How to: Choose the Perfect Fridge
With many fridges available in the market, youโll be spoilt for choice when embarking on your fridge buying journey. Check out crucial fridge considerations to know and our top tips below to find the right fridge for your needs.
Fridge Types
Everyday storage of essential groceries, optimising cooling to reduce waste or chilling drinks and wine before entertaining, whatever your refrigeration needs are like, thereโs a fridge available to satisfy.
Perfect for compact kitchens and smaller households of singles, couples or empty-nesters, the classic designed Top Mount Fridge features a top freezer with a bottom refrigeration compartment.ย
The reverse of Top Mount Fridges, a Bottom Mount Fridge has a top refrigerator section and a bottom freezer. Small to mid-sized kitchens of singles, coupled households and young families will benefit from a Bottom Mount Fridge.
With a distinctive centre spilt design, Side by Side Fridges provide easy access to refrigeration on one side and freezing on the other. Many feature a water and ice dispenser, and some might have a window panel to enable instant viewing of the fridgeโs contents, such as LGโs InstaView. Side by Side Fridges are suitable for mid-sized to large kitchens, such as those of growing families.ย
Known for their three-door design with spacious, wide shelves, French Door Fridges have a top refrigerator accessed by two doors and a bottom freezer drawer. French Door Fridges often include a water and ice dispenser and theyโre are great for families and entertainers with mid to large sized kitchens.
Quad Door Fridge
Quad Door Fridges are indicated by their even four door design; with a top refrigerator and bottom freezer section. A fitting choice for families and entertainers in mid to large sized kitchens, Quad Door Fridges are sometimes also called โFrench Door Fridgesโ. Many brands that manufacture French Door Fridges also have Quad Door Fridges, these include LG, Fisher & Paykel, Westinghouse, Electrolux and Samsung.
Integrated Fridge
As its name suggests, Integrated Fridges are seamlessly integrated into the cabinetry of your kitchen, with an exterior panel that matches your kitchenโs cupboards and pantry. Integrated Fridges provide an aesthetic that canโt be achieved with any other fridge type as it blends in with the rest of your kitchen. Integrated Fridges are great for all household sizes and lifestyles, and are available through brands including Miele, Smeg, Fisher & Paykel and Liebherr.
With a one door design, there are various types of Single Door Fridges, designed for a range of uses; these include Bar Fridges and Vertical Fridges and Freezers (Freestanding). Find out more about these types of Single Door Fridges below.
Freestanding Fridge
Freestanding Fridges typically only offer cooling in the unit, making them appropriate for kitchens that only require cooling. Freestanding Fridges can be paired with a compatible Freestanding Freezer from the same brand to form a pigeon pair; with one side a refrigerator and the other a freezer โ meaning more storage capability in your kitchen. Pigeon pairs are great for large households, regular cooks and home entertainers.ย ย
Ideal for entertainers, bar fridges can be used as extra storage of drinks and snacks. Multi-purpose by design, Bar Fridges are compact and theyโre perfect for use in a range of settings like the kitchen, butlerโs pantry, home theatre, home office and garage. Wines are best cellared in a Wine Cabinet as they require a higher temperature compared to drinks like beer and soft drinks.
Wine Cabinet
Storing and serving wine at their best means temperatures and cellaring conditions must be right. Featuring key technologies like humidity control and anti-vibration operation, Wine Cabinets cellar wine and champagne with optimal conditions. Specially built anti-UV glass doors also help to protect wine from the effects of the sun. Wine Cabinets are best suited to wine collectors and entertainers.
Outdoor/Alfresco Fridge
As indoor and outdoor entertaining areas merge, alfresco cooking and entertaining becomes increasingly popular. Outdoor/Alfresco Fridges are the perfect solution for cooling beverages when entertaining outside. Aside from drinks, Outdoor Fridges are ideal for storing snacks and food that requires BBQ cooking. Compared to conventional fridges, Outdoor Fridges differ as they feature highly insulated and heatproof glass doors, water resistant ratings and have been tested for use in high temperature conditions to ensure performance and durability.
Things to Consider When Buying a Fridge
You might already know what type of fridge will best suit your needs, lifestyle and space. When purchasing a fridge, there are many other factors to consider, such as cooling technologies and storage capabilities, so itโs key to know the fridgeโs vital features and functions. Our fridge feature checklist below will assist:
Fridge Cooling Technologies
Prepare and cook with fresh ingredients, enjoy greater preservation of your food and reduce waste with a range of effective cooling technologies. Almost all fridges will feature frost-free cooling to prevent the need for manual defrosting.
Cooling technologies vary across different brands for example, Samsung and LG call their cooling โMulti Air Flowโ to describe air that flows evenly throughout the fridge whilst Fisher & Paykel call their technology ActiveSmartโข technology. LG uses the term Surround Cooling to describe air that cools from the front to the back and along the doors.
Fridge Capacity
A fridgeโs size and usable capacity is expressed in litres (L). Your household size and lifestyle will typically determine the size of your fridge. For example, a couple or a person living alone might not need as much space as a large household like a family or regular entertainer. Consider how you use your fridge and combine it with our fridge size guide below to find your ideal fridge capacity:
1 - 2 people: 200 โ 400L
3 - 4 people: 400 โ 600L
5+ people: 600L+
Convertible Cooling Compartments
Enjoy flexibility of storage with adjustable fridge and freezer compartments that can be converted to meet your ever-changing needs. Adjustable cooling zones within the fridge lets you switch the compartmentโs conditions from cooling to chilling or freezing and back again, providing more space to suit your needs whether youโre chilling deli meats or instantly cooling drinks before entertaining.ย ย
Adjustable technology is known by various names across brands, for instance Electrolux call it โTasteSealFlex Compartmentโ and โFlexFresh Fully Convertible Entertainerโs Drawerโ. Westinghouse calls theirs โFlexSpace Fully Convertible Drawerโ and Fisher & Paykelโs is โVariable Temperature Zoneโ.