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Refrigerator Buying Guide

Time to get a new refrigerator? We’ve got you covered. Refrigerators are not just some product; they are an investment. They are one of our most important essentials for living. However, if it’s been a while since you’ve went looking for a refrigerator, you may need to be updated on the countless and incredible innovative technology upgrades fridges have went through. It’s also important to know where to start when searching for a new fridge.

Finding the perfect size

Refrigerator clearances

First things first, it’s important to know how much space you have for a refrigerator. Not all refrigerators fit in every kitchen layout, so it’s important to figure out the measurements of height, width, and depth of the space you’re going to use. It’s also important to make sure there is ventilation space and proper clearance for walkways, doorways, or stairs leading to the fridge. To put it in perspective, when fitting a fridge into a space, make sure there is ½” to 1” of space on the top, ½” to 1” of space on each side, and 1” to 2” from behind. You want more space for the rear than the others mentioned because you’ll typically have the electric or water connection on the back. If you do not have the proper ventilation space for your fridge, you could shorten the life expectancy of the fridge, and encounter problems even sooner.

Refrigerator bttom freezer clearance

If you have a kitchen island, it’s a good rule of thumb to make sure you have enough room between the fridge and the kitchen island. If you get a fridge with a bottom freezer, the bottom freezer pulls out like a drawer. Because of this, it’s possible it could hit your island if you don’t have enough room.

Storage

Once you find the fridge that will fit perfectly into your space, you want to look into the capacity of the fridge. With plenty of innovative and flashy features, it could make it easy to overlook the most important factor of the fridge, the food capacity. What’s the point on making the investment if you can’t fit all the food you need? You want to keep an eye out for the right amount of overall space, fresh food storage, freezer storage, and creative storage.

When figuring out the overall storage you need, you must know what overall storage represents first. When talking about overall storage, you’re including the entirety of space within the fridge, which is measured in cubic feet. To get a good idea of how much space you would need, you want to leave 4 to 6 cubic feet of storage for each adult that lives within the home. For example, if you have 3 adults living in the home, getting a refrigerator with 18 cubic feet would be perfect.

Fresh Food storage is used for non-frozen perishables like produce, meats, and drinks. Freezer storage is for extra foods in case you’re buying in bulk or items that are typically meant to keep frozen like, frozen pizzas, ice cream, frozen vegetables, frozen chicken, and more. Creative Storage is essential but does bring convenience for items you’d like to store differently than others. Like pizza slots shelves in the freezer, adjustable gallon door bins, and dispensers for your canned soft drinks.

Choosing the ideal door style

Door styles of refrigerators

When it comes to finding the perfect fridge for your space, the dimensions of it alone doesn’t mean it’ll be the perfect fit for your kitchen layout. Choosing the proper door style also matters when buying a refrigerator.

French Door units have two half-width doors on the refrigerator section, that open similar to cabinet doors. Below the doors, is a bottom-mounted freezer that opens up like a drawer. They’re great for produce, deli, and dairy item storage. However, their bottom freezers aren’t typically as organized as others. With very little shelving and a couple of large bins to hold food, there isn’t much room for organizing in the freezer.

While French Door fridges are what most people favor nowadays, they typically range on the higher side of pricing, even without the special features. The more frills that come with it, the more you can expect the price to soar. So if you have budget restrictions that prevent French Door types from being ideal, we also carry styles like Side by Side, Top Freezer, and Bottom Freezer Refrigerators.

Side-by-side refrigerators have a freezer on the entire left side and the refrigeration section on the entire right side. With more vertical storage space, it’s easier to organize your freezer with more shelving at eye level. You’ll also find Side-by-side refrigerators with special features with more budget-friendly pricing.

