If you’ve got a home, you’re going to need a refrigerator, and today there are more models than ever before to choose from. However, while choice can be a good thing in some cases (e.g., when choosing ice cream to stock your freezer), it can make it a challenge to figure out the best fridge setup for your kitchen, lifestyle, and family. While you can simply choose by your budget or the amount of space you have in your kitchen, it’s often better to spend a bit more time considering things like how you cook, who’ll use your fridge, and how it’ll fit into the rest of your kitchen. Today is the first article of a series where we’ll take a look at the main types of fridges on the market to help you be a more informed shopper when you’re ready to bring one home. To start things off, we’ll take a look at all fridges.
What are the advantages of the all (full) refrigerator?
The full fridge is the most basic type of refrigerator, and as a result is typically the least expensive. As its name suggests, it’s all fridge; there’s no freezer attached, and it essentially resembles an upright freezer. This is the oldest style of fridge, and if you’re into retro-style fridges, you’ll recognize the look.
Based on a classic design, you won’t find nearly as many features on full fridges as you do on more modern designs, but this comes with its advantages. It’s easier to organize foods since you aren’t competing for space with a built-in fridge. You also reach your most frequently used items more easily as long as you store them in the top half of the fridge, and you’ll also get the largest fridge capacity per cubic foot with this design. As a bonus for those interested in planned obsolescence, or at least in avoiding it, whether for financial, ethical, or environmental reasons, full fridges tend to last longer and offer far more reliability than hybrid fridge-freezer designs, as they only need to do one thing well (keep foods cool) instead of two (keep foods cool in one compartment and frozen in another). This is yet another reason why your grandparents’ fridges lasted for decades while many appliances today seem to wear out within a few years; many times in life, simpler is better.
Cons of a full refrigerator (because everything has its drawbacks)
However, on the other hand, you don’t get a freezer, which means you’ll need to buy a separate one, and you’ll want it located close to the kitchen so you’re not making a trip to the basement or garage each time you need something frozen. Full fridges make good spare or extra fridges, which is why you’ll frequently see them in college dorms. It’s important to note that you’ll often have to manually defrost them, and that you’re typically going to find fridges on the smaller size with these types. However, if you can live without a freezer or have a separate model at the ready, a full fridge design can be a refreshingly simple way to manage your food. The Danby DAR110A2LDB is a great example of a large (11 cubic feet) contemporary all fridge with classic leanings. It even includes an automatic defrost system and a reversible door hinge.
Is an all fridge the right choice for your family (and what about chest freezers)?
In the end, you can make just about any arrangement work for your home. However, some designs will naturally be easier to integrate than others. If you have many mouths to feed in your home, you’ll probably want a freezer so you can keep food available for longer periods of time. That said, you can buy a chest freezer if you love the all fridge design and don’t want your refrigerated goods to share space with a freezer. Depending on your dietary habits, you might even forgo the freezer entirely and simply use the fridge in concert with a pantry to store dried and canned foods, which will last just as long as frozen ones without the need for electricity (or the risk of spoilage during a power outage).
Ultimately, the best setup will depend on how you eat and how many people you feed. Apartment dwellers, single individuals, or couples can often use all fridges without compromising much since they’re less likely to have small children or teenagers demanding a neverending supply of food. However, even if you live in an apartment or have lots of kids and guests, you can still use an all fridge without significant sacrifices as long as you’re willing to adapt your cooking styles and make use of any dry storage space available. If you do decide to invest in a chest freezer, the Danby DCF032A2WDB-3 is a good model to consider; it holds more than 7 cubic feet of food while maintaining a compact profile and an affordable price tag.
You can buy the Danby DAR110A2LDB 11 cubic feet classic all refrigerator in red, white, black, and stainless steel here on Amazon. You can buy the Danby DCF032A2WDB-3 7.2 cubic feet chest freezer here on Amazon.
Canadians can buy the Danby DAR110A2LDB all fridge here on Amazon. You can buy the Danby Premiere chest freezer with a 7.2 cubic foot capacity here on Amazon.
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