Fisher & Paykel 519L French Door RF522A (Non-Ice & Water)
Verified78 reviews
Like the fridge, but reassembling it after cleaning is IMPOSSIBLE! Looks good, works well, is nice and quiet. BUT, if you take anything out of it and then try to reassemble? A nightmare. Yes, there are videos and instructions. The videos are poor… Read more
quality, too fast and ignore or skip over essential bits. A power failure happened while I was away and the freezer had to be taken apart to clean. I discovered later that F&P ‘do not recommend’ that you do this. What you are supposed to do when you have a freezer part full of tomato gunk that defrosted, ran everywhere inside and then refrozen is ignored. I had to finally get a technician in at considerable expense to do it, after I and others had spent enormous time and effort trying to follow the skimpy instructions. I am now stuck again, dammit, after the veggie containers needed to be thoroughly cleaned. I simply canNOT figure out how to get 2 little plastic clips back and into their places and nothing will work until or unless I do. It’s enough to make me buy a new fridge and no, I won’t be buying F&P again. Pity, I was a long term customer until this fridge. Terrible.
Follow-up · I remain extremely disappointed (and shocked) at how gobsmackingly complicated it is to reassemble things with this fridge after quite ordinary events. IT should NOT take literally hours to reassemble the vegetable bins, because of the baffling design of the shelf! One should NOT have to eventually get a technician out at great expense to… Read more
Great fridge with excellent customer service – I've been using this fridge for the past four years and overall I'm quite happy with it. It's spacious, keeps my food fresh, and has a sleek design that fits well with my kitchen decor. However, there are a couple of minor issues that I've noticed. Firstly, there is no egg tray included, which can be a bit inconvenient for storing eggs. Secondly,… Read more
the freezer drawer can be loud when pulling it out, which can be a bit annoying. Despite these issues, I'm still happy with the fridge and would recommend it to others.
One thing that stands out to me about this fridge is Fisher Paykel's customer service. I had an issue with the fridge a while back and they were very helpful in resolving it quickly and efficiently. Fisher Paykel also sent out a local technician to fix the problem on time. Their staff were friendly and knowledgeable. Overall, I'm very happy with the fridge and their customer supports.
Great fridge, Terrible freezer! – Great fridge, Terrible freezer. After a few months of use the freezer runner's iced up and we can't open it with out wiping the runners with warm water, or tugging with significant strength (didn't want to do this fearing more issues would result). Several calls to fisher & paykel, without any fix, a couple of contractors came out to look, they… Read more
mentioned the runners and seals needed replacing, but never did it. Called over 8 times without a resolution! Don't buy it.
Reviews with attachments
Don’t be fooled by looks – It’s a great looking fridge with great storage and space. We installed it in Dec 2021 and now it looks awful. It scratches and dings very easily. The surface is soft so you’re can’t wear rings and can’t stay in a thorough way. The dings were made by a soft plastic duster. I contacted F&P and they eventually got back to me stating there is nothing they can do. We were warned by winnings about this fridge but we loved the look of it. Show details
Positive reviews
VERY BEAUTIFUL FRIDGE – This fridge replaced our previous Fischer & Paykel fridge, which lasted 20 years. Now this is an unbelievable lifespan for a fridge, so I had to stick with the brand, and buy another Fischer & Paykel fridge. This new fridge is of very high quality, and one of the most beautiful fridges on the market. It’s also super quiet. A very big thank you to the manufacturer for producing such an excellent product. Show details · 1
Good fridge and well made – Fridge replaced an old conventional F&P. Whilst being the same size it does lose space because of the french doors- and those french doors never close by themselves. Apart from that we've had it a year now with zero issues. The fast freeze and bottle chill features get used all the time. Quality is good and nothing has broken - unlike a kelvinator beer fridge bought more recently Show details
Overall good quality 5.5 years old still going – Love the design, look and features of this fridge. The compartments and storage is generous. Have had this since April 2014 and it has not failed once. The only issue is the left door flange does now close properly but it can be easily resolved by manually push it as you close the door. I see this is a common issue. Otherwise, highly recommend this fridge. Show details
Negative reviews
Maybe this review might get me somewhere with customer service – After waiting months for our fridge, it finally arrived with a dent/scratch on the side, which the delivery guys pointed out. They advised they'd let head office know. I also advised the company where I purchased the fridge. Didn't hear a thing. One week later, the edging of the right door (where the side and the bottom edge meet) broke off.… Read more
Again, I emailed the store. I don't expect a new fridge (although, I'm wondering what might happen with this fridge as it doesn't seem as well made as the one we purchased in 2007) but I've received an email today from some generic email address asking me to basically "raise a claim" (I thought I'd already done that a number of times to the same email address given to me today) and also send the fridge back because "triage only assess fridges when back in the workshop". No advice as to how to get the fridge back or if I'll be getting a fridge to replace (likely not). So, I've got to go without a fridge while they assess? This seems crazy! Hopefully someone from customer service in F&P reads these (likely not) so something appropriate might happen (likely not).
