How to Choose a Good Refrigerator?

Refrigerators are essential household appliances that help us preserve food and make life easier. But now the needed food in life becomes more and more, and people’s demand for food is getting much higher, which also makes the performance of the refrigerator upgrade faster. As a cabinetry manufacturer, George Cabinetry can help the selection of refrigerators.

Ⅰ. Choose from the capacity of the refrigerator

At present, refrigerators are mainly divided into single-door refrigerators, double-door refrigerators, three-door refrigerators, side-by-side refrigerators, cross-side door refrigerators, French multi-door refrigerators, and multi-door refrigerators.

Single door refrigerator

※Single door refrigerator capacity: no more than 150L

Advantages: small land occupation, low price, flexible movement

Disadvantages: only refrigerator compartment, no freezer compartment

※Double door refrigerator capacity: 150-300L

Advantages: low price, refrigerator/freezer compartment

Disadvantages: small capacity

Double door refrigerator
Three door refrigerator

※Three door refrigerator capacity: 150-300L

Advantages: there are three options for the middle room, variable temperature, soft freezing and freezer compartment

Disadvantages: the soft freezing and freezer cannot realize the freedom of temperature change

※Side-by-side refrigerator capacity: 400-600L

Advantages: large capacity, high-end and upscale

Disadvantages: high price, large land occupation and high noise

Side-by-side refrigerator
Cross door refrigerator

※Cross door refrigerator capacity: 400-600L

Advantages: multiple partitions, large capacity, upscale appearance, energy saving

Disadvantages: large land occupation, high price, low space utilization

※French multi door refrigerator capacity: 300-600L or more

Advantages: the space utilization rate is higher than that of the cross door refrigerator, the capacity is large, reasonable partition, high-end and upscale

Disadvantages: high price

French multi door refrigerator
Multi door refrigerator

※Multi door refrigerator capacity: 300-600L or more

Advantages: high space utilization, good food preservation, ice making, upscale appearance

Disadvantages: small freezer compartment, higher price than French multi door refrigerator

As people’s living standards continue to rise, demand for the capacity of refrigerators is increasing. Many of them want the 500L, and some even require 600L.

Among them, the best choice is the French multi door refrigerator. The upper part is the large refrigerator and the lower part is the two-layer freezer. The refrigerating and freezing space are evenly distributed and the general performance is good. 

Of course, compared with side-by-side refrigerators, the volume ratio is higher. The drawer of the freezer compartment can also be drawn out in a large range, while the drawer of side-by-side refrigerators can only be drawn out in half.

It is also the most convenient to use the French multi door refrigerator. In addition to the French multi door refrigerator, the cross door refrigerator is also a good choice.

The difference between the cross door refrigerator and the French multi door refrigerator is that the drawers of the lower two-layer freezer are divided into six small drawers. The upper freezer is still the same. It is mainly suitable for families with many types of freezing and who like food segmentation.

Ⅱ Choose from the performance of the refrigerator

① Refrigeration method:

Air-cooled refrigerators, also known as frost-free refrigerators, after high-temperature air flows through the built-in evaporator for cooling, the cold air is blown into the refrigerator and circulates continuously, thereby reducing the temperature of the refrigerator.

The advantages of air-cooled refrigerators are frost-free, fast cooling (forced circulation), and precise temperature control. A frost-free air-cooled refrigerator does not have frost, because whenever there is heat exchange, frost must form, but it is inside the refrigerator. We can’t see it, which is why it is called frost-free.

With this part of the frost, the fridge will be removed by the defrost heating system and no manual operation is required. 

Air-cooled refrigerators also have some disadvantages

On the one hand, the construction is complex and costly. On the other hand, food can easily dry out. Generally speaking, air-cooled refrigerators want the food to retain moisture. We can use plastic wrap every day to keep the moisture in the food.

Direct cooling refrigerators are also called “frost coolers”. The evaporator absorbs heat from the refrigerator air through heat transfer to cool the refrigerator. This is a method of cooling by natural convection of air.

Compared with air-cooled refrigerators, its advantages: low cost, no loss of fresh moisture, two-door economy refrigerator is the most popular, but the disadvantage is also very obvious, that is, the internal frost needs to be manually removed, which is also the most criticized place; two is the uneven distribution of cooling capacity, poor cooling effect.

Refrigeration method

② Circulation systems:

Air-cooled refrigerators are divided into single cycle, double cycle and triple cycle, and some places like to call them single system, double system and triple system.

There is only one evaporator in a single cycle, that is, the refrigerating compartment, the freezing compartment and the variable temperature compartment all share the same refrigeration system, which will cause one room to be cooled, and the other room will be forced to cool down, and the room that needs to be cooled will also be due to insufficient refrigerant. 

