You know you can’t just leave apples, milk cartons, and insulin pens lying around the house. Preserving and increasing the life, safety, or edibility of perishable foods and certain pharmaceutical products require proper refrigeration. Replacing an old gadget or buying a new one is an expensive affair. Buying an appliance online is not the same as ordering a new flavour of ice cream or potato chips. A refrigerator is not something you can fit into your purse or pocket and take to the store for repairs, refunds, or replacements. To help you make an informed decision, here are things you should consider or verify before checking out.
Size and Capacity
The size and capacity of your refrigerator will depend on:
- The number of users. How many people are using the refrigerator? A single person should get a bachelor’s fridge with a 50–80 L capacity. The ideal capacity for a family of four (two adults and two children) would be anywhere between 100–250 L. A massive but sparse fridge will lead to high electricity bills. You might also end up buying groceries you don’t need to fill it up.
Conversely, an undersized, jam-packed fridge in a full house will look intimidating. Depositing and extracting things will be inconvenient. Spoilage and odour transfer will also become significant problems.
- Setting. Are you buying the refrigerator for domestic use or a business? Commercial refrigerators, used at restaurants, bakeries, or meat packaging facilities, require special features like fans for air distribution and significantly larger components than their domestic counterparts. Home refrigerators come in more standard shapes and sizes, whereas commercial fridges can be as large as shipping containers or as small as cardboard boxes. Household fridges usually do not require their owners to possess special knowledge or skills.
- The layout of your house. Understanding the dimensions of your fridge is crucial, especially when purchasing your appliance online. Check the height and width of the desired home appliance and use a measuring tape to compare it with an existing product in your home. Alternatively, you can measure the floor-to-ceiling or floor-to-cabinet height in your kitchen or dining room. When your fridge arrives, you will not have to agitatedly displace other gadgets because you miscalculated the required space.
Features
As cooling technology advances in leaps and bounds, you can expect some powerful features from refrigerators. For example:
- Efficient lighting. Fridge lighting illuminates the inside of your appliance, enabling you to survey and locate what you need instead of squinting and groping in the dark. Buying a fridge with efficient lighting reduces heat production and power consumption.
- Toughened glass and detachable shelves. The only thing worse than a disorganised wardrobe might be a disorganised fridge. Shelves help the user compartmentalise foods based on shelf life, size, shape, etc. Toughened glass shelves are ideal because they are sturdy and easy to clean.
- Dispensers. Fridges with external dispensers for ice and water increase internal storage space. These fridges have an inbuilt pipe and valve system for cooling and freezing. With dispensers, you can quickly and easily top up your whiskey or lemonade with crushed ice.
- Temperature control. Some fridges come with temperature control knobs, and others have intelligent thermostats that regulate the internal temperature based on the fridge’s contents. Maintaining the right temperature is essential to avoid freezing and spoiling food or wasting energy.
Final Words
A fridge is an indispensable home appliance. Hopefully, this article will help you choose the right appliance online for yourself, your loved ones, your food, and your home.
