Fridge Freezer Buyer's Guide

For the larger family or anyone who doesn’t want to spend time on multiple trips to the supermarket each week, a fridge freezer is a must. These hybrids for food storage are excellent at keeping you fully stocked with all of your favourite foods and will allow them to be kept fresh and ready to eat as soon as you are. What’s more is that their dual complexity make them easily incorporated into any kitchen layout, even if you are in a pinch for extra space.

The leading manufactures of fridge freezers are LG, Hotpoint, Beko, Bosch, Samsung, and Smeg; with any of these you will be assured of top quality and a long life span from your appliance. When you go with a reliable brand you will be saving a bundle long term without hefty repair costs or premature replacements. Because there are an array of different styles and features to compare between models, when you are out shopping here are a few key points to keep in mind.

Your Kitchen’s Design

Being that your fridge freezer is going to ultimately wind up in your kitchen, just like any other piece of home furniture or equipment you want to plan accordingly. Take into account how much available space you have as well as the colour scheme and décor. For a more cohesive look you could go with a built-in fridge freezer that in adaptable with a door that is in the same tones or materials as your other appliances and cupboards. Yet this can be a tricky task at times, and for this reason free standing models are generally the preferred choice. These will come in a vast range of colours with everything from white and silver, to black, cream, red, and even lime green for the more bold. These can also be outfitted with reversible doors and in the form of a stacked fridge portion on the top and the freezer below.

Getting the Dimensions Right

The most common widths and depths of any fridge freezer are going to be 50 centimetres and 65 centimetres respectively. While these are typically the same across the models, it is the height that will vary and to choose the right one for you consider just how much available storage space you will need to meet the demands of your food habits. This not only includes if you shop more in bulk and thus need ample room to meet those requirements but also the kind of food you buy; if you tend to purchase a lot of frozen foods then you don’t want to go with a model that has a limited amount of space allotted to the freezer portion.

Smaller fridge freezers come with roughly 3.8 cubic feet of storage space and then run all the way up to 15.7 cubic feet for the larger ones. As a reference point, a typical family will suffice fine with about 9 to 11 cubic feet of available space; conversely if you are a single individual you don’t need so much room. For a fridge freezer to run most energy efficient, you don’t want to have excessive space for no other reason than to have it. Bigger isn’t always better; this will only up your costs in utilities as well as have a greater impact on the environment at a time when it is becoming more and more necessary to limit our energy consumption.

The ratio of fridge to freezer space will come into play when you are deciding between one that is say a 70/30 beak-up or a 50/50. Obviously if it is more important that you have plenty of room to house your ice creams, frozen meats or vegetables, and ice trays you will want to go with the latter. You can also look to cut back your energy consumption by looking for specific fridge freezers that separate how they keep the two distinct compartments at the correct temperature. And thanks to the Energy Savings Trust you can easily see which make will be easiest on the environment by opting for the highest rating of say an A++.

What Features to Look For

Outside of the basic functions of keeping your food cool, a fridge freezer can come with a host of varying features and additions. There is the simple choice between side by side components or those that are stacked, and a stacked freezer is going to be able to be a bit more energy efficient than one that is upright; but here are some other bells and whistles you can outfit yourself with.

Frost Free for your freezer: cut out that whole business of defrosting, as this will work to keep the temperature inside your freezer uniform at all times and avoid excess frost from forming.
Auto Defrost for your fridge: this feature will keep the temperature of the fridge portion at the correct levels to minimize frost in this portion.
Ice and Water Dispensers: choose to cut your reliance on your sink taps and instead get icy water right from your fridge. You can choose for one that works off of your plumbing pipes and others that you manually refill inside.
Salad Crisper: for those that are eating healthy and have plenty of fruits and vegetables you may want a fridge freezer with a couple extra drawers specifically designed with prolonging the shelf life of these sensitive items in mind.

Terms and Lingo

Shopping for your perfect fridge freezer will put you into contact with a variety of terms and names that may sound like a foreign language. Here is an explanation of the most commonly used ones.

Reversible door: the doors can be made to open either from the right hand side or the left hand side to fit best into the layout of your kitchen.

Twin Thermostat: a function allowing you to adjust the freezer and fridge inside temperatures separately.

Fast Freeze: gives you the ability to keep food at its freshest by freezing it quickly and thus keeping both taste and nutrients intact.

Bacteria guard: can be coated on both the interior doors and walls to negate bacteria that may be inclined to grow on foods housed in the compartments.