When it comes to buying a new refrigerator, or refrigerator-freezer combination, there are a number of factors that need to be considered before you make your purchase. Factors that will, influence the best buy for you are in three broad categories:
At Myshopping.com.au you can compare a great range of appliances, and assess them according to their specifications, brands, prices and vendors.
The environment
Most kitchens have a refrigerator, but not all are located in the kitchen. Before you make a decision about the appliance, you need to measure the space it will occupy. Make sure you measure the available width, height and depth, taking into account the space available for opening the refrigerator doors. Remember that fridges generate heat on the outside in order to cool the inside the cabinet, therefore there needs to be adequate space around the unit to allow the heat to dissipate. If it is to be enclosed within a cavity, be sure there is ventilation available through the top of the cavity. You can choose a refrigerator to be modelled to reflect and enhance the d?cor of the kitchen into which it is being installed.
There are a number of basic design differences that you can consider. Each different design has an impact on how it fits into your environment as well as other aspects of the unit.
Single compartment refrigerators are units with only fresh food space and no freezer compartment. They are generally automatic defrost units.
Single door refrigerators have a small freezer compartment built into the main cabinet. These are usually manual defrost and are often referred to as small bar refrigerators.
Cyclic defrost refrigerator/freezers are generally two door units in which the freezer unit is manually defrosted, but the fresh food compartment defrosts automatically using either natural warming of the cabinet during the 'off cycle', or a small electric heater on the refrigerator evaporator.
Frost-free refrigerators are generally two door models that have automatic defrost in both the freezer and fresh food compartments. Well-designed frost-free refrigerators can have a lower energy use than cyclic defrost models of the same size
Vertical/Upright freezers are front-opening door freezers allowing contents to be accessed and loaded quickly, thus minimising the time that the door is open.
Chest freezers have a top opening lid and are generally more economical than vertical freezers but less convenient to use, and are manual defrost.
Within the two-door category, units are available with top freezer compartments, bottom freezer compartments or as side-by-side units. Generally speaking, top of bottom door freezers are more energy efficient than side-by-side units, which are also limited in shelf-width space. Side-by-side fridges however, do offer some benefits in kitchens with limited space because the doors are not as wide as doors on top or bottom door freezer units. You can search Myshopping.com.au to compare the prices and performance specifications of these different model combinations.
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