Choosing the best refrigerator for you

Before you leave to go shopping for a fridge you need to measure the space where you intend fitting the refrigerator.Once you start shopping for one make sure that the size is ok to fit into your kitchen or the space where you intend keeping the fridge.

Next check out the shelving.Is it the wire racks or solid shelves.I prefer solid shelves as they are easier to clean.PLUS when you mess on one of the solid ones it stays on that shelf and does not drip all the way down to the bottom of the fridge,never mind if it drips on other foodstuffs on below shelves you will be cleaning from now till Sunday.

Also consider plastic shelves or glass shelves.I prefer the glass ones as you can see immediately if they are dirty and they are much easier to clean and they look better PLUS you can see everything in your fridge at one glance as opposed to solid non see through shelves where you physically have to move up and down to find stuff.

Another point to consider is the height of the handle.Too low means your toddler is going to be inside the fridge at the first opportunity.Also check whether the handles are easier to install child safety gadgets on to prevent small kids from accessing.

Depending on how much time you have on your hands for defrosting try and get a self defrost fridge.But as I sais in an earlier post that does not guarantee that you wont have to manually defrost but you will need to defrost less often than a fridge which does not self defrost.

Also if you have small children try and get a refrigerator fitted with an alarm that sounds when the door has been open too long.Apart from this helping in energy consumption where your fridge needs more energy to maintain its temperature it will also alert you to the fact that little hands are in the fridge and most probably getting up to mischief.

It is also very important to ensure that the outside of the fridge itself does not have many grooves which are difficult to clean and which will collect dirt over time and then just look plain ugly.I know you can probably use a toothe brush to clean out the grooves but the problem is the scratches you can make while doing this.So the best is to really try and avoid buying a fridge which will require a lof of groove cleaning.No matter how great and arty it looks when you buy it it is likely not to remain that way for very long and just end up being a headache.

Other things to consider are where the egg holder is situated.Make sure it is in an enclosed space where it cannot be bumped easily.You have to break a few eggs on the floor to realise the smell that stays there for ever and a day, never mind the wastage.

Also make sure that the instructions on temperature control are easy to use and manipulate.If you live in an area or country with a big temperature range between the seasons then you would need to regulate your fridge temperature accordingly.Also make sure this temperature regulator is fairly out of the way,easy for you to access but more difficult for children to fiddle with.

Enquire about the ease with which you can access spare parts for your fridge.I had a beautiful fridge that spent years in complete darkness because we could never find a globe to put in it for the light.If possible I would suggest asking for some spare globes just in case they decide to discontinue production.Also enquire about technical support and the guarantee period.

Concerning the guarantee period please make sure that technicians would come to your home to fix up whatever is wrong.You do not want to be without a fridge while they take yours away and then take forever to fix it up.The best thing is to find out if your fridge would be replaced should something go wrong with your one.And also how long it would take to replace.I have a car radio which is under guarantee which broke and I was told it would have to be shipped overseas and I could only expect it back after two months.To avoid this get everything in writing so you are completely covered if anything goes wrong.

And last but not least make sure that the legs are adjustable and preferably wheels.This makes it easy to move around should you wish to clean behind the fridge which you do have to as the temperature and darkness behind a fridge attracts many insects and others.Having adjustable legs ensure that should you move you would be able to adjust according to the new floor surface.Again the adjustable legs are things which you should try and get a few spares to keep just in case.