Are you thinking of buying a fridge?
In the month of November, the appliance fairy godmother rains favourable deals to us all. Companies like Jumia run Black Friday all month long which makes November the most favourable month to replace or buy new items in your house. If you’d like to buy a fridge then don’t just go for how it looks but refrigerators do so much more than just keeping our food fresh, and it’s imperative to understand all these features before making a decision. Here are all the aspects you should consider before purchasing a new refrigerator.
1. Space
The amount of space available in your house is also a big consideration while choosing your fridge. You can always read the measurements of the refrigerator of your choice and see whether it fits in your available space or it can be an outdoor refrigerator. While doing this, don’t forget to consider that the fridge doors will also need some space in order to be opened freely, and you’ll need at least an inch of space at the top and back to allow heat to escape easily.
Sometimes, bringing the fridge inside your house can also be a hassle due to the shortage of space in a staircase or elevator. This is a major aspect to consider before buying the model of your choice.
2.Defrosting: Direct cool vs Frost free
All fridges require cool air circulation inside their compartments. When it comes to direct cool options, this circulation is handled through natural convection, without any external help. A major disadvantage of this method is uneven distribution, which leads to the forming of ice in the refrigerator.
You hence need to manually defrost the fridge regularly. A few advantages of this technology are the fact they these refrigerators are economical and consume less electricity.
The name frost-free itself tells us that there’s no frost or ice to deal with. These refrigerators circulate the cool air evenly with the help of electric fans. This method does not allow ice to form inside the compartments and hence does not subject your food to freezer burn. But they are more expensive than direct cool refrigerators and consume more electricity due to their usage of fans.
3. Energy ratings
EER (Energy Efficiency Rating) or star ratings are given to appliances to signify how energy efficient they are. The higher the star rating, the more energy-efficient they will be. If you wish to go deeper into this aspect, you should look for the total units of electricity (kWh) that your model will use in a year.
4. Single door
Water and ice dispensers are found mostly on the side by side models. They allow you to grab cold water or ice cubes without opening the fridge. You can simply press your glass against an inbuilt lever to dispense cold water or ice.
5. Double door
These feature two doors, one on top of the other. While the upper compartment is reserved for the freezer, the lower one is meant for regular use. This way, you get more freezer space to use. A double door fridge usually has a capacity of 250 to 500 litres. Such refrigerators are also built to use less energy, and they are always frosted free in nature. Double door models are energy-efficient, and they ship with toughened glass shelves too.
6. Triple door
Triple door refrigerators are taller and slimmer than other models and are great for homes with less floor space. They come in capacities of 250 to 350 litres.
The door at the top is for the freezer, the middle one is for regular use and the lower one is a crisper – aka vegetable drawer. Triple door models come with frost-free technology and toughened glass shelves.
7. Mini
Mini refrigerators are tiny in size and just offer basic cooling for keeping your food fresh. They can be up to 100 litres in capacity. They might have a very small freezer integrated into them, but this is not always the case. They are always direct cool in nature.
8. Cool pack
A cool pack is a feature that’s capable of keeping the freezer cool for up to 12 hours without any power supply. Such refrigerators are very handy in areas where there are constant power cuts.
9. Adjustable shelving
Brought a large cake for a birthday party and have no space to keep it in the fridge? Adjustable shelves come to the rescue at such times, as you can remove a few to allow bigger items to be stored.
10. Deodoriser