Don't make them like they used to – Replaced an 18year old F&P fridge that has been amazing and is still running perfectly but we needed something bigger! Decided to stick with F&P and bought a new 519ltr French door F&P fridge. Finding new fridge not chilling very well even on coldest setting, and not keeping consistent cold temperature, fridge temperature fluctuates from cool to… Read more
warm for no reason, food is spoiling, vegetables wilting, ice cream melting then freezing again and drinks not cold enough! Family have gotten sick from eating meat that was in freezer for a week and we are probably eating other food that hasn't been chilled safely as well. Have had fridge 4 weeks and made multiple complaints since week1...now on my 3rd day this week of trying to call F&P to speak to relevant department to ask for a new replacement fridge but no one calls me back! I'm tired of this and am finding the service at this point is not good at all, left waiting and no one calling back even when I have been told 3rd day now I will be called back!! Have been on hold for over 50 minutes 3rd day in a row! I will be calling Consumer Affairs next if this Fridge issue doesn't get addressed immediately! At this stage I can only give 2 stars as this has become a very disappointing and awful situation and experience.
Good Looking Fridge, But Noise / Compressor Issues – Had at home in the box from Mar '19 for 3 months due to reno in progress. When finally installed 3 months later were impressed with the stainless steel look, ease of use and practicality of the and French doors, and how well it fit in to our new kitchen design. Sadly this wore off after about 2-3 weeks when the constant noise got to me (I… Read more
suspected compressor running 24/7 - and our reno involved opening up to open plan kitchen/dining/living) and I called F&P support. They sent out a technician who confirmed there was an issue, and it would have to be taken away for repair. It was collected about a week later and a replacement was given to us on loan. It came back repaired around 3 weeks later.
All good until June '20 when the noise returned intermittently, to the point now (July '20) where the compressor appears to be running 24/7 again, and a technician is coming out next week. Lucky there is a 2-year warranty. However if it's taken away for repair again it will definitely be last chance - any further issues I will be chasing a refund or complete replacement with a working unit. It would appear I am not the only one to experience this issue. Very disappointing.
**Update March '21** This sorry saga continues. Feb '21 constant buzz returned - 3rd time now. A buzz when you go to bed and still going when you wake up in the morning is totally unacceptable. (There is a difference between the low hum of normal "active smart" operation and the buzz a unit makes when it's first switched on from warm and needs to work hard to come down to operating temperature. Anyone experiencing this latter sound going constantly should realise it is not normal.)
I reported this latest issue on 24 Feb '21 and requested a replacement fridge based on it being repaired twice before and now the same issue again. I was told this couldn't be done until a technician had checked it first. He would be around on 19 Mar. Seriously? Extremely bad backlog there. Lucky I keep an old spare fridge in the garage. To be fair to the technician who came around he was polite and efficient, as they usually are, as are the support staff on the phone. But a major issue is the technician had no idea of the history of repair, nor his supervisor. It was only when I explained the history that it was agreed the fridge should be replaced.
