Hisense RB390N4WBE
HISENSE
Setting Up a Kitchen That Actually Works for You
A fridge freezer is the one appliance in your kitchen that never gets a day off. It runs quietly in the background for years, and when it does its job well, you barely notice it. The Hisense RB390N4WBE is built around that exact idea — no touchscreens to learn, no app to download, just a straightforward bottom-freezer design in matte black that focuses on space, cooling consistency, and a couple of genuinely useful extras. If you're weighing up whether this is the right fridge freezer for your kitchen, here's everything you need to know before you commit.
Design, Build Quality and How It Feels in Daily Use
A Kitchen-Ready Footprint
At just under 60cm wide and roughly 186cm tall (182.4cm to the top of the case, slightly taller including the levelling feet), the RB390N4WBE is sized to slot into a standard UK kitchen run without eating into your worktop plans. The depth sits close to counter level, which matters more than people expect — a fridge that juts out past your cabinets is a fridge you're constantly squeezing past. Two integrated wheels on the base make it noticeably easier to shuffle into position or pull out for a clean behind it, which is a small detail that saves real effort on delivery day.
The exterior finish is a clean matte black, and the body is built with a metal rear panel rather than the flimsier composite backing some budget models use — a detail that tends to hold up better over years of contact with a wall or cabinet. Hisense also specifies a full settling period after delivery: the compressor and refrigerant need time to redistribute after being moved, so don't judge the cooling performance on day one.
Practical Touches That Reduce Everyday Friction
- Reversible door hinging — the door can swing open on either side, so it fits kitchens where the layout forces you into a corner or awkward walkway
- 130-degree door opening — wide enough to pull out full-width drawers and shelves without fighting the door
- 1.5-metre power cable — enough reach for most kitchen socket layouts, though it's worth checking your own setup before you commit to a spot
- 5cm clearance recommended behind the unit — for ventilation, not just aesthetics; skipping this can quietly increase running costs over time
Storage Capacity: How Much Shopping Can It Actually Hold
This is a bottom-freezer fridge freezer, meaning the larger fresh-food compartment sits up top at eye level and the frozen storage is below. Combined, the two compartments give you space for around 16 bags of shopping — a useful benchmark if you're picturing a big weekly supermarket run rather than daily top-ups.
| Compartment | Approximate Capacity | What That Means in Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Fridge (fresh food) | 207 litres | Comfortably fits a family's weekly fresh shop — dairy, leftovers, drinks, and a full salad crisper without stacking items awkwardly |
| Freezer (frozen food) | 97 litres | Enough for regular frozen essentials and some batch-cooked meals, though not deep enough for bulk-buying a whole freezer's worth of meat |
| Combined total | Just over 300 litres | Positions this fridge freezer as a solid mid-size household option — bigger than a compact two-person unit, but short of the huge capacity you'd get from an American-style fridge freezer |
The split leans heavily toward fresh food storage, which suits households that cook regularly and shop often rather than those who rely on a deep freezer stockpile. If your household does a lot of batch cooking or bulk frozen shopping, the 97-litre freezer section is the number to think about carefully — some owners have found the drawer capacity tighter than expected for larger families.
Key Features That Actually Change How You Use It
Total No Frost and Micro Vent Cooling
Standard fridges gradually build up ice on the freezer walls, which eventually means an afternoon spent defrosting with a bowl of hot water and a scraper. The Total No Frost system here circulates air evenly through both compartments using a fan-driven ventilation approach (rather than passive cooling), which stops ice crystals from forming in the first place. In practical terms: you never manually defrost this fridge freezer, and food doesn't develop the frosty, freezer-burned patches that come from uneven cold spots.
