"Sound emissions in dB(A) re 1 pW" is Miele's wording, and it means sound power, the EU energy label figure.
Liebherr's spec sheets name a standard instead, EN 60704-3, the European procedure for declaring noise emission, though its product pages print a bare "33 dB". Beko's "35 dBA" and Midea's wall of 43s name no reference at all. All of these makers declare sound power on their EU labels. The bare US numbers are probably the same quantity, but no page states it, and this guide does not assert it.
Sound power is not the loudness at your ear. How a fridge's declared power relates to what you hear is the subject of our sound power vs sound pressure explainer.
And nobody names a distance, an ambient temperature or an operating mode. A refrigerator's compressor cycles, its defrost heater hisses, its ice maker crashes. Not one figure says which of those it covers.
Cross-brand comparisons need that caveat, since dB ratings from different refrigerator makers are not like for like. Our decibel chart shows where a figure like Beko's 35 dBA sits beside a whisper and a humming fridge.
The ones built on European platforms. LG, Samsung, GE Profile, Whirlpool, KitchenAid and Frigidaire print none on their US pages, and for LG and Samsung that holds on the official spec sheet PDFs too: LG's counter depth MAX french door and Samsung's Bespoke 4-Door Flex carry no figure on page or sheet.
Even the publishing brands are patchy. Beko US prints the noise row only on its two 36 inch french door models, and its 30 inch models omit it. Liebherr US shows figures on the product pages of some 24 inch models and none of its 30 and 36 inch ones, although every one of their spec sheets carries a figure. The row appears where a European platform ships with its EU paperwork habits intact and disappears where a US-market platform takes over, which fits the silence at the big US names, whose pages and sheets were checked model by model.
For a built-in unit under a counter rather than a full-size fridge, our guide to the quietest undercounter refrigerators covers the 24 and 15 inch models from Liebherr and Summit, each ranked against figures of the same kind.
Midea prints 43 on almost everything
Three of the five Midea models in this guide carry it, a standard depth side by side, a bottom freezer and a top freezer, and so do most of the full size Midea models checked. Uniformity like that across unrelated platforms reads like a declaration ceiling, a number everything is certified under, rather than separate measurements.
Its two exceptions are therefore the most telling numbers Midea prints. The counter depth side by side says "40 dBA". The garage ready top freezer says "42 dB". Midea's labelling is also the sloppiest here, mixing dB and dBA, and every label is quoted verbatim in our table.
The French door refrigerator page lists more French door models with a printed figure.
Bosch claims 40 dBa for every fridge
Nine of its 33 current US refrigerators carry a printed noise level, the lowest 39 dBA on the Benchmark built-ins. A Bosch buying guide, meanwhile, says its refrigerators run at 40 dBa, as quiet as its dishwashers, and no US refrigerator brand markets quiet harder.
The spec sheets only half back that up. In September, no US Bosch fridge sheet carried a number. By October 22, 2026 the newer sheets did, labelled "Maximum sound level", while the mainline 800 Series French doors, the $4,049 two-compressor counter depth model among them, still print nothing. Every model with and without a figure is charted on our Bosch refrigerator decibels page.
Which brands offer quiet fridges for open-plan kitchens?
Liebherr, Miele, Midea and Beko each make one with a published figure. In a kitchen open to the living room the fridge is often the last machine running at night, and three things count beside the figure: whether it sits flush with or behind the cabinets, whether its ice maker and door alarm can be silenced, and how much air the condenser needs.
Liebherr declares both of its open-plan candidates under EN 60704-3. The SC5781 lists "Sound rating dB(A)" 33 on its US spec sheet and can be fitted semi built-in, with 31 square inches of airflow in and out. Its EasyTwist Ice tray is filled by hand, so nothing fills or drops ice overnight.
The fully integrated IC5110IM, not ranked here, lists "Sound rating dB(A)" 34 on the same basis and hides behind your own cabinet panels. It holds 9.0 cubic feet and needs a dedicated cabinet box with a 1 1/2 inch ventilation shaft, and in recesses over 55 1/8 inches tall its installation guide calls for leveling rails: "The leveling rails minimize the sound level." The user guide lets you switch the IceMaker off and set the door alarm to Off. It also warns that with the IceMaker or SuperCool active "the operating noise of the appliance may be temporarily louder".
Miele's KFN 4776 ED gives the widest control over signals. Its en-US instructions set the door alarm delay from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, turn alarms down or off and silence the keypad tone. At 26 5/8 inches deep, though, it stands proud of 24 inch cabinets.
Building in does not buy quiet on Miele's sheets. The panel-ready 36 inch KFNF 9959 iDE declares "Sound emissions in dB(A) re 1 pW 44", eight above the KFN 4776 ED on the same sound power basis.
For American capacity at counter depth, Midea's MRS25I7BST prints "Noise Level (dBA) 40 dBA" at 28.9 inches deep. Its manual asks for over 100 mm (about 4 inches) at both sides and the top, which works against a flush fit, and its ice maker ships switched on. Our top pick, Beko's BFFD3624ZSS, is counter depth too, but Beko's site refused our requests for its manual.
Run fast-chill functions by day, since Liebherr and Miele both say they make the fridge louder for a while.
Sabbath mode is no night setting. The Liebherr and Miele manuals say it switches off the safety alarms along with the lights.
Where can you buy the quietest refrigerators?
Appliance dealers and big box stores. Full size refrigerators are essentially absent from Amazon as new items, so this guide exists because the figures exist, not because there is anything to link to.
Beko, Midea, Hisense and Liebherr publish no US prices at all; Miele and Bosch do. Any price here is the maker's, dated to the day we checked its site.
