The new arrival at neo’s
I have a small kitchen, and the space for the fridge is very small indeed. Until today I had a conventional freezer-above refrigerator. But it was configured in such a way that the bulk of the food was low. The food was hard to see and harder still to remove, particularly the fruits and vegetables in the two little bins at the very bottom.
I got tired of bending low and almost needing to stick my head in that fridge to see any shelf except the top one, and tired of all the food that rotted in the back of the shelves because I forgot it was there. And so I decided to spring for a new one with the freezer below, but it had to fit that narrow space.
I discovered that there are quite a few really expensive European ones that would do the trick, but I didn’t want to spend that kind of money. No side-by-side could fit, so it had to be a freezer-below type. But I’m pleased to say that the one I finally ordered arrived today, and it’s not tremendously expensive and is quite handsome. Here ’tis (and I got it for a significantly better price than this):
One of the odd but great things about this fridge is that, although it has fewer cubic feet of room in the refrigerator part than my old one did (11.1 for the new, 11.6 for the old), it’s designed in a way that is so much more efficient that I find that there’s far more room now for my food.
This is probably more information than you want about my buying habits (and I should have taken a “before” photo of my old fridge jammed to the gills), but here’s the inside of my new one. Plenty of room to spare, whereas this same amount of food had overwhelmed the old one:
I think the door is key. A lot of the stuff that goes in here had to be in the main part of my old fridge:
Those of you with jumungous refrigerators may find my elation about this new and rather tiny one quite odd. But I think I’ll enjoy it a lot.
Simple pleasures.
I put vials of essential oil in the mini fridge instead. Instead of drinks.
Lemon oil is good for detoxifying that poison Nestle produces, although I still wouldn’t recommend Nestle. It’s got to be serious if it produces an semi allergic reaction.
Humm, it would seem that the bulk of your “food” is the food that my food eats.
The rodent on the middle shelf seems camera shy.
Seriously, I could use something like that. The things I use most will only fit on the bottom of mine and I also wind up throwing away many ‘lost’ items.
From Haier’s company website:
The world is getting better every day.
MnJack,
Haha! What is that hiding back there?
we just picked up one of the most efficient and cheap models. the 18 cu foot one sold at home depot..
its VERY large and uses about 50 dollars in electricity
in fact out first adjustment with more to come was a biling that went wacko trying to hit 300 and then having to give that and more back… funny..
How’d you get the label on the ketchup bottle upside down?
Congratulations! I don’t think your regular commenters are fully understanding your joy. I do. Though I didn’t have the small footprint requirement, I chose a bottom freezer counter-depth model when I remodeled my kitchen a few years ago. The counter-depth only helped with not “losing” food in far back.
I also “lost” food in the back of the side by side freezer in my old fridge. That doesn’t happen now.
I sold that house a few months ago and the buyer wanting the refrigerator to stay almost made me reject their otherwise very good offer. I told myself I could make do with the humongous ugly side by side in the house I was buying. Nah… that lasted one day. I bought the same refrigerator again.
My new house is great because it’s 600 miles closer to my grandchildren, and the exterior maintenance is minimal. But it’s not as “nice” as my old one was. I’m mentally preparing myself for some remodeling again. The bathrooms are not friendly for older folks.
I dunno, seems like a good size for shelving and storage for me! Congrats.
These intimate photos of your refrigerator have triggered me with the feelings that somehow I have been sexually assaulted. 😉
But seriously, your appliance happiness is a good thing; and do I see a container of kefir on the door shelves? We make kefir and drink it everyday.
Do you have any real food in there? Just kidding!
Hey, fellow Sodastreamer!
I appreciate that the veg bins are at more of a height but also that the bins are wider. Hate cramming stuff into the little bins at floor level!
Stu:
I eat the real food and leave the fake.
Actually, see that bag to the left of the eggs? It’s got raw steak and raw chicken in it. Real enough for ya 🙂 ?
AMartel:
Those veggie/fruit drawers are really nice. I am so tired of stuffing celery into bins too small for it!