Non-Plumbed Water Dispenser
The water dispenser built into the door draws from an internal, refillable tank rather than a direct plumbing connection, so there's no need to call a plumber or route pipework through your kitchen wall. You top the tank up manually and get chilled water on demand. It's a genuinely convenient feature for a household that drinks a lot of water, though it does mean occasional maintenance — the tank needs to be removed and cleaned periodically, and it's worth handling that part gently, since a few owners have reported the connecting fitting can be delicate if pulled out forcefully rather than following the release motion in the manual.
Electronic Temperature Control
Rather than a vague dial marked with a temperature range, this model uses a numbered electronic control, where a lower number produces colder settings. It's precise enough to fine-tune once you know your fridge, though it's worth noting the control adjusts the fridge and freezer together rather than allowing fully independent settings for each compartment — something to factor in if you wanted to run the freezer significantly colder than the fridge.
Fast Freeze Function
When you're loading up with a big batch of fresh groceries, or freezing a large cooked meal, the fast freeze function temporarily drops the freezer to a lower temperature to lock food in quickly, minimising the ice-crystal formation that happens with slow freezing. It's the difference between food that tastes freshly cooked when reheated and food that tastes like it's been in a freezer for months.
Safety and Convenience Alerts
- High temperature warning — flags if the internal temperature climbs, useful during a power cut or if a door's been left ajar without you noticing
- Chrome wine rack (4-bottle capacity) — keeps bottles secured horizontally rather than rolling around a shelf
- LED interior lighting — brighter and less power-hungry than older incandescent fridge bulbs, and it doesn't generate the heat that can quietly work against your cooling system
Running Costs, Noise, and Everyday Efficiency
The energy label here sits at Class E. On the current UK energy scale, E is a mid-tier rating rather than a top performer — A-rated models exist and use meaningfully less power, but E-rated fridge freezers are still common in this size and price bracket, and it's a fair way off the bottom of the scale. The annual energy consumption is listed at 243kWh, which works out to roughly 0.66kWh a day — a modest, background-level draw comparable to running a handful of energy-efficient devices continuously.
On noise, this fridge freezer is rated in Class C, with an operating volume of 39 decibels. To put that in context, that's roughly the level of a quiet library or a hushed conversation — noticeable if you're standing right next to it, but not something that's going to compete with a TV or disturb an open-plan kitchen-diner. In the event of a power cut, Hisense states the insulation and cooling design will keep food safely cold for up to 13 hours, which is a reasonable buffer for a typical outage without needing to worry about spoiled food.
Who This Fridge Freezer Is For — And Who It Isn't
A strong fit for:
- Families or shared households doing a proper weekly shop rather than daily top-ups
- Anyone who wants a no-fuss upgrade from an older, manually-defrosted fridge
- Households that drink a lot of water and want that habit made easier without plumbing work
- Kitchens with an awkward door swing or walkway, thanks to the reversible hinging
- Buyers who value a longer warranty and a straightforward, low-maintenance appliance
Less ideal for:
- Larger families who do serious bulk-freezer shopping — the 97-litre freezer section runs tight if you're storing large amounts of meat, bread, or batch-cooked portions
- Anyone specifically chasing a top energy-efficiency rating to minimise running costs
- Buyers who want independent temperature control between fridge and freezer compartments
- Households needing built-in (rather than freestanding) installation, since this model isn't designed to sit flush within cabinetry
How It Stacks Up Against Other Fridge Freezers in Its Class
Rather than comparing against specific named rivals, it's more useful to see where this model sits against the general tiers of fridge freezer you'd typically be choosing between at a similar budget.
| This Hisense RB390N4WBE | Typical Budget 60/40 Fridge Freezer | Typical Premium/American-Style Fridge Freezer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storage layout | 207L fridge / 97L freezer, freezer-at-bottom | Similar split, often smaller overall capacity | Side-by-side or multi-door, much larger total capacity |
| Defrosting | Total No Frost, no manual defrost | Frequently requires manual defrosting | No Frost as standard |
| Water dispenser | Non-plumbed, built into door | Rarely included at this price | Often plumbed, sometimes with ice as well |
| Energy rating | E | Often D–E | Frequently better-rated due to newer compressor tech, though larger overall consumption |
| Noise level | Class C, 39dB | Comparable or noisier | Usually quieter due to more advanced compressors |
| Price positioning | Mid-range | Lower price point | Significantly higher price point |
The honest takeaway: this model sits in a genuinely useful middle ground. It gives you a feature — the water dispenser — that's normally reserved for pricier appliances, without pushing you into American-style dimensions or a premium price tag. What you're trading against true premium models is a smaller total footprint and a mid-tier rather than top-tier energy rating.
