Refrigerator Guide
Most, if not all, homes today have a refrigerator. Despite the fact that a lot of people own it, however, not a lot of folks actually know what it is needed for. Sure, people know that it’s for making eyes and keeping food cool, but beyond its function, the purpose of the refrigerator is often taken for granted. It is this dismissal of what people see as commonplace that costs so many people money when they purchase poor quality refrigerators. This buying guide is meant to help you find the right refrigerator that will meet all your needs.
However, in order to meet your needs, you have to learn just what those needs are. You first need to define the most basic purpose of a refrigerator and from there, build your way to what other things you might be looking for. Once you have identified these needs and found choices as to what can fill those needs, you will be able to move on to looking at different refrigerator types and thus find the proper appliance for you. So where should we begin?
Identify Your Needs and Wants
Each person’s choice in purchasing is motivated by either want or need. In order to find the perfect refrigerator for you, your wants and needs have to be itemized. There are only so many of those specific wants and needs that a refrigerator can fulfill. By itemizing what you should look for in a refrigerator and learning which qualities you should prioritize, then you will be able to purchase an appliance that at least satisfies your most basic needs.
Here are some of the things you might require of a refrigerator:
a) Keeps food fresh
This is the primary reason for purchasing a refrigerator. Prolonging the shelf life of food should be the top priority of any person looking to purchase a refrigerator. The main why refrigerators were invented is so that food would not spoil quickly. What you need to realize is that decomposition and rot is a natural process that needs heat as a catalyst. By cooling food, a refrigerator slows down the different reactions that would spoil food. This means a refrigerator preserves food, or at least makes sure that it retains its freshness a bit longer than it naturally would.
In purchasing a refrigerator, you should always take note of how well it performs in this most basic task. Remember that keeping food fresh is the whole purpose that the refrigerator centers on. If a refrigerator can’t perform this simple task properly, then you should not buy it.
b) Freezer Storage
of course, the other half of the refrigerator is to store frozen goods or even freeze certain things. The freezer today is an integral part of every refrigerator. Although there are certain refrigerator models that do not include a freezer, this feature has pretty much become a staple for every refrigerator today. In fact, the freezer is one of the main features that distinguish different refrigerator types from each other. However, let’s save that discussion for later.
What you need is a reliable freezer that will allow you to store frozen foods and keep them at a temperature low enough that their quality won’t be affected. Another thing you should look for is a freezer that’s not hard to clean. Make sure that the freezer of the refrigerator you buy will not end up accumulating too much ice. A lot of people might think that a lot of accumulated ice is a good thing, but it actually is not. This is because ice is actually a pretty good insulator. That is, instead of allowing food to cool down a freezer packed with eyes would just trap the heat inside and keep it circulating. This renders the freezer useless and would just be equal to you wasting money on electricity.
c) Creative compartments
Whether you need special compartments on the doors to store butter or if you just want somewhere to place your eggs and keep them fresh, special storage compartments are also integral features of refrigerators. After all, you are going to want to segregate the different food items that you put inside your refrigerator, right? The different compartments allow you to properly organize your food, which is the third important function of a refrigerator.
Think of your refrigerator as a storage facility: in order for a storage facility to be utilized properly, it should be organized. Although organization is, for the most part, the responsibility of the person, the whole task is made much easier and much simpler with the right compartment design. By making sure that a proper amount of space is set aside, covered and even labeled, refrigerator manufacturers make it easier for a person to organize food. Basically, it helps you make better use of your refrigerator.
d) Sturdy and adaptable shelving
When purchasing a refrigerator, you should also make sure that you are able to utilize every bit of space. The shelves of the refrigerator you purchase should not be flimsy and should be able to support the weight of whatever food you store easily. However, despite being sturdy, the shelves should also be easily adaptable. You should be able to configure the different compartments in whatever way you want in order for you to make room for any type of food.
Remember when purchasing a refrigerator to ask about the material used in the shelves. Make sure that the shelves are light and are therefore easy to maneuver. You should also check out the design and locking mechanism just to make sure that the shelves stay in place when they should and that you can easily unlock them when needed.
2 Most Important Factors When Buying A Fridge
Although the characteristics above are what you need in a refrigerator, there are two crucial factors that you need to take a look at in order to find a really good refrigerator. These two factors actually mactter the most when it comes to locating a refrigerator that would best satisfy your needs:
- CapacityJust how big does your refrigerator have to be? The capacity of the refrigerator should be one f the first things you should look at. You need to find the refrigerator that’s really big enough for you to use. So how exactly do you determine just how big a refrigerator you are supposed to get? Well, there are different factors that can affect this decision. First of all, you should consider the amount of space you have in your home.This would quickly tell you whether a specific refrigerator model will suit your needs. Remember that a refrigerator is one of the appliances that take up the most floor space in a kitchen. It is also one of the most visible appliances that you can have. This means you need to carefully select its size so as not to reduce the size of your kitchen too much or so that it won’t become too much of an eye magnet.The capacity of your refrigerator, of course, should always be based on just how much food you intend to store in it.
