The coolest fridge-freezers and what to know before you buy

From tech to dimensions and from noise to efficiency, here's your chill guide to finding the perfect fit for your life and your living space

Beko BCFD373, €569, left; AEG 5000 fridge-freezers, from €611, right.

In its latest rigorous tests, consumer group Which UK revealed that of 497 fridge-freezers, the average score per model was a lukewarm 56%. The market for this key appliance is vast, and it’s important to understand not only the basic sizing, but what new detailing and tech is truly useful. Here’s a short tip-sheet that, together with customer reviews on sites like TrustPilot, can get you to a truly chill buy, perfectly in proportion to your storage needs and styling.

Tech

There are really two things to watch in improved features — chiller drawers and finessed temperature control. Chiller drawers come in a range of designs to both perk the temperature to preserve fresh meat more safely and offer variable humidity for more effective storage times and conditioning for fruit and vegetables.A zoned micro-environment decreases oxidation of these foodstuffs and potentially lengthens their usable life. 

Swinging shopping bags to shelves and drawers, what’s termed quick or super-cool is a very handy boost, bringing foods taken from the warmth of the car down to a good preservation temperature in just a few minutes. Stable temperatures and a consistent climate are vital in cooling devices where bacteria can party.

Most branding champions good performance in simple, dedicated compartments. Beko offers its unique HarvestFresh technology utilising three-colour light to mimic the sun’s 24-hour cycle. This preserves the vitamins and nutrients inside fruit and vegetables for five more days than storage on an open shelf. 

Your life, your way: You are best placed to know what split serves you best, here it's a 70%/30% fridge to freezer, Beko BCFD373, €569.

Models including HarvestFresh and Beko’s clever “holiday mode” setting (15C), from €980, currys.ie. Every fridge, even a truly cheap one, should circulate air for as even a temperature as possible, even when it showcases cooler areas for storing particular foodstuffs. Frost-free? Don’t buy a freezer that doesn’t handle frost. Chipping ice from the interior is Arctic misery. You can expect chiller-thriller toys in most fridges in the mid-range as standard.

Dimensions

This gives me the chills. I bought a skinny, expensive fridge-freezer and even at 5ft 8in, I spend my time hopping around like an agitated wide-mouth frog scrambling for the top shelf. Ensure you can swipe right to the back of the top tier without parkour. Sizes come in around 122cm-185cm tall and 54cm-60cm wide, with a huge variation brand to brand. One hundred litres is about five small bags of groceries. AEG suggests 100l-150l suits a household of one or two people and 150l-250l works well for three or four people. 

The AEG 5000 fridge-freezers are available both integrated and free-standing, from €611.

Don’t be guided by the exterior dimensions. Go straight to these interior cubic litres and any “split” and then see what elements move and flex. Deeper drawers for vegetables are a mark of quality. We all have our own shopping/storage style. Slim walls like those in many Samsung (SpaceMax) models give you more space inside. Prices from €1200 for the RS65DG5403S9EU, American side by side, multiple suppliers.

Composition  

So, we can go for a lofty larder fridge-freezer, splitting the load vertically into two compartments or put a single or double door over freezer drawers. Drawers are a massive help when digging through the frozen ballast. You’ll pay more for drawers that pull forward as part of the finished door, and less for integrated baskets. The vital thing is that they pull out to the back as fully as possible. 

Consider splitting your foodstuffs over two completely separate appliances, using the cool-box for ice in the fridge and banishing the freezer to the further reaches of the kitchen where you may simply have more room. 

Serious entertainers still favour chest freezers, ideal for putting in a conduit (but not fully unheated) space. All shelves in a fridge should be fully adjustable, including those in the door. Don’t overlook the vital place of door storage — it’s a lifesaver for quick condiment grabs. Side-lighting to throw illumination over every centimetre of the cabinet — a very nice inclusion. Fisher Paykel, Bosch, Samsung and Haier offer freezer drawer styles for a premium spend; Fisher Paykel RF610ADX6, 569l, €2,800. Mid-range drawer buys? HISENSE PureFlat RF540N4WIE fridge-freezer, 302l/178l split, €1220, multiple suppliers.