I appreciate that people are more likely to get on a review site when they have a problem, and this can give the impression of a product having a higher fault rate than it actually has. But, given what I've experienced, a definite area for improvement I can see is for technicians to know the history of the unit they are looking at. Had this been in place they could have recommended replacing the unit after the second fault - which it turns out was caused by a very small leak that caused the gas to escape over several months. The leak is probably too small to locate, so without the technician knowing it had happened before they would have continued a cycle of break and repair until I pointed it out. It's also odd that the support person arranged the technician to check before replacing, yet it seems he was under the impression it was another standard callout.
Anyway, a replacement fridge was delivered 5 days after the technician's visit, so not so bad in that regard. It's going ok so far, so fingers crossed.
Bottom line: Would I consider buying a F&P product again? Unlikely, though they do appear to make a decent effort with communication and customer service (apart from the excessive time to wait for a technician).
** Update March '22 ** One year later and the new fridge has performed without issue. If only they'd replaced it with a new unit at the beginning.
Recent reviews
So far so good. Very quiet fridge – Have had the Fisher Paykel 519L active smart french door fridge for nearly 2 years now after a major reno. Chosen this refrigerator for it's good looks & excellent size. So far so good. Very quiet. The ability to see all things inside of fridge at a quick glance. The side storage is great for quick access to milk and butter, jams & sauces. Excellent refrigerator. Highly recommended. Show details
Very nice fridge – I don't know what other reviewers are experiencing, but this is the quietest fridge I've ever owned, including the previous Fisher & Paykel unit. Love the french doors allowing access for the largest platters and the huge roll out freezer at the bottom. Glass shelves have lots of adjustment options, the light is so good, no dark spots anywhere in… Read more
the fridge. Gets cold very quickly and keeps pretty accurate temperatures. I bought a wireless fridge/freezer digital thermometer and it is within 1-2 degrees of ideal temperature for both the fridge and freezer.
Love the stainless steel finish, matches all our other kitchen appliances.
If I could find one criticism, it would be the auto close. Even after jacking up the front of the fridge, it will not auto close, you still have to give it that final push to close the door. You also have to open both doors to slide out the vegetable crisper drawer, but this is a minor inconvenience.
Very happy with this fridge and would thoroughly recommend it.
Just purchased – Updating review..Stainless steel smudges very easy. Managed to have one of the letters on the front of the fridge fall off after a light wipe down, so now I have a Fisher & Pay el, good look... No egg holder or an accessory to even buy to get one!? Massive over sight by F&P. Quite loud compared to my older (and cheaper) fridge. Double vege/fruit bins are good. Early days but regretting my purchase. Show details
Find out how Fisher & Paykel 519L French Door RF522A (Non-Ice & Water) compares to other French Door Fridges / Refrigerators
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In a word "Fantastic – French doors are great. Can see and reach everything. The Veg crisper keep veggies fresh well beyond use-by date. Freezer is roomy and access easy. A big improvement on my 27 year old Kelvinator which is still going as my beer fridge. Thanks F&P Show details
Door flapper – Door flapper fails to go into position to allow the door to close , have to hold it into potion to be able to close the door , has anyone got a fix , the flapper spring is not broken ,got home one night from work and my wife handed the spring to me telling me she found it on the floor Show details
Best fit for kitchen with a rather shallow recess – Best fit for my kitchen where space is plenty but lacks the cabinet depth but yet we still want a fridge that can accommodate a family of 5. The temperature so far has been even for both fridge and freezer and have not experienced any sort of freezing for items places on the top shelf of the fridge. The best part about this fridge is that it… Read more
offers plenty of space for a smaller foot print in your kitchen. It would be nice if Fisher & Paykel would sells a wider fridge with similar depth and height.
Convenient and quiet – I needed a new fridge to fit into the fridge space in my new home and the Fisher & Paykel I choose turned out to be perfect. The french doors really suited our home as it meant that the fridge could be open at the same time as someone was walking through the narrow kitchen it sits in. A single door fridge would block off the whole walkway until… Read more
it's closed again. Also, the Fisher & Paykel doesn't make the noises of other fridges you sometimes here at other peoples houses.
