Siemens iQ300 KG36NVI35G fridge freezer review

Siemens produce the breadth of kitchen and laundry room appliances and its hallmark is smart, minimalist, modern design. The company claims to be at the forefront of technology that offers the best user experience. Find out if the Siemens iQ300 KG36NVI35G fridge freezer delivers.

Read our full review of the best fridge freezers.

First impressions of the Siemens iQ300 KG36NVI35G fridge freezer

The appliance has a smart external appearance akin to something you might find in a professional kitchen. It's essentially a rectangular box with a subtle embossed Siemens logo – ideal if you want your fridge freezer to blend into a functional, modern kitchen. The inside offers practical storage solutions – three drawers that allow for separation of different foods, and well-spaced shelves and drawers throughout. The temperature control is separate for fridge and freezer and looks easy to use.

Is the Siemens iQ300 KG36NVI35G fridge freezer easy to set up?

Like most fridge freezers, this simply requires a period for the coolant to settle before plugging in and then a wait for the appliance to cool before adding food.

What is the overall quality like?

The plastic and glass in this appliance feel solid, with the exception of the runner between the two upper drawers, which is a little flimsy. The appliance itself and its in-built handle is solid. The door opens smoothly, but there was some rattling of contents.

Capacity vs usable space

The fridge holds 237 litres and the layout is highly usable, with plenty of shelf space, a bottle rack and three drawers. Somehow, they've packed a lot in without compromising the utility. The freezer, at 87 litres, is at the lower end of capacity for models we tested, but with three relatively deep drawers, it's suitable for your typical home contents.

What's the handle like?

There's a recessed handle that runs from top to bottom on the appliance, which gives maximum clearance around the fridge freezer. This is also the most durable design.

What are the shelving options in the fridge?

There are three glass shelves in the main compartment, plus an extra one if you take out the meat and fish drawers. These shelves have a practical amount of space in between, plus the five-bottle rack, which cannot be said of all the appliances we tested. The heights can be adjusted.

The shelving in the door is well spaced, allowing for tall bottles to be stored upright while still leaving sufficient room for jars above. There is also an option for adjusting the heights.

How are the fridge drawers?

There are three fridge drawers in total. The bottom one is a large fruit and vegetable drawer, which is very spacious. We found we could fit lots of large items in it, making it useful for the weekly shop. This drawer also has a humidity control gauge, which is usefully signposted so you can select the optimum environment for your fruit or combined produce. There are two drawers above this that sit side-by-side. We like that you can store meat and fish separately, but as they're not particularly big, there isn't enough room for larger joints of meat.

What benefits does the freezer offer?

Siemens have opted for the three deeper drawers over four shallower ones, which we'd say makes the most of the 87-litre capacity. Some of the fridge freezers we tested offered bigger dimensions which makes a fourth drawer practical. This one also has the option of removing a drawer in order to stack the one beneath to double height.

There's also the 'super freeze' option, which allows you to drop the temperature of the freezer if you're adding large amounts of fresh food. This will come on automatically if warm foods are added to the freezer. The freezer auto-defrosts.

How's the overall visibility?

There's some opaque white plastic on the drawers and door shelves of the fridge, as well as on the base of the freezer drawers, but this only minimally obscures the viewing of the food.

Is it easy to control and monitor temperature?

There's a control panel inside the door – our preferred option, as it's less likely to attract children's unwanted attention. It's easy to select the temperature for either the fridge or the freezer, and the value is highlighted once selected, but there isn't an actual digital display. There's a 'super' and 'eco' option for both too.

The eco buttons switch the fridge to eight degrees and freezer to 16 degrees – it's essentially an energy-saving mode, and these are the highest temperatures at which food can safely be stored. The super buttons lower the fridge and freezer temperatures, allowing you to give their contents an extra blast if the foods entering the compartments are not already near the desired temperature.

Is there a door alarm?

Yes.

What is its footprint?

The footprint is 186cm (H) x 60cm (W) x 66cm (D) with recessed handles for maximum clearance when doors are closed.

Is it easy to clean?

All the drawers and shelves come out easily, but there are quite a few rims and corners that could potentially collect food debris. The runners in between the two upper drawers come out, but the ones along either side do not and look to be a pain, especially if something sticky were to seep into them. Fingerprints do show a little on the front of the appliance, which is disappointing as the model is flagged as being 'anti-fingerprint'.

Are there any accessories or additional features?

There's an egg cup holder, bottle rack and ice cube tray included.

Are there any accessories available for purchase?

There are recommended cleaning products available on the website.

Overall star ratings for the Siemens iQ300 KG36NVI35G fridge freezer

Quality 4.5/5
Practicality 4.5/5
Capacity vs usable space 5/5
Temperature control 4.5/5
Ease of cleaning 3.5/5
Value for money 4/5

Overall score: 4.3/5

Our conclusion

This fridge freezer is more expensive than many we tried, but it does offer quality, practicality and versatility. The fridge capacity and layout are generous compared to the other products we tested with a similar-sized freezer.

Product specifications at a glance

Dimensions:
186cm (H) x 60cm (W) x 66cm (D)
Capacity:
Fridge 237 litres
Freezer 87 litres
Energy efficiency class: A ++
Annual energy consumption per year in kWh: 260
Fast freeze: Yes
Automatic defrost: Yes
Reversible door handle: Yes
Separate controls for fridge and freezer: Yes
Fridge can be switched off separately: No
Digital temperature display: No
No. of fridge shelves: 3, plus bottle rack
No. of fridge door shelves: 3
No. of fridge drawers: 3
No. of freezer drawers: 3

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This review was last updated in September 2019. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews or spot anything that has changed in price or availability please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk.