Refrigerators

How much space you have, how many people occupy your home and the amount of fresh and frozen produce you buy are all important in deciding on the best fridge. Let's go through the types to narrow down the size, usable fridge / freezer capacity and best layout for your household.

For small to medium households with a cavity limitation consider a Top Mount Fridge, or a Bottom Mount fridge if reaching for refrigerated items more than frozen and when organisation matters with their fridge above freezer layout. For large families or entertainers, a French Door Fridge offers a large capacity and flexible storage solutions.

If relying on frozen and fresh foods equally, a Side-by-Side Fridge offers oodles of space for both, while Single Door Fridges are useful in entertaining areas or for having additional fridge storage.

Fridges with a Top Mount configuration have the freezer above the fridge. They’re handy when reaching for frozen meals, fruits or a sauce for defrosting into a quick midweek spag bol and when you’re not so fussed about bending down to reach for fresh food.

Top Mount Fridges have some of the smallest usable capacities available, some as low as 202L like CHiQ and Hisense Top Mount Fridges for a 1-2 person household or as a secondary fridge for the garage. For greater space models around the 450L usable capacity mark like LG or Samsung Top Mount Fridges offer more room for fresh and frozen foods, many with removable twist ice makers to load the freezer without restriction.

For kitchens with a space limitation, Top Mount Fridges work particularly well as they are generally smaller in size compared to other types, great if you’re renting or working with an existing smaller fridge cavity.

Automatic ice makers and water dispensers are found in French Door and Side by Side fridges for everyday convenience.

Ice and water are accessible either via a front dispenser like LG’s Side by Side Fridges, or water at the front and the ice in an internal scoop bin like in Fisher & Paykel French Door Fridges. For water only check out Hisense French Door Fridges and selected Bottom Mount Fridges. Most ice and water fridges require a plumber to connect them to your water supply, water-only fridges do not.

For filtered ice and water, look for fridge water filter models such as Electrolux French Door Fridges with front ice and water dispenser or Samsung French Door Fridges. Keep in mind fridges with ice makers can take up space, so to get around this some brands their ice systems built into the doors to not compromise on storage.

The main difference between these fridges is the layout. French Door has the fridge above the freezer with either two freezer doors containing clear compartments or one freezer drawer with stacked pull out baskets. Some even have a second drawer known as the “entertainer’s drawer” for storing seafood or smallgoods at just the right temperature.

Fisher & Paykel coined the term Quad Door for their four door French Door fridges. Many French Door fridges come with four doors, with frozen goods seen instantly in compartments and often one door gives access to a convertible freezer to fridge variable temperature zone to refrigerate items as required.

Side by Side Fridges have the fridge on one side and freezer on the other, perfect for accessing fresh and frozen goods simultaneously. However unlike French Door fridges they are usually without convertible zones.