Our Next Fridge

We have a 5 year old 28" side-by-side which we detest, particularly for its meagre space.  This Samsung RS20NRHS was designed for fans of 2-door fridge who might not mind small internal space. It must have been inexperience which possess us to purchase this model, because it turns out to be a seriously crammed fella for our needs.  Not enough rooms for bulky items on either sides - the fridge side or the freezer side. As soon as we bought it, we can't wait for it to die so we can replace it.

Soon after we bought this, we saw the bigger Hitachi ones.  Good side-by-side fridges, however, comes at a much heftier price than the S$1,199 which we paid for the Samsung (5 years ago). Much to our relief, a Taiwanese expat donated her Panasonic one-door fridge. Though smaller in body, this simple Panasonic one-door has the same internal capacity as the bigger bodied Samsung yet has wider space for a big pizza box to slot in easily.  So if budget is a concern, a one-door fridge may be a better option.  The Panasonic has its freezer at the bottom, suitable for those who spend less time digging in freezers than the fridge. 

We liked our first side-by-side for its icemaker/water feature.  However, its filter occupies quite a lot of internal space and requires discipline in changing at proper scheduled time.  It was such an energy guzzler though, that when it was carted away, the power bill dropped significantly!  Its capacity was bigger than the Samsung but it was also dimensionally bigger, taking up too much kitchen space.

The plus of a side-by-side is that most comes with handles that allows one to loop a latch around it.  This is useful for those who really needs to keep stuff locked away from folks with dementia, or various other reasons.

The other plus is that on both the fridge and the freezer side, you have most of the regularly used stuff at eye level.

Note also that the door of a fridge or freezer holds a ton of stuff, many of which can be quite heavy, e.g. litres of your favourite drinks.  In a wider one-door fridge, the technical advice is to keep the heavier stuff towards the hinge area.  We found this out when the fridge becomes less cold at times.  The door had slide somewhat off the hinge requiring servicing to align the door back upwards.

Meanwhile, we are looking into a multi-door fridge, favoured by many Japanese families.


Hitachi

Mitsubishi

Panasonic