Oh, How I Love My Shiny New Fridge!

We finally did it! When we moved into this house almost two years ago, we knew the refrigerator was awful. But it was one of those things you ignore and ignore and ignore, till one day you can't ignore it anymore. A few months back we had the dryer serviced, and I was chatting with Bill, the repairman, as he wrote up my receipt. I asked him about old appliances, and he said that older washers, dryers and dishwashers were far superior to new ones--that as long as they worked, never give them up because most of his calls were to fix new appliances. It occurred to me to ask him how old he thought the refrigerator was (the house was built in 1950--we knew it wasn't that old, but it's hard for the layperson to tell!) because we'd wondered when we'd need to replace it. He examined it and said he thought it was 28-30 years old! Yikes! He dryly suggested we might want to replace it soon, as it was probably costing the gross national product of some small countries to run it.

That was what pushed Matt over the edge. If you know him, you know he's all about saving the environment, conserving energy--and he isn't allergic to conserving money, either! We agreed that a new refrigerator would come after the floors were redone. So we were idly talking yesterday, and decided to look online to see if there were 4th of July sales going on...and there were...only till today, though. So we got ready and drove over to PC Richards, and within a half hour were signing the papers for a pretty Frigidaire. It was delivered today and I am over the moon!

Now, for all you people out there who have new everything---NO, it isn't stainless steel. Our kitchen is gorgeous old wood, and old fashioned. Our other appliances are white, and stainless would have looked totally out of place. And NO, it isn't a side by side, or a bottom freezer, or a French Door model. It is your typical freezer on top model. Why, you ask? Because in our beautiful kitchen, the space for the fridge was carved out in 1950. And they made refrigerators in few styles and sizes. In order to get one of the huge fancy ones, counters and cabinets would have had to be destroyed. And I can tell you that wasn't going to happen! Likewise, it has no ice maker or water dispenser, because it isn't next to the sink (and therefore the plumbing) and we wanted no worries with having to plumb it. We're simple people, and we don't mind pouring our water from a pitcher or actually making our ice in trays like the cavemen did.

That said, is isn't the bottom of the line crummy fridge. It has glass shelves, one of which slides so you can put small items like yogurt there and see what you have. It has humidity controlled crispers, the shelves that are skinny so you can adjust them a multitude of ways, and the door--my favorite--has buckets rather than the typical metal strip that holds most things, until you slam the door hard and stuff falls out the bottom. It has a HUGE butter door, and the buckets move wherever you want, and they hold gallon containers, and two of them have blue rubber liners in case stuff spills (we used one in the bucket we're holding eggs in, for a cushion.) And there's one of those shelves with the strip along the bottom, just in case you get nostalgic. And the freezer has a neat wire basket that goes along the door and tips out at an angle, so you can put things like ice cream bars in it and they don't get squished or fall out when you open the door. It is bee-yoo-ti-ful.

When the guys brought it in and moved out the old one, I was repulsed by what was under it--so foul. Cat toys, magnets, small toys, mounds of dust, pieces of dog kibble. Really gross. So I will be diligent about vacuuming under this one, I promise! I shed no tears when they hauled that old one out of here, let me tell you. Good riddance. And here are some photos, before we put anything in it. Admire the shiny cleanliness--you know how long THAT lasts!

--Jen




This is the tip out shelf in the freezer door....





Boring old freezer, not much of interest here.



Interior--the shelves adjust freely, and the one under the cheese drawer is the one that slides. LOVE that feature!




Door---look how much space! All those buckets will hold gallon jugs, the bottom row holds a lot too. Look at that butter case! And imagine how many eggs go into one of those buckets! We have 23 in there at the moment, and there's still room for at least a dozen more. Awesome!