The Apartment Chronicles
Kasia April 26th, 2008
I’m miffed. And I’m confused.
I’ve decided to spend my tax rebate on a new fridge/freezer. I was going to get a chest freezer, but then I thought more about it, and realized that I could get more bang for my buck (so to speak) by replacing my current fridge. After all, it’s 25 years old. I ran the numbers through the Energy Star site, and by replacing it with a comparably-sized Energy Star model, I could reduce the power costs for my fridge by quite a lot. I think it was close to 75%, but I don’t remember exactly. Anyway, it was enough to make me sit up and take note.
So I started shopping. TBS had very generously printed out some Consumer Reports information on freezers (chest and upright) that I was extrapolating from to get an idea of what brands I might want to avoid or steer towards, and I found a GREAT deal on a Frigidaire top-freezer on Best Buy’s site. But then I realized it was 3.5 cubic feet larger than what I currently have, so bigger than I need, and my kitchen is already chummy quarters for anything more than one person. Seriously, one person and a cat starts to get awkward. So even though this would technically FIT in the space, it would jut out into the already minimal moving-around area of the kitchen, block part of the window…yeah. Just not a good idea.
No problem, I thought; I’ll just start looking for 14 or 15 cubic foot fridges.
There don’t seem to be too many choices out there!
Best Buy has a couple of 14 – 16 cubic footers, neither of which are Energy Star qualifed. IKEA has some 14 footers, for which I haven’t found Energy Star information. I’m sure as I hunt around I’ll find a few more options.
But I find myself wondering: are apartment-sized fridges really THAT much out of demand? I know the American dream is to have a house with a yard and a big stainless-steel fridge with a subzero freezer and so forth, but…
Anyone got any insights? Anyone buy a fridge recently and have any ideas? Has anyone ever owned an Energisk (that’s the IKEA brand) fridge/freezer? (Nina? I know IKEA’s Swedish and you’re Norwegian, but you’ve probably known more Swedes than I have…)
Sorry if I’m being impertinent, but…I did actually buy a fridge recently for my tenants and it was a modest fridge that cost more than $700. On the positive side, it should last ten years or so. Do you plan to keep this new fridge of yours that long? If so, you may want to consider where your life might be in 5 years.
If in 5 years you happen to have a few children and perhaps you aren’t working and money is tight because you just bought a new house, then it might not be affordable to buy a bigger fridge to accomodate the groceries for your ever increasing family. So your kitchen might be tight now, but that “suffering” might be better than not being able to fit 4 gallons of milk in it.
I made a mistake in 1997 when I bought a new car – a Honda Civic, which we still own. Five years later, I was pregnant with my 4th kid and driving a beater mini-van because we couldn’t afford something nicer. We should have gotten the nicer mini-van and had my husband get a beater commuter car!
If you’ve got one within a reasonable distance, try a Sears scratch-n-dent warehouse (my staple in San Diego). All sizes of returned and slightly scratched stuff. We got a huge fridge that had a bb-size dent for 50% off. $600 for a massive $1200 unit. Had to leave it behind for the buyer, sadly.
We had a small guest house out back in CA and got a strange tall but thin one, also 50% off, due to a 6″ scratch on one side….which we did not care about, as it went into a recess in the kitchen.
Oh, and about that – BE SURE TO MEASURE! Now that I have a kitchen that is quadruple the size of the CA one, in a house 3 times the sf, the area for the fridge is small, and I had to go down by quite a lot in size from my SD drem fridge. And no Sears S&D warehouse within 300 miles.
Last and least…handing out overdue awards if you’re game, so c’mon over.
If you intend to keep the fridge for a long time, go for a GE. You should probably go GE anyway since you really don’t want to deal with a broken fridge in July. And they do make Energy Star so you’ll be in luck there.
Interesting points, all…
Michelle – definitely a point to ponder. The only thing is that my current home is a 2-bedroom condo, so if our family grows by more than 1 or 2, we need to be reeeeally thinking about moving, and then – would we take the fridge with us, or would our new house have a fridge? Most people in this area seem to leave their appliances behind, but I guess it would depend on a lot of things. But if the 18.2 footer doesn’t take up THAT much more room, maybe it makes sense to get it. I’m using this 14.7 now and with only a little extra grocery input from the Canuck, and while I could probably fit more in, I’m definitely not suffering from too much space.
Kit – is that the same as their appliance outlets, or is that something different? I’m definitely going to check that out!
Julia – my current one is a GE and I’m not dazzled with it, but it IS 25 years old. We’ll see – I’ll check CR and see what they recommend.
GE just lasts a long time and that’s probably why you have a 25 year old fridge. I don’t know about the new brands, because my mom buys only GE. And I think no matter the brand the ice maker always breaks. If you had the money, I’d say go for all the GE professional stuff. But I’m not sure who really needs that stuff, it’s just cool to have fancy kitchen stuff.
I’m not buying a fridge with an ice maker, because you’re right: they usually break. And they’re more expensive.
The other brands I’m tentatively looking at are Frigidaire, Kenmore, and Whirlpool – they’re all pretty established. I’m not buying a Haier – even if I trusted the name, there’s no sense in sending more of my money to China than absolutely has to go there…
Hey! Only saw this today. I just bought a Fischer Paykel slim fridge, will get the number for you. It was at Lowes and it is great! Would not by Energisk, though I think it may be made by GE?
I did a little searching on GE’s website and came up with this, it’s all their smaller fridges. at least for the top freezer models. Side by side fridges are nice looking, but try fitting all your frozen items in the freezer, it’s hard. http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/Dispatcher
The good news is that a top freezer unit is the least expensive type you can buy, so at least you’re a cheap date, so to speak.
I’ll do a little Consumer Reports research and let you know.
BTW, ask la Stepmere about extended warranties, which always used to be considered a waste of moolah, but I believe the Parental Units have recently changer their minds about that…
TBS
Kasia – yep, I think the politically correct term is “appliance outlet” – definitely worth the trip. There’ll be lots of selection, so be VERY thorough in your inspection – make sure all the interior parts, shelves, and drawers are there, not cracked, there’s NO SMELL (other than new plastic smell) because then you know it’s been “reconditioned.” Bad! I know it sounds tedious, but it’s like a scavenger hunt – have fun!!!