7 refrigerators

Refrigerator door alarm vs. high temperature alarm

Actually there are two alarm systems used with refrigerators. The first one signals (beeps) when the door is open longer than set period of time (usually 1-5 minutes). The second one alerts you when the temperature in the fridge exceeds certain limit (10 – 12 Celsius degrees).

Do I really need fridge door/temperature alarm?

No, you don´t . That is something for blood banks, biomedical labs, institutional kitchens or (sorry) morgues.
Standard household absolutely doesn´t need alarm powered refrigerator.

Refrigerator alarm verdict:

Instead of spending money on alarm equipped fridge, teach your family members always to check if the refrigerator door is really closed after they used it.

Some refrigerators come with built-in safety latches (so called child-lock, children-lock safety systems). Such safety latch should keep toddlers or smaller children from opening the refrigerator (and doing you know what…).

So much for the promotional materials. Now little reality…

Go to the kitchen and try to open your fridge. How much strength you must have used to accomplish it? Do you think your toddler will be able to use the same strength? Come on…

Unless your refrigerator gaskets are totally worn, your children will not be able to open the door without adult person´s help. As soon as they have enough power to do it (let´s say 3-4 years old), they are also intelligent enough to outsmart any child lock safety system.

Child-lock refrigerator verdict:

Don´t waste your money. Show your children what is in the fridge to feed their curiosity. Explain them why they should not open the fridge alone and what happens with the food if they leave the fridge door open.

Children are very smart and even smaller ones will understand if you tell them that their favourite cake will turn bitter or sour if the refrigerator is open for too long.

The built-in icemakers provide you with plenty of ice without stressful dealing with the plastic or rubber ice cube trays. Just push the button and you get couple of nice looking cubes right in your glass of whisky. And as their name indicates, the cold water dispensers provide cold water.

Ice/water dispenser advantages

Ice or cold water dispensers have two main advantages. The first one is that it is sooooo comfortable just to take the glass and fill it with ice at the button. The second one is that the in-door icemakers actually reduce your energy outpayments.

Ice/water dispenser disadvantages

Their main disadvantage is their price. Fridges with ice dispenser are usually more expensive than their no-dispenser twins.

Ice or water dispenser verdict:

Refrigerators with built-in icemaker are OK. If your family likes ice cubes in their drinks then I would definitely recommend buying a fridge with the dispenser. To reduce the number of door openings (shut fridge = low energy bills) you should prefer refrigerators with an in-door ice dispenser. The dispenser of your choice should also feature a built-in filtration system to assure the water used for ice cubes will stay fresh.

The top-freezers (also called the top-mount refrigerators) appeared earlier than their bottom-freezer brothers. Why the manufacturers decided to produce fridges with freezer on top? My opinion is… due to the evolution.

First there were independent refrigerator and freezer units without any successful attempts to combine them into one appliance.
Little later a compact refrigerator was born with micro-freezer compartment in the upper part of the refrigerator.
When the developers started to think of a (real) combination appliance, they only followed the existing trends and put the smaller and lightweight freezer on top. Was it wise? Who knows? Top-mount refrigerators have their advocates as well as foes and both groups have their own arguments why to use or not to use this type of fridges.

Top-freezer advantages

- The top position of the freezer provides easier access to frozen foodstuff. You don´t have to go down on your knees when looking for your favourite vanilla ice;

- Compared to side-by-side models, the top-freezer type offers more or less the same space but as both refrigerator and freezer compartments are full-width, the top-freezer are better for accommodating oversized items (e.g. giant pizzas) which sometimes are too wide to be put in side-by-side fridges;

Top-freezer disadvantages

- On the other hand, the bottom position of the refrigerator compartment is far from being ergonomic. You will have to go down on your knees if you want anything not frozen (especially the fruits and vegetables from the bottom crisper). Think about it as the statistics say that people open their refrigerators 10 times as often as their freezers;

- The second disadvantage of the top-mounts may be considered speculative and it definitely depends on more than just the position of the freezer. Nevertheless, the hot air always tends to rise and in any room there is certain difference between the temperature under the ceiling and the one right above the floor. Even though we are talking about just couple of centimeters here, my opinion is that - in, say, 10 years span - a top-mount refrigerator will be less energy efficient than the same-sized and feature-rich bottom-freezer.

Top-mount refrigerator brands, series and models

At the time of writing this article (June 2007), Amazon.com reported following best selling top-mount refrigerators:

1.) Summit FF1320W, 10.4 cu. ft. Freestanding Counter-Depth Top Mount Refrigerator with Interior Light, Adjustable Glass Shelves and Adjustable Thermostat: White;

2.) Avanti RA757PST, 7.5 cu. ft. Top Freezer Refrigerator with 3 Glass Shelves, Full Range Temperature Control & Integrated Door Handle Avanti RA757PST 7.5 cu. ft. Top Freezer Refrigerator with 3 Glass Shelves, Full Range Temperature Control & Integrated Door Handle;

3.) Maytag MTF2193ARB, 21 Cu. Ft. Top Freezer Refrigerator with Cool Flow Ventilation and Icemaker: Black.

As the best selling product list change every hour I would rather suggest you check your current freezer-on-top refrigerator bestseller chart here.

How much energy the refrigerators really consume?

Refrigerators and freezers (or their combinations) do not consume too much energy. Their standard consumption can be as low as 100W (watts) which is more or less the same as the consumption of a “stronger” bulb.

The problem of the fridges and freezers is that they run nonstop 24/7/365 which means that they take some 300-600 kWh (kilowatthours) from the mains.

Comparing the refrigerators based on their power consumption

The power consumption of a kitchen appliance is stated in kWh/year (kWh/annum) or - particularly by refrigerators - often in kWh/day or kWh/24 hours.

Each refrigerator must have an Energy label so that the buyer can compare the fridges also by their power consumption.

Anyway, the label only says how much power the refrigerator consumes without any relation to the inner space the frisge offers.

It is obvious that the smaller fridge consumes less energy than the giant one but to get an objective view when comparing the refrigerators you must divide their power consumption by the effective inner volume of the fridge (usually in litres).

Refrigerator power consumption comparison example

The Whirlpool S21 fridge consumes 802 kWh/year, while its little brother, the Whirlpool 6wbm12m only eats 251 kWh/annum. Is the 6wbm12m more effective in terms of the energy consumption? You know what comes… Sure, it isn´t.

If we calculate the consumption/volume ratio, the Whirlpool S21 fridge whos inner volume is 604 litres gets 802/604=1,33 and the Whirlpool 6wbsm whos effective volume is 118 gets 251/118=2.12.

The Whirlpool S21 is 60% more energy effective than the Whirlpool 6wbm12m.