Popular Products > Appliances > Fridges

The busy pace of modern life has made the refrigerator a mandatory appliance in households and offices. People may only shop once a week or once a fortnight for essential food items because of lack of time, so the fridge becomes an indispensable appliance to store all perishables like vegetables, fruit, dairy and animal products, and beverages.

Early refrigerators were an improved version of an icebox with a cooling unit attached. The compressor, condenser and motor were installed either in the cellar or beside the unit. The first self-contained refrigerator was manufactured in 1925. Early refrigerators used toxic chemicals such as methyl chloride, sulfur dioxide and ammonia as refrigerants. Kelvinator delivered the first commercially successful fridge using a phase change cooling pump. This was closely followed by General Electric’s “monitor-top” fridge in 1927, which used sulfur dioxide as a refrigerant. HFC, an environment friendly refrigerant, is used in most refrigerators today.

There are different types of refrigerators available on the market varying in size, quality, style and price. Some of them come combined with the freezer, while some are stand-alone models. A few popular models include the built under fridge, or the bar fridge, which is installed under a counter top to cool beverages; the integrated refrigerator built inside the kitchen to resemble a normal cupboard; the French door model with a swinging double door refrigerator; the side by side unit which has the freezer and fridge unit standing on the left and right side; the wide by side unit in which the refrigerator compartment is wider at the eye level and narrows at the bottom, allowing for storage of larger items; the top mount and bottom mount freezer refrigerators; and finally the single door refrigerator that has the freezer and the refrigerator unit inside one door.

Besides the actual cost of the appliance, energy consumption is an important factor because it determines the long term usage cost. Models with poor insulation use a significant amount of power but fail to give sufficient cooling, while there are others that use less energy and yet provide significant cooling. Study the energy guide provided with the appliance for a comparative rating of the amount of energy required to run the appliance in relation to its efficiency.

You should also check if the shelves are adjustable or if the fridge comes with provision for an extra shelf. Newer refrigerators offer additional features such as an LCD indicator to suggest the optimum temperature for various foods, a filter status indicator, an indoor ice caddie, a cooling zone in the door shelves, a power failure warning, and most also offer a frost free operation.