You could say that the question I am answering is not “What should I look for in a refrigerator?” but “What will I look for in a refrigerator ten years from now?”, and that’s not something we can answer. But it’s not true that in ten years we won’t care about any of the same things we care about now. If someone made a fridge that weighed half as much, cost half as much, was twice as big inside or used half the energy, those would be improvements worth caring about even if they came from companies no one has heard of yet.
So what should you look for in a refrigerator? As usual, the answer depends on what you’re doing. If you’re trying to get rich by making refrigerators, you need to know enough about refrigerators to realize how valuable an innovation like magnetic cooling would be, because otherwise, you’ll miss the opportunity. But if all you want is a fridge that keeps your food cold, and if you aren’t unusually concerned about price or size or weight or energy use, then it’s hard to go wrong. Just get whatever is most convenient: the biggest one the store has in stock; whichever brand your friends recommend; whichever one is cheapest at your local supermarket.
If you’re deciding which refrigerator to buy, how many options do you need? Do you need to know the exact width and height of the fridge, in millimeters? The number of cubic feet of storage space? The cost per cubic foot? The efficiency rating? The noise level? The color? If a fridge has an icemaker, whether the ice cubes square or round?
The answer depends on how much the difference matters to you. If you have an apartment with no room for a fridge but a closet that’s just the right size, you probably want to be able to choose between refrigerators by their exact dimensions. But if you’re buying a fridge for a large kitchen in a house, there are dozens of options that will fit. You may still care about dimensions, but not as much. And so on down the list: if it matters enough to you what shape your ice cubes are, then that’s something you’ll want in your choice of architecture. Otherwise, it’s just distracting clutter.
The refrigerator is one of the most important appliances for your kitchen. It keeps all your ingredients fresh, gives you ice for drinks, and is the perfect spot to keep leftovers. If you’re in the market for a new refrigerator, there are a few things you should consider before making a purchase.
Size
Your first consideration when buying a refrigerator should be how much space you have to put it in. A full-size fridge will take up a lot of room, but it will also be able to store more food and drinks. A smaller fridge can be a great option if you don’t have much room, but don’t expect it to hold as much food and drinks. If you’re tight on space, consider buying an apartment-size fridge that is smaller than standard-size refrigerators.
Price
The price of the refrigerator will vary based on its capacity and size. You should decide on a budget before shopping and stick with it. You may want to splurge on a larger size or higher capacity model, but if that’s out of your budget, stick with what you can afford. There are plenty of affordable fridges that do not lack in quality or style.
Pick a Style
There are three basic styles of refrigerators, and which one you want will depend on your lifestyle and, more importantly, your taste. The first style is the traditional side-by-side model with two doors on each side and a water/ice dispenser in the door.
The second style is the French-door bottom freezer model, which has two doors on top (opened by pushing down on their handles) and a pull-out freezer drawer at the bottom.
The third style is the four-door model, which has two doors on top and two pull-out drawers below. This model makes the best use of space, but the bottom drawers have to be quite large to make this worth it since smaller drawers are much harder to open than larger ones!
Decode the EnergyGuide Label:
The EnergyGuide label on the appliance is a great place to start. It will tell you how much energy the appliance uses per year and compare it with other similar appliances.
Note that refrigerators are sold in two sizes: full size, which is about 30 cubic feet, and compact, which is about 12 cubic feet. For example, if you see that a full-size refrigerator uses 567 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, that doesn’t tell you what a smaller model of the same brand uses. You must read very carefully to make sure you’re comparing models of similar size.
Check out the Energy Star rating:
The federal government’s Energy Star program rates refrigerators by how efficient they are relative to others of similar size. You can search for specific models on its website or look for the distinctive label on the appliance itself.
Required Capacity:
The first thing that you need to consider is your requirement for the refrigerator. If you are a single person, then a small capacity refrigerator will be sufficient for you. However, if you live in a joint family, then it is better to go for a medium or large-capacity refrigerator.
Defrosting: Direct Cool Vs Frost Free:
When buying a refrigerator, there are two kinds of defrosting techniques that are used by the companies – Direct Cool and Frost Free. In direct cool, the fridge’s freezer section has ice build-up on its walls and it needs to be manually defrosted now and then while in frost-free fridges, the cooling coils are spread out all over the body so that ice doesn’t get formed at all.