Fridges & Freezers - Buyers Guide

Fridges

One of the newest tech advancements in fridge design is the inclusion of Wi-Fi capability. This allows you to use a connected app to check what you currently have in your fridge via live feed on your phone. This is useful for those moments when you’re returning from holiday and you pop into the supermarket as you depart the airport: maybe you can’t remember what’s in your fridge? Wi-Fi capability allows you to see via the connected phone app exactly what you have and whether it’s still fresh/usable.

At the peak of the tech curve, you’ll find fridges such as the Samsung Family Hub 671L which has an interactive fridge door touch screen that operates similarly to a tablet. The touch screen allows you to use apps such as Spotify, supermarket apps and a recipe app that gives suggestions based on the contents of your fridge and allows you to search amongst 180,000+ recipes*. It also features-voice activated controls that allow you to add items to your shopping list, choose music to play, set timers or browse the net, all by voice command.

LG fridges have the door-in-door feature that allows you to look through the exterior of the door and see what you have inside. This means that you don’t have to open the door and release all the perfectly cooled air temperature just to see what’s there.

A range of our fridges have sensors (Activesmart Foodcare, Clever Energy) that adjust the temperature to adapt to your fridge usage behaviour.

You can choose between plumbed and non-plumbed water dispensers. Non-plumbed is very handy for people who are renters and not homeowners: pour filtered water into the fridge’s three litre water tank occasionally and avoid paying for multiple plumbing installations when you move from one rental to another.

There are various external fridge ‘finishes’ that customers can choose from. Black stainless is an extremely popular option. Bosch has taken this to another level by bringing out a fridge where you can add clip-on panels that attach to the door, or doors. This allows you to change the colour scheme of your kitchen and then easily change the fridge door panels to match.

Our fridges have a wide variety of other highly useful features for you to consider, see below for more details.

*Compatible with phones with Android 4.0 and higher or iOS 7.0 and higher. Requires internet and download of the SmartThings app. Data usage fees may apply.

^Family Hub TM requires an internet connection. Apps and services are subject to change without notice. Data usage fees may apply.

Configurations

There are a variety of fridge door designs and internal design configurations to consider and choose from. It’s important to choose the right configuration to suit your family’s needs and fit the style of your kitchen:

• French doors: these have two long doors that open from the middle outwards and a freezer in a third compartment below that has a hinge just above floor level with the handle opposite side. French doors fridges usually have wide shelves and larger than average bins in the doors allowing for large food items to be stored there. It is also very easy to see all the items in a French doors fridge. French doors fridges are widely regarded as being stylish and easy on the eye with many being made of stainless steel.
• Side-by-side: these feature a large compartment on one side and a same size large freezer compartment placed parallel on the opposite side.
• Top mount: this is the traditional design with the modest sized top freezer compartment sitting above a significantly larger refrigerator compartment.
• Bottom mount: very similar to the top mount but with the reverse arrangement - a large refrigerator section sitting above a small freezer.
• Chest freezer: chest freezers are a freezer with larger storage capacity than what you will find in a fridge. They also allow for less air circulation which means a lower likelihood of freezer burn. On average, they often have around 20% more storage space than an upright freezer. Our chest freezers range from 143 litres to 719 litres.
• Vertical fridge / Vertical freezer: a vertical freezer or fridge offers you exceptional storage capacity with multiple drawers for easy storage and better organisation of produce types.
• Bar fridge: bar fridges are the light and compact drinks focused solution for those who need to store a large number of beverages. There are plenty of options: 46 litres, 112 litres and 126 litres. There is also a 161 can single zone beverage centre bar fridge.
• Integrated fridge: designed to be built into kitchen cabinetry. This means an almost seamless, sleek kitchen aesthetic with your fridge concealed at first glance.