Best Refrigerators Without a Water Filter
All these models have an icemaker, but #nofilter
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While refrigerator water filters guarantee fresh drinking water and clean ice, the cash outlay for replacement filters can be a nuisance.
“Many filters cost upwards of $60, and they’re supposed to be changed twice a year,” says Joseph Pacella, Consumer Reports’ test engineer for refrigerators. “Over the lifetime of your fridge, you can easily end up spending more on filters than you did on the fridge itself.”
If you try to find a cheaper replacement filter, you could end up with a counterfeit that actually adds contaminants to your water. But unless your water comes from a questionable source, you probably don’t even need a filter: Your municipal drinking water is probably already safe and filtered for a whole host of contaminants.
Many refrigerators can also be used without their filter in place, but when it comes time to upgrade, you might prefer a fridge that shares your filterless values. You’ll have plenty to choose from. Many of CR’s top-rated refrigerators fit the bill.
In CR’s refrigerator lab, Pacella and other engineers wire up models with thermocouples and monitor the refrigerators for more than a month in a climate-controlled chamber. They collect more than 5.4 million temperature readings for each model to detect warm and cold spots—for CR’s temperature-uniformity test—and determine which refrigerators keep food fresh longer.
In addition, Consumer Reports’ member survey allows us to create predicted-reliability and owner-satisfaction ratings. All this data combined informs our overall refrigerator ratings, which include about 400 models.
CR members can read on for ratings and reviews of the six best refrigerators without a water filter that we’ve tested. The list includes two picks in each configuration—top-freezer, bottom-freezer, and built-in—from Kenmore, LG, and Miele. (There are currently no strong-performing freestanding French-door or side-by-side models without a water filter in our ratings.) Every model is Energy Star certified and features a stainless steel finish, an icemaker, spillproof shelves, and digital controls. None have a water dispenser.
Overall Score: 79 (Very Good)
CR’s take: Our top-rated top-freezer, the LG LTCS20220S is a solid performer. It has a Very Good rating for thermostat control and Excellent ratings for energy efficiency and noise. This LG rates only Good for temperature uniformity (meaning it’s a bit susceptible to warm and cold spots in its compartments) and gets a Fair rating for ease of use. In our surveys, LG top-freezers are highly regarded, earning an Excellent rating for predicted reliability and a Very Good rating for owner satisfaction. This model’s feature set doesn’t go beyond those shared by all the models in this list, though.
Overall Score: 78 (Very Good)
CR’s take: The runner-up LG LTCS24223S performs almost identically to its sister model, above—and garners the same ratings in our member surveys as well. As far as features are concerned, it’s also a match, but it does one-up its sibling in one area: usable storage capacity. This model offers you 19.6 cubic feet of usable storage space, about 3 cubic feet more than the top-rated model above.
Overall Score: 90 (Excellent)
CR’s take: Another top-rated model, the LG LDCS24223S bottom-freezer receives Excellent ratings in every category except ease of use, where it still receives a rating of Very Good. LG bottom-freezers also receive Very Good ratings for predicted reliability and owner satisfaction. Its features include split shelving (the ability to raise and lower each half of shelves) and a freezer light.
Overall Score: 89 (Excellent)
CR’s take: Want to save a few bucks and get a bottom-freezer with performance ratings that are identical to those of the above LG? Check out the runner-up Kenmore Elite 79043. While its ratings are identical, its test and survey results are just a tad lower, accounting for its one-point-lower Overall Score.
Overall Score: 83 (Excellent)
CR’s take: Our top-rated built-in, the Miele MasterCool KF1903SF excels at just about everything. It earns Excellent ratings for thermostat control, temperature uniformity, and noise, and a Very Good rating for ease of use. The only so-so on its record is for energy efficiency, where it earns a middling Good rating. (But this refrigerator costs more than $8,000, so if you’re considering it, you’re probably not too stressed out by a slightly higher energy bill.) Testing aside, Miele built-ins receive Very Good ratings for predicted reliability and owner satisfaction. This model doesn’t include a water dispenser, but it will give you dual compressors and dual evaporators (for very robust cooling performance), as well as a freezer light.
Overall Score: 73 (Very Good)
CR’s take: Our runner-up built-in without a filter is $2,000 cheaper; it comes in a four-door French-door configuration instead of the above model’s bottom-freezer configuration. The Miele PerfectCool KFNF9955IDE does not rank nearly as high as its sibling. While its survey ratings on reliability and satisfaction are a match, its performance is a step down. It earns a Very Good rating for every test except energy efficiency, where it receives a Good rating. For the savings, you’ll get marginally worse performance but a feature set identical to the above Miele.
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