As refrigerator categories go, top freezers are the least exciting. They’re safe, they’re simple and they typically miss out on the kinds of cool features and eye-catching designs you’d expect to find in fancier, French-door models.
Enter GE, which saw an opportunity to stand out by giving the $ 1,000 GAS18PSJSS top-freezer fridge an intriguing new feature that you won’t find anywhere else. It’s called the Autofill Pitcher, and it’s exactly what it sounds like: a pitcher that the fridge will automatically fill with fresh, filtered water whenever you dock it in place on the top shelf. It’s an admittedly cool feature that works well and makes a lot of sense, especially if you already like to keep a pitcher of filtered water on hand on the fridge.
The Autofill Pitcher is appealing enough for this appliance to earn my approval, but it’s really all the GAS18PSJSS has going for it. It’s a smallish refrigerator for the price, it was fairly mediocre in our cooling tests and, like most top freezers, it isn’t anything special to look at. Autofill is worth it, but only if you can forgive this fridge’s shortcomings.
As soon as you dock the pitcher in place, Autofill will begin filling it up.
Chris Monroe/CNET
A killer filler pitcher feature
If you’re wondering why no one thought of an auto-filling water pitcher before now, you should know that this isn’t the first time we’ve seen it. The Autofill Pitcher was actually the very first project to come out of FirstBuild, which is essentially a collaborative, open-door R&D department for GE. Back then, the Autofill Pitcher was a DIY retrofit kit that you could buy and incorporate into your existing GE fridge.
“We hypothesized that people in the maker movement would be willing to take a refrigerator and drill a hole, tag on our electronics, and add this feature,” said GE director of Research and Development Natarajan “Venkat” Venkatakrishnan when I interviewed him for a piece in CNET Magazine. “It didn’t go so well. We made about 15 and we sold about 4.”
GE didn’t give up on the idea, though — and it’s a good thing. The Autofill works like a charm, filling the pitcher to the brim in about 30 seconds. And don’t worry about overflowing: The dispenser shuts off automatically when the water level hits a clever floating sensor at the top of the pitcher. There’s also a timer at play, so if the water runs for longer than usual for some reason, it’ll shut off on its own before flooding your fridge. I’d advise patience, though — if you pull the pitcher out of place halfway through a fill-up, the dispenser dribbles.
| GE GAS18PSJSS | LG LTCS24223S | Frigidaire FGHT1846QF | Whirlpool WRT511SZDM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fridge capacity | 13.5 cubic feet | 17.6 cubic feet | 14.2 cubic feet | 15.2 cubic feet |
| Freezer capacity | 4.0 cubic feet | 6.2 cubic feet | 4.1 cubic feet | 6.1 cubic feet |
| Total capacity | 17.5 cubic feet | 23.8 cubic feet | 18.3 cubic feet | 21.3 cubic feet |
| Finish | Stainless Steel | Stainless Steel | Stainless Steel | Stainless Steel |
| Available in Black Stainless Steel | No | Yes (+$ 100) | No | No |
| Energy Star Certified | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Yearly energy consumption (kilowatt hours) | 399 kWh | 501 kWh | 363 kWh | 443 kWh |
| Yearly energy cost ($ 0.12 per kWh) | $ 48 | $ 60 | $ 44 | $ 53 |
| Energy efficiency (yearly cost per cubic foot) | $ 2.74 | $ 2.52 | $ 2.40 | $ 2.49 |
| Suggested retail price | $ 1,000 | $ 1,200 | $ 1,100 | $ 1,100 |
| Lowest retail price (as of 7/19/16) | $ 900 | $ 1,075 | $ 850 | $ 900 |
Still, it’s a great feature, and one that makes a lot of sense if you’re already used to storing a pitcher of water in the fridge. With Autofill, you’ll never need to nag your kids or your roommate to fill it back up after emptying it.