Top Freezers are the classic refrigerator and are the most popular in terms of units sold. Ranging from 24 to 33 inches wide, these fridges come with a top-mounted freezer and a full-width door for the fridge. With full-width doors, it’s very important to take measurements before you buy, making sure you have plenty of clearance in your kitchen for it. Out of the popular fridges, these are the most budget-friendly, being able to spend as low as only a few hundred dollars. These fridges don’t carry a lot of the special features that the Side-by-sides and French Doors potentially carry, leaving it with fewer parts to malfunction or wear out.

If you’d like to have the refrigerator at eye level, then a bottom freezer is the way to go. With the freezer mounted on the bottom, the fridge portion is stacked on top of it, with a full-width door to access it. Like the top freezer, it’s very important to take measurements before you buy, making sure you have plenty of clearance in your kitchen for it.

We carry other styles that are less common than the ones on top like, Undercounter Compact, Built-in fridges, and a few others. While compact fridges are perfect for saving space and offer many of the features that a full fridge would offer, you won’t be able to store a great deal of food like a standard-sized fridge would. Built-in or Panel Ready refrigerators are made for the higher-end market. These fridges are built-in to your kitchen and integrated with the design of your cabinetry. We carry panel ready refrigerators from top-notch brands like Thermador, Bosch, Samsung, Fisher & Paykel, and more!

Special Features

Refrigerators have seen tremendous innovation in recent years with the introduction of touch displays, door windows to see the food from the outside, and plenty more. For example, Thermador has models that have a ThermaFresh System, which delivers humidity control and temperature management to your food storage. They have models that even have a Carbon Air Filter that will immensely reduce food odors.

Maytag carries models that have a Wide-N-Fresh™ Deli Drawer, a full-width temperature-controlled drawer for separating food items that may need a different temperature level from the rest of the fridge. They also have models that contain six total door bins with gallon storage and a Slide-Out Freezer Basket.

Most special featured refrigerators come with an external ice maker, allowing you to choose from crushed ice or cubed ice. However, higher-end fridges contain specialty ice makers, like LG’s Craft Ice for example. LG’s Craft Ice maker automatically creates slow-melting, sphere shaped ice, giving a sophisticated look to your beverages. You will find the crystal-clear, sphere shaped ice located in the bottom freezer. On top of that, these types of LG refrigerators also contain an additional ice maker located on the fridge door, that gives you a choice between crushed ice or cubed.

Another example would be Thermador’s Twist Tray Diamond Ice technology creates unique shaped, diamond ice for your drink. The unique shape of the ice also allows for more to fit into your glass, creating the perfect refreshment for you.

With even more innovation on the inside, like Thermador’s SoftClose® Door Assist feature, GE’s Advanced Water Filtration System, and plenty of other magnificent features, you can participate in an ultramodern, easier kitchen experience. We stock hundreds of refrigerators in every type and every color: stainless steel, black stainless, white, black, & more.

Smart Refrigerators

Smart Refrigerator Vignette

In this day and age, practically everything we use can come with smart features now. Refrigerators with smart features would make life incredibly easier for most people. These innovative smart fridges are compatible with apps that will give you access to control features through your smartphone. Some of these apps also provide a product manual, a shopping assistant, and a repair technician all in one. You can control your appliances whether you’re home or on the go. You can also use your phone to remotely view what’s in your fridge, while you grocery shop.

Investing in a Warranty for your refrigerator

We understand that appliances can last up to 14-27 years or more, but we also understand that they are not immune to unexpected malfunctions. Finding someone to come in to fix the issues can be frustrating, will cost money, and could result in needing the whole refrigerator to be replaced, anyway. When we are flustered, nobody has time for trying to learn the ins-and-outs of a major appliance, on the fly.

Here at Electronic Express, we provide Alliance Warranty Solutions. With Alliance Warranty Solutions, service is only a phone call away, and your repair won’t cost you anything. This warranty covers the service call, labor charges, and even replacement parts. The best part is, you’d be covered no matter where you live. With nationwide service, easy replacement and repairs, and no hidden costs or deductibles, what better way to take care of something so essential to life? Alliance Warranty Solutions is the perfect choice for a minimum investment and maximum protection.