If the target temperature is not reached, frequent startup of the refrigerator compressor will also cause problems such as increased power consumption; Of course, there is another problem, which is the problem of single-system circulation. Frozen food and refrigerated food are prone to peculiar smell.

Double circulation means that there are two evaporators, one for refrigeration and one for freezing, and the temperature is controlled by the main control board to control the switch of the solenoid valve.

 Refrigeration and freezing are independently temperature-controlled without affecting each other. It should be noted that the refrigeration method of many refrigerators is written as dual air circulation. Double air circulation is not equal to double circulation. 

Double circulation refers to two evaporators, while double air circulation is only two air passages, but it is very likely that there is only one evaporator, and there is still a problem of odor.

The double cycle or multi-cycle mentioned can avoid the odor. The odor refers to the smell between different compartments, such as the freezer room and the refrigerator room, but the taste of the food in the refrigerator room has to be sterilized by purifying the smell. Of course, the best way is to use an airtight box or a plastic bag.

③ The operation mode of the compressor:

When purchasing home appliances, we often hear the terms of fixed frequency and variable frequency, especially in the field of air conditioners. We also know that variable frequency is better than fixed frequency. What do variable frequency and fixed frequency mean?

The difference between fixed frequency and variable frequency is whether the speed of the compressor is fixed (fixed frequency) or can be variable with temperature (frequency conversion). Compared with fixed frequency refrigerators, inverter refrigerators have obvious advantages.

Low noise: Because of its own characteristics, fixed-frequency refrigerators require frequent starting to maintain the temperature, so it will bring more noise; while the inverter refrigerators is adjusted in real time with the temperature, there will be no frequent starting problems, and the noise is much lower

Good fresh-keeping: The fixed-frequency refrigerator starts the compressor when the temperature is low. Frequent starting will cause the temperature to be unstable and the fresh-keeping effect is poor; while the variable-frequency refrigerator can keep the temperature constant, which will naturally bring better food preservation effect

More energy-saving: The compressor consumes the most power when it starts, and the frequent startup of fixed-frequency refrigerators brings greater power consumption. Compared with fixed-frequency, variable frequency will save a lot of power.

Ⅲ. Choose from additional functions of refrigerator

In addition to the basic functions of the refrigerator above, there are some additional functions, we also introduce them to see if you also need them.

①  Freezing capacity:

The new version of the standard stipulates that the freezing capacity of a refrigerator refers to how many kilograms of beef the refrigerator can freeze from 25°C to -18°C within 12 hours.

From this concept, the freezing capacity of the refrigerator is mainly related to two aspects: 

1. The space size of the freezer compartment of the refrigerator; 

2. The freezing performance of the refrigerator. Therefore, the freezing performance cannot be inferred from the freezing capacity alone, because it is still related to the volume of the freezer.

Under the same freezer volume, what are the advantages of the stronger freezing capacity: it can better lock the moisture and nutrients in the food so that it can have a better taste when thawing.

The freezing capacity of a large-capacity refrigerator is basically enough at 12kg/24h. Generally, Japanese-style refrigerators have a relatively low freezing capacity. If there is more freezing demand, you can focus on this point.

② Preservation ability:

When the temperature is between 0℃ and 10℃ and the relative humidity is between 90% and 95%, the respiration intensity of fruits and vegetables is greatly reduced, and the transpiration is inhibited, which can ensure the original freshness and nutrients of fruits and vegetables to the greatest extent.

③ Antibacterial and deodorant:

The refrigerator can be regarded as a small warehouse in our daily life. Fruits, vegetables, fish and seafood are placed in it, and odors will inevitably appear. If there is no antibacterial and deodorizing function, it is easy to breed bacteria for a long time.

In addition, be sure to measure the size of the reserved storage space before purchasing the refrigerator, and ask for the specific size data when purchasing.

The heat dissipation of the refrigerator is mainly on both sides. For refrigerators with heat dissipation on both sides, the distance reserved for one side is preferably 5-10cm. 

If the distance is too small, it will affect the heat dissipation of the refrigerator, thereby increasing the power consumption; there are also refrigerators that dissipate heat from the bottom, for this kind of refrigerator, the distance on both sides can be reserved slightly smaller, but it is also recommended to be at least 3-5cm to facilitate the placement of the refrigerator.

These are some sharing and opinions on how to choose a good refrigerator. We hope it can help you choose a refrigerator suitable for your family. Although we are a cabinetry manufacturer, but because customers trust us, 70% of our clients will let us help them choose the refrigerator together. Welcome to contact us if you still are not sure about how to choose refrigerator.

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