Walk into just about any kitchen and you'd see a refrigerator. These kitchen appliances are responsible for the all-important job of keeping your sodas frosty (and to some extent making sure that store-bought chicken remains frozen). It also makes sure you won't end up with soft and mushy tubs of ice-cream.

And hey, they do tend to come in various shapes and sizes. With various options available in the market, just how can one go about choosing the right fridge? We've listed some of the most common types in this Refrigerator Buying Guide below:

Top-Mounted Double Door Fridges
We'll start off with these guys. The most common sort of fridges are Top-Mounted Double Door ones. With a freezer placement that goes on top, this design apparently helps with energy efficiency to the extent of being 10% to 25% more efficient than their bottom-mounted counterparts! These fridges don't tend to be very large and are adequate for couples or small family units.

Bottom-Mounted Double Door Fridges
A less common design compared to its top-mounted counterpart, these fridges keep your fresh food available at eye level and are hence more accessible. With that being said, only people who tend to use less of their freezers are encouraged to get these. Otherwise, you'd find yourself hunching over while rummaging through the freezer for that bag of frozen curry puffs you're thinking of heating up. These fridges are also less energy efficient as the bottom freezers tend to be located next to the compressor, therefore requiring more energy to keep it cold.

Side-By-Side Door Fridges
Made specially for frozen-pizza aficionados, with greater freezer space than most other designs, side-by-side door fridges have been growing rapidly in popularity due to its greater range of features! And by splitting functional lines right down the middle, it won’t eat up too much space when the doors are swung open! In addition, side-by-side door fridges tend to feature water and ice dispensers! Of course, with an increase in the number of features, prices would also typically extend a fair bit.

French Door Fridges
A design that's been growing in popularity, French Door Refrigerators take the "best of both worlds" approach with doors that open from the centre in addition to a bottom freezer drawer. The number of doors available on these models can vary a fair bit too—sometimes even extending to 6. In all, less clearance space is needed when opening the fridge doors. These models tend to carry large inside capacities as well.

Compact Door Fridges
Compact door fridges are commonly seen in hotel rooms, offices and dorms. With a reduced capacity in line with its smaller size, these fridges are perfect for keeping the smaller stuff, such as beverages, fruits and the occasional chocolate bar (or five). These fridges also tend to be the least expensive of the lot.

Single Door Fridges
In keeping to its namesake, single door refrigerators tend to have their freezers within the same compartment as the rest of the items and because of this space constraint, tend to have smaller freezer space. Here’s a little tidbit. You’ll be able to find fairly snazzy and retro designs from some of the brands offering this model—reliving an era where soda bottles would be kept in fridges of a similar look.

Capacity
Choosing the correct size for your family is important. Some factors you may want to consider include daily usage, storage of certain cooking ingredients, the need to keep frozen uncooked meat separated, and space for fresh fruits & vegetables. Also consider the number of people in your family who will be using the fridge.

Use the guidelines below to choose a fridge that’s just right for your family!

Measuring Space
Make sure you measure the floor area within the kitchen before getting that dream fridge. Do ensure there is enough space for you to swing the fridge door open without it being too much of a hindrance to the general flow of people in and out of the kitchen.

Energy Efficiency
This big and scary table basically determines how many ticks your refrigerator would receive on its energy label! With more ticks, less energy will be used in the long run and so, running costs will be lower!

Refrigerator

…and that wraps up our buying guide for refrigerators (for now)! Need more information? Visit our showroom or drop us a call at 6333 1212!