Counter measures

Under-counter fridges are hugely underrated, both as a small primary fridge and as an extra fridge to park in a utility room. If you’re constantly reshuffling the contents of the fridge and have a flash of stress wondering just where something is buried, adding extra cubic litres in a separate under-counter could be just the thing. Prices start at €129 for 92l models by Logic. Sizes cover 81.8cm-86.6cm tall and 47.5cm-60cm widths in general. Go fully integrated behind a crisp door if you don’t want to signal a fridge or fridge/freezer’s presence at a full or counter height. 

Freestanding

For a trendy working-wall, where your kitchen reads as an “anti-kitchen” rippling into an open plan area — integration offers discreet, furnishing style disguise. Keep in mind that together with some pretty nifty exterior styling, free-standing fridges can move if you reconfigure the kitchen. Don’t dismiss them outright as something lesser. On-door features like LED displays and touch control for quick-cool are right there on show.

Water wise

Water and ice-dispensers are a terrific addition for cool, filtered drinks year-round, and they really shine in summer where you can chill your coffee or throw some ice in the dog bowl at the touch of a lever. The most convenient is a plumbed dispenser, but you need to map out where that supply will come from. With a reservoir sitting in the door, the cubic litres of the fridge will be slightly affected. Look for non-invasive, slim-line water tanks in dispenser models. 

UV sanitation should kill up to 99% of bacteria in the water (it is stored and therefore more vulnerable to tasting stale). Expect to pay more (a lot more) for a fridge or fridge-freezer conjuring ice-balls into a full bucket. 

Feverish entertainers can buy into the LG InstaView with Craft Ice; €2299 (GSXV90MCDE) harveynorman.ie. LG also allows you to “speak” to your fridge and discuss its contents and cycles using Smart Learner via our LG ThinQ. Frankly, I have nothing to say to my fridge. Appliance AI is one of those features that I believe is softening our brains. Use Alexa and make a list.

Finish and noise

Handle-free designs were all the rage three years ago, but most pulls are too sleek to bother the eye, and they have returned. Pulls set onto the edge of the door are sophisticated and easy to wipe clean. In terms of colour, there has been some movement on bespoke shades in the US and the UK, but it’s made little impact here in Ireland. 

Black, white, stainless steel and brushed steel are still riding high, and all have an acceptable vernacular in a modern or classic kitchen. Black has a slight edginess. Look for easy clean surfacing in any metallic as they can be maddening with even a glancing blow. 

Anti-bacterial coatings will prevent germ transfer in your kitchen. Positioning the fridge or fridge-freezer, avoid radiator positions and direct light in all cases as this can lessen the machine's efficiency as it's warmed by passive heat from the CH or coming through the windows. 

Quiet conversation is 60 decibels (dB) so any dB reading under 45dB is a very quiet fridge-freezer, but you can expect some intermittent humming from the compressor and a crackling and whirring during a de-frost cycle.

Efficiency

In terms of energy efficiency, “E” EU energy ratings are commonplace, as the scale has recently been altered to kick out all the A++++ confusion of better-performing appliances, including the only ones that work 24/7 year-round — your fridges and freezers. The sizing of your fridge-freezer in cubic litres will move the kWh/annum number and rating. 

Bigger cabinet equals bigger bill, but that’s not the full story. The SEAI advises: “When it comes to energy consumption, the size of a product should be considered. For example, an energy-efficient, large appliance (such as an American-style fridge-freezer) could have a better energy efficiency class than a less energy-efficient, small fridge-freezer, but still use more energy per annum.” Review your current model from every angle, as it really is the best guide to what you need to lower your temperature.