Fridge Freezer Size and Handle Location – Our previous kitchen fridge freezer was also a, Fisher and Paykel. Ours is a white finish surface with the door handle located further away from the door edge and was fitted close to the white finish. The closeness meant that when you used the handle to open or close the fridge your fingers usually touched the white surface. When the fridge door… Read more
was fully open and you wanted to close it you reached out for the handle. Because the handle was further away from the edge you couldn't get hold of the handle unless you took, just a step to the right. So fingers were put on the white edge of the door to close it. Over a long period fingers and hands toughing the white finish caused marks to appear on the edge and under the handle. The acid in our skin had damaged the white surface. Short of repainting the whole fridge we moved it to garage as a drink fridge and brought the RF522ADX5. This Fisher and Paykel has a stainless steel finish and is more resistant to damage and marks. This fridge also has French Doors so the opening and closing isn't a problem. Then we come to size of the fridge. There is such a lot of models to chose from. Having a 20 year old style house with cupboards over the top of the fridge limited what fridge would fit. Short of buying a small size unit fridge 440 or smaller we were lucky enough to find the RF522ADX5 just fitted height wise and was 519 litres. This limited choice for a family meant we had very few fridges to pick from. The new fridge doesn't have egg shelves, we were told it had to do with hygiene. Not sure about that millions of eggs have been stored in egg shelves in the last 50 years or so. Also the freezer has one big bottom draw. Reminds me of a chest freezer. We were lucky there was a cash back bonus and the store we brought it from also provided a large quality esky also as a bonus, thanks Mr. Harvey.
Problems 2 12yrs old – You get a 2yr warranty and then the trouble starts. We had water under the fridge which ruined the wooden floor so had been leaking for awhile. We pulled out cleaned up cleared the tube at the back. Now buzzer goes off 20 times with the spanner showing. Phoned Fisher & Paykel would be a $148 call out fee plus parts. Have phoned Fair Trading… Read more
recommend going back to the supplier. If no go there put forms into Fair Trading. Would not advise buying a Fisher $ Paykel appliance. Must say has been okay until last few months. We have had other brand fridges last 15yrs.
Brilliant functional design – Very easy to clean & organise. Maintains temperature effortlessly. Freezer compartment comprised of 2 easy glide drawers which works so well when rationalising freezer foods. Such a luxury having iced water on tap. A very smart addition to my kitchen with easy to clean stainless steel finish. I really like the slide out shelf with the fresh produce bins. Show details
What a great fridge, spacious , quiet and functional and easy to keep clean – 1. Temperatures reliable always 2. Love all the aspects of this fridge 3. Ease of opening and closing excellent. 4. After 3 years, problems NONE - last fridge Samsung 2 door, leaked water all the time, not fixable, two years and off to the tip. 5. No noise, very Happy. Show details
Great Fridge, Roomy and Quiet – I love my new fridge, it is roomy and quiet. When it first got connected it made a lot of noise, but then it settled and after 48 hours I could hardly hear anything, I forget it is there, what an amazing fridge, everything fits and looks so stylish, I love the french doors, it keeps all my food organized and very neat. Show details
Find out how Fisher & Paykel 519L French Door RF522A (Non-Ice & Water) compares to other French Door Fridges / Refrigerators
Know better, choose better.
Nice & Silent Fridge – Works real nice, modern square edges and best of all unlike our old fridge this one is silent, no noisy buzzing or clunks. lots of great storage compartments and loads of clever spaces. Easy to access all the back corners and easy to change shelf levels quick when required for taller items. Show details
Excellent fridge for kitchen with limited space – We previously had a Fisher and Paykel 519L fridge/freezer and it was excellent, so we were happy to purchase this brand again. We chose the French door model as we live in a Sydney terrace with limited space in the kitchen - the doors don’t need as much space to swing open as our previous fridge. Unlike a side-by-side fridge, the French doors open… Read more
to a single compartment, which means you still have a nice wide shelf for platters and the like. My only criticisms are that unlike our previous fridge this doesn’t have a dedicated ice shelf in the freezer and there is no egg storage in the fridge - so we’ve had to leave our eggs in cartons.
