific figure in either Celsius or Fahrenheit, which we found a little odd.

However, there is a quick-freezing mode, which you use to rapidly freeze food or make ice; it lasts for 3.5 hours before it turns itself off.

There’s also an energy saving mode for holidays or times of low volume, though there doesn’t seem to be much information about what this setting actually does. We presume it keeps freezer temperatures low and the fridge temperatures just below the point where odours could develop. Again, a child lock allows you to prevent young fingers from making unintentional control panel changes.

Again, the black 210cm power cable sprouts from the top of the appliance, a feature we are seeing more and more in fridge freezers from high end brands.

Warm up and cool down
We found that the fridge cooled from 26°C in both the fridge and the freezer to 6°C in the fridge and -16°C in the freezer in 90 minutes. Considering the atmospheric temperature was 27°C, we found this rapid cooling to be extremely impressive and testament to the efficacy of the dual fans and compressor in this model.

Hitachi says the fridge freezer’s cooling retention is 12 hours. We attempted to test this figure, but the high atmospheric temperature of 27°C (we tested it during a heatwave), made it hard to confirm.

Lighting
A rectangular light, 24cm by 5cm, at the top of the fridge cabinet illuminates the inside well. There is no light for the freezer, but this is not a major issue for a freezing cabinet of this size.

Fridge capacity
There are 215 litres of storage in the fridge, which is roughly eleven to thirteen supermarket shopping bags, depending on where you shop. The division of space is cleverly considered: two glass shelves, separated by a wine rack able to hold four wine bottles, one slide shelf, one “selectable” drawer, and one deeper drawer with a ribbed base for vegetables.

The second glass shelf is adjustable up and down by 4cm, but it’s the sliding shelf with a dropped front that speaks to a more modern approach to fridge organization and ease of use – it’s a very nice touch. In real-world terms, the slide shelf will fit a packet of two lettuces, a carton of tomatoes, a packet of peppers and a bag of sweetcorn cobs with room to spare.