OT - recommend a 70/30 fridge freezer? - long

[David WE Roberts]

We are trying to choose a new fridge/freezer for our new kitchen. The only DIY component is that we are sourcing some appliances ourselves. Howdens offer their own brand (Lamona) or Bosch (although they don't give a model number). The Lamona 70/30 has poor capacity; the Bosch is much larger.

Which? is about as useful as a chocolate teapot as it has very few items reviewed, and most of those are old. Their best buys are over £1k. However it did sound a warning over Bosch fridge/freezers which (also according to the very good Bosch website) have poor freezing capability and poor cold retention in a power cut.

So no Lamona and no Bosch. How to chose an alternative?

We had a look round Comet which is normally good for viewing appliances but they only show a couple of built in. B&Q have one in their kitchen displays. Generally the big electrical shops don't seem to display built in fidge/freezers; presumably free standing are easier to display and most people get their built ins as part of the kitchen from the kitchen supplier.

The new range of Bosch fridge/freezers seem very good spec., expensive, not generally available online. Possibly so new they aren't in stock anywhere yet.

The main contenders for supply are appliancesdirect and applinacesonline but they don't seeem to offer a good detailed product selection tool. Something where you can say 70l freezer, 210l fridge, 4+kg fresh food frozen in 24 hours, 20+ hours remain frozen in power cut.

I am wading through loads of online bumph (Zanussi gets some good ratings but the website is crap for comparing models).

The biggest problem I am finding is locating the model year of an item. The clues tend to be that for old ones you find them more in stores (BHS, Boots etc.), really old ones you mainly get Goggle hits for spares, newer ones you find in appliancesdirect and appliancesonline, and really new ones you can't locate at all.

It is amazingly frustrating to think you have found the right model then find it is no longer generaqlly available.

Anyway, rant mostly over, does anyone have a recommendation for a 70/30 fridge freezer or a reliable resource for selecting a model? A recommendation for a brand would be a good starting point.

I am losing the will to live after two days solid searching.

Cheers

Dave R

[Chris J Dixon]

I am very happy with the Miele KFN 8992 SD. As this is now 4 years old, I guess that the models will have changed, but it is well-made, and the interior arrangement works well for me.

Not cheap, but at the time it gave by far the best capacity for a

600 mm wide appliance.

About the only negative point is that, being 2000 mm high, the back of the top shelf is tricky to reach, unless you are tall (which I am).

Chris

[mike]

Don't know whether this will help in your case but, brandwise, we've been happy with out Bosch frost-free which is well into its second decade (although frost-free seem to get a rough ride in these parts).

Regarding suppliers, I was looking for an oven for a relative recently and narrowed it down to these two, ultimately buying from the latter (which is apparently part of the Co-Op). Service and price were good:

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

John Lewis might be able to give quality help, after all they claim to have sales staff who're knowledgeable on things rather than just box shifters.

[DerbyBorn]

Jeremy Nicoll - news posts wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Many model identifications are unique to certain retailers. The difference in the models my be very minor (or not)

[metric_trade]

Where does it say that? Bosch ranked in the middle on their "Fridge freezer Which? reliability index". It ranked second top for satisfaction on "Fridge-freezers owners' views"

Are you looking for built-in (please say no)?

[David WE Roberts]

No longer seems to be on sale via t'Internet. Lookd at the current Miele models on the John Lewis website and they show two models with similar numbers, the same listed spec., but £300 difference in price. Not tested by Which? I am interested that you found a 2 metre high fridge/freezer - the tallest now seem to be around 1.772m.

[Tim Streater]

We bought a 700mm-wide Beko. The extra width all all gain and this model came with a twistable ice-tray, made my day.

[David WE Roberts]

Was this built in? We are currently going with a 600mm unit to house the fridge/freezer.

[The Other Mike]

It ranked second top for satisfaction on "Fridge-freezers owners' views"

Last Bosch I saw didn't even get much beyond an overnight 'keep upright' stage on a kitchen floor before being plugged in. The light came on, but that is all, nothing else. That the plonkers at Which rate them highly doesn't really surprise me.