That’s a smart person’s fridge, Neo. And the fridge of someone who enjoys cooking and knows how.
The food you stock seems varied and healthy and tasty. I love olives and always have them around.
The bottle of white for quaffing is a very civilised touch.
I only drink red wine so I keep my own bottle-in-progress out on a bench and just add an ice cube to each glass – for its chilling effect.
Much like mine but lacking the bulk packet of Mars Bars that live there.
(I know, I know – don’t judge me!)
Cicero used to say that all an educated man needed in life to live well was a library and a garden. If he lived today, I like to think he would add a well stocked fridge.
Well done on your purchase.
Paul in Boston,
You’re making the same observation I did when I first sighted that bottle of Heinz tomato sauce on the supermarket shelf.
The label is on the right way – its just that the bottle has an unusual design where it is built so that it can also stand upright on its unusually broad, flat (white,) top at the end of the short stubby neck.
That’s the way it is displayed on the shelves at my local.
Most people over here stand it up on its white top so the sauce under gravity is always ready to go.
Neo just stands hers the other way around.
I have always thought it a strangely designed bottle. Counter-intuitive, I know – but it works.
Stephen Ippolito:
Thanks for the compliment.
But a confession—the white wine isn’t for quaffing. It’s for cooking.
See this.
Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon? But of course. And Stonewall Kitchen, and Trader Joe’s, and French’s, and at least two other kinds. Six open jars of mustard! Such extravagance!
But it is interesting to look at appliances nowadays, and think of how they have changed in response to consumer demand and technological development.
Yankee:
The funny thing is that if you were to look at the inside of my fridge (which you just did) you’d think I used mustard all the time. All those jars of all those different kinds! The truth is that I probably use mustard about 3 times a year. I just like to have mustard choices, I guess.
I’m happy for you, Neo. I see you like olives. I’ve been a victim of the lost-food syndrome, too. One of the most recent occasions of that was in fact a little container of olives.
One thing I have found very useful is the fridge-freezer bins (clear acrylic, of various widths and heights). I can organize by type of item (pickles, jellies, leftovers) and pull out the bin I want rather like an “open top” drawer. They are especially useful in the freezer for keeping like-items together.
I agree that door bins are much more useful than deep shelves.
At least the dryer didn’t get the lost food, they are the evil appliances.
Yes, plenty of brands of mustard there but pretty much all the same kind: – Dijon.
I think Neo may have outed herself as both a sandwich artiste and a disciple of that noted gourmand, Cosmo Kramer.
Because, as all good gourmands know: “you can’t eat a sandwich without dijon”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIC_qMtl5cY
*making note of the new fridge, for when the current side-by-side goes dark* Very nice. We had a standard Whirlpool freezer on top model for 20 years, and had the same problem, with stuff getting lost at the back of the shelves. Still have a little of the same problem with the freezer section – but the ice-water and ice dispenser on the door more than made up for it.
But my kitchen is also relatively small, so something like this model may be the eventual replacement.
We discovered the freezer-on-the-bottom configuration a few years ago and it really is, for us, the far superior model. Fits with our normal usage of the appliance and therefore more functional.
I feel the same excitement for you that the town felt in Fiddler on the Roof upon the arrival for Mottel of the new sewing machine.
Mazel Tov!
Soda streamers unite!
Tried to convince my wife to buy this configuration when our last fridge died. Maybe she’ll agree next time as we get older.
They sell sheets of that foam used in the produce department. Which is supposed to allow air to circulate undereath. I find this works well in the produce bins.
I also noticed the sodastream bottles. If that is your largest shelf where do you put large juice jugs and soft drink bottles?
ben david:
Well, I don’t have large juice jugs and soft drink bottles (see this).
But if I did, I think that same shelf is just big enough for them to fit. That almond milk bottle is pretty fat on the bottom, for example.
I have had a bottom freezer Samsung here in Australia for a couple of years and I don’t think you will disappointed. I would say I use the fridge section 95% of the time and really appreciate that I can see all the shelves clearly. Contrary to what some believe, a bottom fridge design does not become a op fridge if you move it to the northern hemisphere. 😉