When I reflect on the various fridges we’ve owned it’s become apparent that they are not particularly robust, and neither are they very reliable.
My parent’s fridge lasted most of my childhood, it was large, shapely and reliable, sure there was a little rust, but it definitely felt very solid, and the door had a lever to open it and close it. Sure it rattled and hummed, but it also served our family endlessly.
So what’s changed?
I’m not sure but a friend explained to me that nowadays frozen products do not last as long as they once did in the freezer because modern fridges/freezers have a heating / defrosting cycle that it routinely goes through.
When you open the door on modern fridges, you hear the fan switch on or off to deter condensation.
I’m sure there are many solutions to modern refrigeration challenges, and we don’t all have the appetite to challenge the status quo in refrigeration, however, I have heard that some people use a chest freezer for the fridge and they set the freezer to switch on and off periodically, and apparently, this works well to reduce cost and keep products pool and some in challenging circumstances.
My own very simple approach to simplifying my fridge woes has been to have a separate fridge and freezer. It not only provides additional space but halves the problem when one device goes faulty.
Our previous fridge was a twin door fridge freezer, which looked huge, and impressive, but after using it for a while I realise that there is not very much space in the device.
So for $150 I picked up a matching fridge and freezer, secondhand, and quite honestly from where I’m standing it looks to me like a much better solution.