Seven favourite fridge features

October 21st, 2014

Appliance Talk Fridges & Freezers

Fridges are among our favourite appliances here at Appliances Online. After all, they keep our food fresh and our drinks cold!

We love fridges almost as much as Tom Cruise does…

Here’s a selection of our favourite special features to look for when choosing a new fridge – they can prove quite handy!

Door in door storage

When is a door not a door? When it’s ajar! *guffaws heartily*

When it comes to fridges though, there are plenty of door configurations to choose from, including top and bottom mounts, side by sides, and French door designs.

But one of our favourite fridge concepts is the door in door fridge, which lets you quickly and simply access drinks and other frequently-used items without having to completely open the fridge door.

730L LG 3 Door Fridge GRD730SL

Sometimes known as a refreshment zone or refreshment bar, this little hatchway is certainly handy when entertaining, as it lets your guests enjoy a few drinks without having to rummage around past that cake you’ve stored on the back shelves.

Plus, it minimises the amount of cool air lost with each opening, which helps keep your fridge running that little bit more efficiently, so your food stays that little bit fresher.

Ice and water dispenser

In a similar vein to the door in door design, ice and water dispensers allow you to enjoy fresh filtered water and frosty ice cubes in an instant, saving you the trouble of rummaging through the freezer or keeping bottles of refrigerated water handy.

Our man Colin shows off the ice and water dispenser from an older model of the 600L Electrolux Side by Side Fridge ESE6077SG

These fridges can sometimes be tricky to install, as they often require connection to your kitchen’s plumbing and water supply. However, there are some designs that instead use a refillable tank to supply their dispensers – while this does require a bit of manual labour on your part to refill every so often, these fridges can be added to your kitchen with few problems.

Twist and serve ice in the HRF224FW Haier 224 Litre Fridge

Another handy alternative to the ice dispenser is the built-in twist ice maker. Just fill the trays with water, and once they’re frozen give them an effortless twist to enjoy a full tray of ice cubes. with one or more of these in your freezer, it won’t be long before you accumulate a small stockpile of ice cubes in its catchment bin, which is perfect for parties.

Antibacterial health system

A refrigerator keeps your food fresh by maintaining a temperature that’s too cool for most bacteria to comfortably reproduce. However, refrigeration alone does not completely halt germ activity, which is why several fridge manufacturers integrate additional antibacterial measures into their fridge designs.

Don’t let this happen you you!

Whether it’s an antibacterial coating on its plastic surfaces, or an ionising filter treating its air flow, these features can help to keep your fridge cleaner and your food fresher for longer, which is ideal if you like to cook large meals and make the leftovers last.

Chiller drawer with adjustable settings

While your fridge does a bang-up job maintaining a stable temperature that’s suitable for the majority of foodstuffs, there are always exceptions to the rule.  For example, fresh fish should be kept in close to freezing conditions, while wine, cheese and party snacks often only require a mild chilling.

680L Samsung 4 Door Fridge SRF680CDLS

Some fridges include a dedicated deli or chiller drawer with adjustable settings for storing these favourite foods in their ideal conditions. Whether you’re keeping the catch of the day as fresh as when it came out of the water, or keeping the cheese platter ready to serve until your guests arrive, this drawer can be adjusted to suit.

Deodoriser

Even the freshest foods have distinctive scents, which can be pleasant or pungent. Regardless of their origin, these food smells can quickly fill and overwhelm enclosed spaces such as the inside of a fridge.

If you’d prefer fruits and vegetables that DON’T smell like stinky cheeses, you may wish to invest in a fridge with a deodoriser.

510L Electrolux 3 Door Fridge EHE5167SB with fresh sense deodoriser

As the cool air circulates around your fridge, it passes through a fine filter that traps the odours, allowing you to enjoy a fresh-smelling fridge every time you open the door.

Holiday mode

Even though your fridge won’t be opening while you’re away on holiday, it’ll keep running its compressor as if you are, using far more energy than necessary. You could just unplug it for the duration of your trip, but what about that food you’d been keeping in storage for when you come back?

Rather than waasting energy or wasting food, there is a third option – Holiday Mode.

This special operating mode minimises the use of your fridge’s compressor – a closed and properly sealed fridge is quite well-insulated, so it won’t need to work very hard to maintain a stable temperature.

600L Westinghouse Side By Side Fridge WSE6070SF with Holiday Mode

This allows your food to remain nicely preserved and ready to eat when you get back, without requiring excessive energy consumption.

R600A refrigerant

Back in the day, fridges ran on chloroflurocarbons, or CFCs, which were rather bad for the ozone layer. They were replaced with hydroflurocarbons (HFCs), which turned out to be contributors to climate change.

If you’d prefer to minimise your fridge’s impact on the environment, make sure that you choose a model that runs on isobutane, or R600A non-synthetic refrigerant, which has a significantly lower global warming potential and a shorter life in the atmosphere than HFCs.

610L Kelvinator Side By Side Fridge KSM6100WF

For additional peace of mind, purchasing your new fridge in metro areas and selected regional centres with Appliances Online includes free removal of your old fridge to be recycled.

Find more fridges

There are plenty of refrigerators, large, small and everything in-between, available now at Appliance Online.

Explore our range today, and if you need any further information regarding their features, consult our team of appliance legends on 1300 000 500 – we’re available 24/7.