Perfect fridge for me – I only used this fridge for a couple of months and had no problems so far. I was also looking for a fridge to fit the space int he kitchen cabinetry and was pleasantly surprised to find this one. I love how it is quiet and has so much room for everything that I need to store for the family of 4. Show details
Smart design and functional fridge – I have a high regard for Fisher & Paykel appliances. When I was planning to purchase a new fridge, I immediately thought of Fisher & Paykel. I love my new fridge, it is roomy, has a stylish and smart design and is very quiet. I like the glass shelves, it is easy to store items and gives the impression of more space around the items stored. Show details
Keeps beer cold – Purchased after moving house and old fridge didnt fit in the gap. Only chose as was the biggest fridge for the size of the gap in the kitchen. However very happy. Not noisy. Looks good, realy like the handles on the side. Freezer compartment is user friendly as wife initially wasnt happy with the idea but has since warmed to the idea. Show details
value for money – We've had this fridge for 2 years & can not fault it. It's very quiet & streamlined so fits nicely & has plenty of shelf space. Looks good too! The freezer section has 2 nice deep drawers. We have not had a problem at all. We read plenty of reviews before buying it & would definitely recommend. Show details
Great Overall – Very nice and modern looking, so far every thing has been pretty awesome with this fridge/freezer. It has an alarm to let you know when the door's have been opened for too long and also has a high 3.5 star energy rating. You can control the top compartment temperature and middle with a touch of a button and runs so quite that I had to check today… Read more
to make sure it was still working. I found that you have to turn the settings right down near to the lowest to maintain the temperature that my old Westinghouse had, which I found kind of strange. Overall a very high quality product and I give it 9/10 stars.
Bad customer service or I have a 2000$ cupboard in my kitchen – Is it bad to compare services? I think not. Household appliances fail. They do. When Bosch send the technician in less then a week. On 3 occasions. You feel valued customer. When Bose offers you a replacement straight away and after warranty you tell everyone! When Phillips fails to deliver - you don't buy Phillips. When Nespresso fails you twice… Read more
- you go back to stove coffee maker.
Our Fisher & Paykel Active Smart 522ADX4 fridge failed. It happens. It is under extensive warranty. To wait for over 10 days to speak to someone!! 20 days for someone to come and have a look at your fridge after numerous phone calls and emails and messages and social media comments for someone to talk to is OUTRAGEOUS. I have a $2000 storage pantry in my kitchen.
What I did not expect is that the 24/7 'support' is not a support. If they can't offer you any advise or solution don't call it support. When for an under warranty product you have to wait for 20 days!!! for a technician to come and have a look - something is wrong.
We are living out of an esky and ice for over 10 days now. I have a young family and I am afraid we will all get food poisoning.
This is not a customer support for a $2000 product! It is simply not.
Perfect ! – Maintains temperature perfectly ! Very easy to clean and maintain! Can’t even hear it running ! Very satisfied with the price range ! Couldn’t go wrong with how quick delivery was for it to reach my door ! Very happy with the service that came along also! A+++ one happy customer Show details
Good fridge – I’m been having the fridge for a month, so far so good despite some of the negative comments on this site. One of the plastic lids from the door came cracked but I rang support and they sent me a replacement in less than a week. Regarding the noise I don’t understand all the fuss, it’s as noisy as any other fridge, the noise level is really low,… Read more
all fridges work with compressors which is not a zero noise level device, it’s pretry remarkable they can make it very quiet these days. The ice tray that came with is not really useful that’s why I didn’t buy a fridge with water dispenser, a fridge manufacturer is good in making fridges after all. So far everything is working as expected and I’m happy with the product.
Love my fridge! Built the kitchen around it! – I just love this fridge, easy to keep clean, easy to use, keeps food fresh. Shop arond on price, we got $300 back while it was on special, delivered by Appliances Online. Loads of light, and the two shelves in the drawer are great. Haven't connected the ice yet but will...when the new kitchen comes. Show details
Great fridge, easy choice – Great product, works as expected. Quiet and stainless steel is relatively easy to keep clean. Show details
The fridge freezes food – Started freezing food in the fridge after 4y use. 4 years is not long enough for $1790 Show details
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Harvey Norman really impressed me how they were so helpful with our 2 1/2 yr old fridge. Were not… Read more