Strengths and Weaknesses, Honestly
The case for this fridge freezer is built on consistency rather than flashy extras. The No Frost system genuinely removes a chore most people dread, the fresh food capacity is generous enough for a busy household, and the water dispenser is the kind of feature that quietly becomes part of your daily routine within a week of owning it. Build quality feels solid rather than cheap, helped by the metal rear panel and smooth-closing doors, and the reversible hinges mean it can adapt to kitchens that would rule out fixed-hinge alternatives.
The weaknesses are just as clear. The freezer compartment is the more constrained half of the appliance — fine for regular use, but a genuine limitation if you're the kind of household that bulk-buys meat or keeps a deep stock of frozen meals. The E energy rating, while far from poor, isn't going to satisfy anyone specifically hunting for the lowest possible running costs. And the shared temperature control between fridge and freezer removes a layer of flexibility that some users will miss, particularly if they're used to setting each compartment independently. The water dispenser tank, while a strong selling point, also introduces a small ongoing maintenance task and a component that should be handled with a bit of care when removed for cleaning.
The Verdict: Should You Buy This Hisense Fridge Freezer
If your household does a proper weekly shop, values fresh food space over freezer bulk, and wants a genuinely useful water dispenser without a plumbing job, the Hisense RB390N4WBE earns its place on a shortlist. It handles the fundamentals — consistent cooling, no manual defrosting, sensible build quality — without asking you to pay a premium for features you won't use. Where it makes the most sense is as a mid-range family fridge freezer replacing an older, less efficient model, or as the anchor appliance in a kitchen where a self-fill water dispenser is a genuine want rather than a nice-to-have.
Where it makes less sense is if freezer capacity is your priority, or if you're chasing the best possible energy efficiency figures on the market. In either of those cases, it's worth looking at models with a larger freezer split or a higher energy rating instead. For most households doing a standard weekly shop and wanting reliable, low-maintenance cooling with a bit of everyday convenience built in, this is a sensible, well-rounded choice.
What People Say
110 commentsPlenty of room! Love it!
First of all, if you get this fridge/freezer the thermostat inside is in °C, (it's not like the dials in other ones) so no 2 is 2°C, no 8 is 8°C etc so the lower the number the colder it is.... Reading other reviews, those people obviously didn't read the instructions lol.
It has loads of space! Well designed, bottle shelf is good so things don't roll around (can't put short cans on though, as they fall through the gaps, but they do fit nicely on the top shelf or bottom of the main door, so no issues. The fruit and veg draw is huge, can fit the whole family shop of fresh fruit/veg in the draw, and room to put the chocolate in there too ;-)
Can fit two 4pt milk in the middle door shelf along with 1L fruit juice tetra & the tall squeezey ketchup bottle , even though the water tank fill is in there too, we don't keep our eggs in the fridge, but you do get a removable tray, if your someone that does, or you can take it out if you don't, like us.
We have used the top pull out shelf in the freezer for our bags of ice & ice cream/lollys etc dead easy to access and find what you're looking for. The other frezzer draws are deep, so can hold loads too.
If you are someone who batch cooks and frezzes, it perfect as it's got a fast freeze function for when you put fresh food into freeze (big thumbs up). Also has a holiday mode to save money when you're away.
We had a big double door, fridge freezer and everything transferred over. Granted it wasn't chocker block, but full enough to worry if it would all fit - it did and with a little room to spare too.
