Detached or built-in?
Many brands sell detached and built-in refrigerators. You can often buy a built-in refrigerator in combination with a kitchen. The refrigerator is then tucked away behind a furniture panel. For example, the refrigerator forms 1 whole with the kitchen.
During the construction of the kitchen, the kitchen furniture and the refrigerator are aligned. As a result, when replacing it is often difficult to find a built-in refrigerator that fits well. You have less choice than when replacing a freestanding refrigerator.
A built-in refrigerator usually has less space inside than a freestanding model and often they are a bit more expensive. But you can often negotiate the price of a built-in refrigerator more easily, especially if you buy it at the same time as other kitchen appliances.
What kind of fridge do you choose?
Cooling-freeze combination
With a cooling-freeze combination, the cooling part is above and the freezing part is below. The freezer has 4 stars. This means that you can freeze fresh products with it.
American refrigerator
These are refrigerators where the cooling and freezing part sit next to each other. These refrigerators are usually not very economical but offer a lot of space. They are expensive and often equipped with all kinds of new gadgets.
Double-door fridge
In a double-door refrigerator, the cooling part is underneath and the freezer is upstairs. The freezer generally has 4 stars. This means that you can freeze fresh products with it.
3- and 4-door refrigerator
These refrigerators have a cooling part with 2 french doors. The freezer is covered and has separate doors. These can be french doors or 2 large drawers.
Table model
A table model refrigerator is less than 100 cm high. Often they are soberly equipped. They’re there with and without a freezer compartment. Then there’s the bar model fridge you see in hotel rooms. You rarely see these in white goods stores.
Refrigerator with freezer, freezer or loose freezer
You can buy a fridge with a freezer or you can choose a separate freezer. Loose freezers are there in the form of a cupboard. So with drawers and/or racks with a door. Or as a box with a valve.
No frost
No frost is a technique that removes moisture from the air so that the freezer does not cause a ripe and ice deposit. A freezer with no frost is therefore no longer defrosted. No frost in the fridge is not recommended, because unpackaged products dry out faster.
Loose freezer
Freezers usually have less content than freezers, so they use less power. But with equal content, a freezer is more economical. The advantages of a freezer are:
- It’s a little easier to place because there’s something on top of it.
- Usually, the content is easier to reach, especially with a model with drawers.
Loose freezer
Do you have a lot of space and large amounts of frozen products? Then opt for a freezer. The advantages of a freezer over a freezer are:
- plenty of freezers;
- more economical per litre of capacity.
Opt for an energy-efficient fridge
Energy label
On the new energy label for refrigerators, the most economical, dark green energy class is now A+++. Nowadays, the sale of refrigerators with energy class A or lager is no longer allowed. Label A+ is therefore the last and least economical class allowed for new devices.
From March 2021, a new energy label will apply. Classes A+ to A+++ and refrigerators are reclassified in classes G to A. Until then, a number of refrigerators have 2 labels, the old and the new.
Economical fridge
With an energy-efficient fridge, you save a lot of energy every year. Bosch, Siemens and Liebherr have many energy-efficient refrigerators. Think in advance where you place the fridge. A refrigerator in an unheated environment consumes more energy.
Buy a fridge, what else are you paying attention to?
- Cooling room
- Are there enough plateaus and adjustment options for the plateaus?
- What about cleaning the fridge? Can all drawers get out without any problems?
- How far do you have to open the door to remove the trays and drawers from the cooling part?
- Do the drawers slide smoothly, they don’t fall out too easily and can you get anywhere?
- Do you want a chill zone or 0-degree zone for keeping meat or fish extra cool?
- Door and control
- Are the door handles pleasant? Even with wet or greasy hands?
- Are there enough racks in the door and are they high enough?
- How easy are the door racks to adjust?
- Is the control on the inside or on the outside? With an exterior display, you can adjust the temperature without having to open the fridge.
- Is the temperature setting clear, easy and accurate to set?
Smart fridges
The latest refrigerator development is that they can be linked to your smartphone or tablet. For example, in the Siemens Home Connectrefrigerators, there is a camera that sends pictures of the contents of your refrigerator to your smartphone. This way you can see in the store if you still have milk, for example. In the Samsung Family Hub, there is a kind of tablet in the door with an internet connection. It also takes and sends photos, shares your shopping list and notes and shows recipes and videos. LG is also working on smart features on its refrigerators.
Pay attention to unheated areas
Some refrigerators can be bad against a hot or cold environment such as a barn or garage. Refrigerators are divided into climate classes. The climate classes indicate the temperature at which the refrigerator should continue to operate properly according to the manufacturer.
thermostats
A cooling freezer combination that you want to put in the barn preferably has 2 thermostats. Then you can set the temperature of the cooling and freezing part separately from each other. In the case of a refrigerator with only one thermostat, the temperature meter is in the cooling part. If it gets as cold in the barn as it does in the fridge, the appliance stops cooling. With 2 thermostats, the thermostat in the freezer ensures that the freezer continues to work in such a case.
What is a good brand fridge?
More than 5200 panellists from the Consumer Association internet panel gave their opinions on their refrigerator. This research shows that they appreciated the Samsung brand the most. Consumers are also talking about LG, Liebherr, Siemens and Bosch. Etna and Pilgrim finish at the bottom of the list.