[Chris J Dixon]

looks very similar to mine.

The "dynamic cooling" i.e. a circulating fan in the fridge, works very well, and I have never had my salad freeze, which can be a real problem.

Chris

[RobertL]

One thing we did not consider (and wish we had) was noise. Our John Lewis fridge/freezer makes a lot of very strange noises, burbling and whistling for example, even when the compressor is not running.

Built-in have a smaller capacity for the occuplied space, it seems.

Robert

[Chris J Dixon]

As I said a day or two ago, when we were re-doing our kitchen, we initially contemplated a built-in fridge freezer. The overall dimensions were similar to the freestanding one that we were replacing, but the capacity figures were so much lower, that initially I did not believe them. I checked further and it was simply the greatly increased thickness of insulation in modern appliances.

We were so nearly caught out, but eventually went for a 2 m high Miele, with which we are very pleased. A substantial piece of work, the interior arrangement seems to accommodate all we need with ease. Although this is not a cheap fridge, it came in significantly less expensive than a built-in plus housing.

Chris

[whisky-dave]

Wonder if I need that as I keep my beer in the salad tray at the bottom.

[David WE Roberts]

Review of the only built in

"Struggles to freeze

This model can only freeze a paltry 1kg of fresh food in 24 hours. If you put a medium-sized fresh chicken in the freezer is still won't have frozen to -18°C 24 hours later."

[David WE Roberts]

Bugger - checked back and although I mentioned built in several times I wasn't specific enough up front. We have decided that the all-built-in look is worth the trade off of lower fridge/freezer capacity. You had me interested in the Miele until I realised it was free standing.

[metric_trade]

Ah yes, I see it now. I only looked at the reviews of freestanding ones. I = now understand you're looking for built-in. A friend of mine got a built-in= fridge-freezer and now regrets it. It's not faulty but he's decided to rep= lace it with a freestanding one to get more internal space in the same exte= rnal space. I guess if you're interested in second hand, I can find out det= ails of it.

'Which' says:

******************* Built-in fridge freezers are integrated into a kitchen cabinet and are hidd= en behind a door. Some people prefer the clean look this gives to a kitchen= .

However, there are fewer models to choose from than if you buy a freestandi= ng appliance. In fact, you may have no choice if you're buying one as part = of deal for a fitted kitchen.=20

Also expect to pay higher prices than for an equivalent freestanding model.

It basically comes down to aesthetics =96 whether you want the fridge freez= er hidden behind doors that match your kitchen cabinets =96 and cost.=20

Built-in fridge freezers tend to be more expensive than freestanding ones, = because they have to work in smaller confined spaces with less air flow.

*******************

[Tim Streater]

No - no way, in fact. We have a built-in Bosch d/w and it's crap. Further, we got the FF before the space in the Utility room that it is now occupying, was ready.

We particularly wanted one that split the fridge and freezer spaces

50/50, and I was *so* happy to see it had the extremely useful ice-tray.

We looked at all the so-called American models with the stupid space-wasting built-in ice machines and double doors with no useable space in them rant rant ...

[chris French]

In message , David WE Roberts writes

We recently got anew larder fridge, in the end I think it worked best just comparing info from manufacturers sites. Often downloading a brochure pdfwasg the best as they uaually have nice little charts summarising the features/specs.

Most makes seem to have only a few relevant models. , so a certain size fridge or whatever, in 2 or 3 model ranges.

FWIW we bought a Miele fridge and I very happy with it.

It came from Marks Electrical (cos they were the cheapest place, not cos the website was esp good). They were fine.

THe new TV in the summer came from electrical 123, and they were also fine

[David WE Roberts]

Thanks to all contributors. Miele gets the recommendations but also costs about 3 times more mundane brands. Or 4-5 times the budget brands. Can't force my wallet open that far at the moment :-)