Only one small thing at fault, if you don't use the handle to close the door it does show all the Finger marks - so train the family to use the handle or clean the finger marks off if they don't.
Water despencer is handy, you don't need space to keep a jug, handy for the kids to help themselves, especially younger ones who aren't tall enough to reach into the fridge, or to send them to fill your glass up while you are in the garden enjoying the sun ;-) ours gets used most in the middle of the night, if someone wakes up thirsty :)
I would suggest reading the leaflet/instructions so you make the most of the little functions it has.
Fantastic Fridge freezer!
I bought this a while back, a little dubis if it would meet the families needs as we needed a smaller one to fit in our kitchen. I was kept up to date with the delivery time, the drivers were polite, extremely professional when fitting the appliance. The appliance itself is quite tall, it's very quiet everything is cold, i'm delighted that you can pull the draws out of the freezer to accommodate more items. The water feature on the front is great and has an easy to fill compartment inside the draw. - it's so refreshing in this hot weather. The only downside I find is when using the dispenser you can loose water down the front of the appliance as the drip tray is about a cm wide! Also I live in a hard water area and no matter how much filtered water I use the dispenser it still has white water marks which isn't very nice.
The fridge compartment is huge! The fresh food compartment keeps everything fresh for alot longer than the sell by dates!
I'm delighted with it and it's serves its purpose for my family and meets their needs.
Ice and Easy
Very happy with the fridge. It’s very tall with lots of storage space. Temperature gauge is easy to use - fridge space chills items very quickly. Water dispenser is easy to operate. Looks great but my only ick is the glossy black finish. When I unpacked the fridge there were small scratches on the front. This may have been my fault unpacking but the finish is prone to scratches. Smears too - the surface needs regular wiping as it shows up any slight stain. Otherwise it’s a great fridge - easy to unpack, set up and use.
Sleek modern look
Struggled to find a fridge of the right size and look, this one ticked all boxes. I liked the high quality stainless steel effect finish and feels solid and good quality. The only thing I didn't realise is that the top freezer drawer is more of a pull out shelf rather than a drawer. With the water tank in the door it restricts the space in the door compartment but there is still room for bottles. The water tank also means the door compartments aren't really adjustable. Still a very good fridge
Well it has a defect where the water dispenser lea
It is a nice fridge tbh, i like it although it was a little narrower than i thought it looked on the website. Not negative reflection on this product.
Delivery guys refused to take my recycle fridge and told me someone was on their way. 3 weeks later im still waiting.
The new fridge has a defect with the water dispenser leaking water to the floor. Argis have agreed to swap with another one, but the inconvenience is still happening while i wait dor swap to happen in 3 weeks time
It’s a reasonable fridge and looks fine
We tried changing the door to left hinged which was a complete fiddle compared to other fridges we’ve had.
It would not seal once changed .
There was no fuss about changing it , Argos were excellent with their service .
I haven’t bothered trying to change the door again.
With a furniture maker husband. Hanging the door it should have been simple. The fact that one of the feet to the fridge is attached to the hinge doesn’t help.
Fine if you just want a right hinged fridge .
Brilliant Looking BUT
This fridge freezer is a lovely looking unit. The inside of the fridge is brilliant BUT the temperature control is really poor. The lowest setting is nowhere near cold enough and actually let milk go sour. It's a real shame as the layout is well thought out and the veg box is a really useful size
The freezer temperature is perfect so it's a mystery why they haven't got a decent fridge temperature.
Had to return because of the fridge control.
Excellent upgrade
My new fridge freezer (I call him Adam) is strong, sturdy, striking and silent. He is the first appliance I have owned that is taller than me and he has made a notable difference to my quality of life not just because he holds more but because he is frost proof and quietly efficient. Overcome with joy I gave him a hug and I did note he expressed a little cold water from where my belly depressed his water dispenser. Ooopsy, my bad.
