Buyers Guide - Refrigerators
Stack up on healthy delicacies with innovatively designed ‘Refrigerators’. Once a nonessential, it has evolved into an indispensable appliance without which a kitchen cannot function. With so many brands different features and various designs, available in the market, it has become an overwhelming affair to zero upon a perfect refrigerator.
Selection of a refrigerator depends on the net capacity or storage volume as it represents the usable space. One can determine the apt capacity by the size of the family. Following infograph will assist in proper decision making:
A refrigerator digests a major portion of your home’s electricity supply. It is always a good call to invest in a refrigerator with high energy efficiency and less carbon footprint. For this purpose, one should be aware about the Energy Star Raring concept.
First and the foremost important step in selecting a refrigerator is to get yourself acquainted with the types available in the market. Generally, the refrigerators are differentiated according to the number of compartments.
| Direct Cooling | Frost-free Cooling | |
| General | Entry-level cooling type where the compartment is cooled through natural convection. These refrigerators have no fans for circulation of cool air which leads to uneven cooling. | Refrigerator compartment is cooled by circulating cool air through fans. This process eliminates formation of ice outside freezer chamber which in turn ensures even cooling. |
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| Advantages |
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| Disadvantages |
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| Cooling | Natural Convection | Cool Air is Circulated Through Fans |
| Food Preservation | Small Duration | Long Duration |
| Defrosting | Manual | Not required |
| Energy Efficiency | High | Low |
Designed employing years of experience and latest technology, the latest refrigerators available in the market are loaded with features to choose from. Some of the features to be considered are as follows:
For smart organisation of solid and liquid items, a refrigerator is provided with adjustable shelves and bins. Tempered glass, wired, and acrylic shelves can be adjusted according to the requirement. Oversized door bins ensure that the shelf space doesn’t get acquired and all the bottles can be stored in vertical position.
Refrigerators have graduated from mere appliances to luxury statement makers. One of the features that really makes life easier is an ice or water dispenser. A dedicated water dispenser has an inbuilt water filter and requires connection to water supply.
Integrated with direct freezer compartment air flow, the chiller is designed to freeze or cool lukewarm beverage or food item within minutes.
To eliminate odour, the refrigerators are incorporated with deodorisers, which removes odour through efficient filters and keeps the circulating air fresh.
With passage of time, the refrigerators are becoming better than best. The brands are concentrating on giving consumer-friendly features to enhance the efficiency of a refrigerator. Built-in stabiliser and invertor technology are going to prolong the life of your fridge.
A gasket works as a sealing component in a refrigerator. It ensures that the cool air doesn’t escape the compartment and prevents growth of fungi.
To maintain the low temperature in a refrigerator, a compressor acts like a heart that pressurizes and circulates a coolant liquid. As an integral part of a refrigerator, the brands offer manufacturer warranty on it.
Lined with a gasket or rubber seal, the refrigerator door ensures that cool air doesn’t escape and external heat doesn’t raise the internal temperature. These doors have bins or racks for storage of bottles, cans, and eggs.
A dedicated chamber for making and storing ice inside a freezer compartment. Owing to this chamber, more freezer space is available for storage of meat and other items. Some of the latest models have removable ice buckets that can either be tilted or totally removed.
Every refrigerator has a temperature control panel that can be adjusted or operated manually. Some of the high-end refrigerator models have touch panel control on the door. These panels are positioned on an easy-access range. You can either lower or raise temperature of a refrigerator using these panels.
Some of the high-end refrigerators are integrated with display screens that reflect temperature of the different compartments. These LED displays also have control panels to adjust the temperature according to the requirement or season.