Think about how many people would be using that refrigerator. If, for example, you live alone, you won’t need a refrigerator that’s as big as the one needed by a family of 5. You should also take into consideration the possibility that you will need a bigger refrigerator some day. Since a refrigerator is expensive and is built to last for a long time, you can’t really change this appliance according to your whim, so you had better make sure that you get the right size.
- Energy EfficiencyThe refrigerator is probably the only appliance in any house that needs to be turned on 24/7. Because of this, it represents a significant percentage of your electric bill. In this day and age, it is extremely important to keep an eye on your expenses. By making sure that your refrigerator is energy efficient, you’ll be able to save a lot of money.Energy efficiency is all about making sure that you pay just for the electricity you consume. A lot of refrigerators today are inefficient, eating up more electricity than they actually use for removing heat. By getting an energy-efficient refrigerator, you’ll not just lower your electric bill; you will also lower the cost to the planet. After all, current technology still makes use of methods that damage the earth in order to produce electricity.
So how exactly do you tell if a specific model is energy efficient? Well, you should actually check the labels and stickers that can usually be found on the door of a brand new refrigerator. These often contain information about a specific model’s energy efficiency ratio.
A higher ratio means that a refrigerator is more energy efficient. This means you will be able to save a lot more money on electricity.
Other Fridge Features To Consider
When you have taken the above features into consideration, you’ll have found a good refrigerator. However, these basic features are present in a lot of good refrigerators. Sometimes, it’s the small factors that may help you find the perfect refrigerator for you. Here are some examples of the extras:
- Deodorizer
You should know that food odors get trapped inside the refrigerator. What you don’t want is for these different smells to mix with each other and touch different foods. You see, 70% of what you perceive as “taste” actually comes from the smell of a food. If you trap the different smells of food and let them mix inside the refrigerator, you end up with weird-tasting food. Some people counter this effect by placing activated charcoal or a box of baking soda inside the refrigerator.
However, this can take up space that you might need for something else. Nowadays, it would be smart for you to purchase a refrigerator with a built-in deodorizer. Models designed with a deodorizer tend to distribute the deodorizing materials in key positions so as not to reduce space and so that the deodorizing is done evenly.
- Ice Dispenser
Every refrigerator today has an ice tray and a space set aside for making ice. However, not every refrigerator has an ice dispenser. An ice dispenser on your refrigerator door can certainly make getting ice more convenient for you. The question, of course, is whether you are willing to spend additional money for this convenience.
- Display
A really cool feature of next generation refrigerators is an LCD screen which displays all sorts of pertinent information. Forget about magnets and post-its, a screen on your refrigerator can display anything from important dates to your favorite picture. It can also tell you the temperature inside the refrigerator and what’s inside. There are even a few refrigerators which connect to the internet to help you order a new carton of milk when needed.
Different Types of Refrigerators
A lot of people might actually put this characteristic first, since it is one of the most prominent features of any refrigerator. A refrigerator’s configuration affects its ease-of-use and should therefore be selected carefully. Selecting the right configuration would also be equal to finding the perfect look for your kitchen. Here are some options to choose from:
(i) Single-door – probably the simplest configuration, a single-door design is also often the cheapest. However, it is also consumes the most electricity, since you’ll have to open a single door and let heat inside the whole refrigerator whether you are opening the fridge or the freezer.
(ii) Top Freezer – although a lot of single-door refrigerators today are designed with freezers on top, this specific category is talking about a two-door configuration. With the freezer on top, a refrigerator can be more energy efficient. It also makes it easier if you tend to place processed food in the freezer, since these are often lightweight. However, a freezer-on-top configuration is inadvisable if you buy heavy frozen items.
(iii) Bottom Freezer – if you have a lot of heavy frozen food like meat, gallons of ice cream or other items, you’ll want the freezer to be on bottom. This way, you’ll get a more solid support. This will ultimately help you store more frozen items longer.
(iv) Side-by-side – this two door configuration puts the freezer beside the fridge area. This is ideal for people who need really big freezer space. This configuration will allow you to store even more frozen items and is quite perfect for use in a business.
Conclusion
This buying guide should serve to help you identify what you really should be looking for in a refrigerator. Instead of being attracted by the different trappings of a refrigerator, you should firs think about what sort of product would really satisfy you. Other than the factors mentioned above, you should also carefully consider your budget.
Make sure that in purchasing a refrigerator, you get the best value out of every cent you invest. Doing this is as simple as clearly defining your goal and then using that definition to guide you. If you use your resources wisely, the perfect refrigerator could be within your grasp.