Excellent Fridge/Freezer
It's a great size, not only for two people but I reckon it would serve a family of 4 well!
We love the capacity on the water tank, we fill it once every couple days (it's literally all we drink now because it's so cold!).
The fridge capacity is brilliant! It fits soooo much food in it and we still have space to spare!
The freezer capacity is great, the small shelf at the top slides out and both drawers can be removed.
Well worth it
We brought this fridge m/freezer at a great price and it has not let us down ! The space is amazing and that’s what we need as a family of 5. It fits perfectly in our cove in the kitchen and the children are really enjoying the perks of cold water from the dispenser, the added bonus of it being frost free Is wonderful as the produce stays fresh beyond its bbe and without the icicles to tarnish the produce
Black fridge freezer
Unfortunately not a great product. Since the day it arrived, the water dispenser leaked. I contacted Hisense who stated that it needed a rubber stopper (Why was this not provided with product????)
I'm still waiting for this a month later so therefore unable to use this function, a key reason for purchase was to use water dispenser!
Unable to contact to argos regarding this.
Regret buying this product
Lost trust
I bought the fridge freezer a month ago from agos brand new . When I look at the description that exactly what I was looking for ‘ the correct height and full stainless Steel ‘ soon as I receive the delivery and open box it’s different from description ‘it’s short from height and apart from two door is stainless steel and the rest is made of plastic, I was very disappointed.
Right size
I had never heard of Hisense but the fridge freezer was exactly the right size for the space available so I took a chance. The fridge is deeper than my old one and therefore holds more, which is great. The freezer is a bit smaller but, having recently bought a small chest freezer for the garage, it isn't a problem for me. So far, I'm very pleased with my purchase.
Very good quality fridge freezer
Recently purchased this fridge freezer, pros are very smart and sleek design, lots of capacity and quiet operation, only thing I would change is the amount of water that can be held in cooler although I understand this would have a detrimental impact on storage space. Over all very happy with my purchase, very competitive price and exact delivery date and time
Fridge freezer
Great capacity - massive salad draw, love the water tank. It’s set at 4 degrees but I found that when the fridge was completely stuffed with food (as we’re in lockdown my fridge is always stuffed now!) I had to manually turn it down a degree which did the trick. Very quiet you don’t really hear it at all compared to my old one. Really impressed so far.
Looks amazing and great storage
I love my new fridge, it has excellent storage space inside the fridge and freezer section and the design looks great in my new kitchen. Very happy with this item and couldn’t recommend enough.
We’re a family of 3 and this fridge has the prefect amount of space for us, I’d say many be you’d need a bigger space for a family of 5 or above.
Hisense fridge freezer
All in all a great fridge freezer, with quick delivery and a cool price from Argos! Plus points... looks good for the money and very spacious compared with similar priced f/ freezers. Only negative is the water dispenser capacity isn’t massive for a family of 4 ... needs a daily fill which can be a bit fiddly.
Overall very pleased so far.
Bought as a replacement for defective Fridgemaster
It looks smart, nice finish with the sides a slightly different shade.
Front door has a good finish.
The interior provides plenty of storage with egg holders, ice cube trays etc.
The unit is nice and quiet as the unit is in a through lounge dining area and you don’t know it is on.
Worth the money with the backing of a good warranty.
5*
I have had this a month now, we are a family of 3 adults and suits us brilliantly. The crisper drawer in the fridge is massive, comes right out to the door, great use of dead space. The water vessel is very easy to fill up with its large opening. There is an open shelf in the top of the freezer which is a great size and easy to get to.
Hisense 60/40 fridge freezer
We baught this fridge freezer last month for our new home. The fridge compartment feels really big and spacious compared to our old one and the water dispenser is a game changer!! Freezer also has a shelf for bits with x2 very deep drawers. Excellent purchase! Ordering and delivering was quick and easy via Argos!