Help me think rationally about refrigerators...

July 2, 2007 8:09 AM

Help me think rationally about refrigerators for food and wine...

I love to cook, and cook a lot, so have a lot of fresh food and a bajillion bottles that should be refrigerated on hand (I have - and use - three types of capers in my fridge). I (we!) also drink a bottle or so of wine a night, and like to have some choices, so we end up with a half dozen bottles of wine in the fridge (plus a half case of beer, milk, OJ, etc.) at any time. So basically our fridge is overflowing with chilly goodness...

We are looking to redo our kitchen, so I have been looking into new refrigeration systems. I am thinking pretty seriously about getting TWO fridges, possibly locating them at different places in our kitchen. Alternatively, or additionally, thinking of getting a dedicated wine fridge or possibly fridges - ideally we want three temperatures (red, white and sparkling), but we might do OK putting the sparkling wine in the food fridge. As far as wine cooling goes, we consume it fast enough that we are not worried about long term storage (we have a cellar), just want to have chilled wine on hand (i.e., we are not so worried about light, vibration, and humidity).

I am not particularly price sensitive, so I am not looking for some crazy build-your-own scheme (already did that in grad school). I am just trying to figure out what the $6000 cold box does that the $2000 box does not.

So... to the question! In two parts...

1) Any input on a multiple fridge scheme would be appreciated. Is there a configuration I am not thinking of? Are those refrigerated drawers worth looking at?

2) Why are refrigerators by the same manufacturer and of the same volume so dramatically different in price. In particular, why are built-in fridges way (like 1.5x) more expensive than comparable counter-depth freestanding models (and 2x more than non-counter-depth models)? The "all refrigerator" models in particular seem priced way out of proportion. Are manufactures just taking advantage of the bourgeois?

posted by juliewhite to home & garden (6 comments total)

I think that if you can, you should have your kitchen reflect the way you use it. If that means two fridges, great! But you'll be giving up a lot of other space, including possible counterspace for all that great cooking.

SubZero makes a fridge that has the normal door above, and two chiller drawers below - one with a huge dedicated crisper, and one that's perfect for wine bottles (on their sides), soda cans, etc. They have two big freezer drawers located elsewhere in the kitchen. It works for them, but I think other configs are possible too.

Most wine fridges do have temperature zones for different desired coolnesses, but here's one (2 seconds of googling) that is compact, has two separate zones, and isn't particularly expensive either. I have a tiny kitchen, so we just put an el cheapo wine fridge in the basement that has temperature zones (albeit probably not on purpose - the bottom rack is just significantly colder than the door-shelf), and we just pop down there when we want a bottle. No biggie.
posted by nkknkk at 9:23 AM on July 2, 2007

Um, the "them" referred to in my second paragraph are my friends, who have such a configuration, and who drink a lot of soda.
posted by nkknkk at 9:24 AM on July 2, 2007

Could the price differentials be attributed to supply and demand? I would think the freestanding units for home use are vastly more popular.
posted by mmascolino at 11:20 AM on July 2, 2007

I second subzero
posted by matteo at 12:27 PM on July 2, 2007

In our latest kitchen design (I say latest because this is our fifth kitchen deisnged/used in the last seven years) we have two refrigerators. One (Subzero 611) is dedicated to food stuffs and some drink items -- the second (Subzero two-drawer unit) is dedicated to drinks alone. The temperature adjustment on the drawer unit does allow for top warmer/bottom cooler but the difference is not considerable. The system works pretty well; the drinks are in the "pantry" (with booze and mixers as well) and away from the main kitchen traffic.

Be sure you look at physical (preferably sample installations) at all models you are considering; we shied away from the 7 series of over/drawer under Subzeros because the door does not swing as wide as we prefer. The freezer is quite small on the 611, so when we bought half a hog, we bought a chest freezer to go with it. (Freezer is in what passes for our garage.)

The bottom line for us and wine temps (we drink a moderate amount but not a lot of white) is to know when to either put something in the fridge (certain summer reds) or pull a white out so that it is not too cool. Even then, while in Paris, our caviste told us for one particular bottle of white to put it in the fridge for only ONE hour so as not to obscure the nose and complexity of all its flavors.

Re: pricing. Some premium is probably entailed in built-ins simply because of what they are where supply of ordinary refrigerators and their parts is so low that they "can't be beat". Like luxury autmobiles, built-ins are being marketed to those who can pay more for not-necessarily much more differences. On the other hand, some real differences in the techincal requirements are present. Where built-in refrigeration is common (europe) one still pays more for equivalent built-ins but I would say the difference is less than in the states (where the demand for such units has been historically lower).
posted by Dick Paris at 1:37 PM on July 2, 2007

This month's Consumer Reports magazine reviews kitchens and kitchen appliances. They were not impressed with Sub-Zero or other luxury brands, citing among other things a poor repair record. You might get a better experience with a high-quality Amana or GE, which would allow you to buy three fridges for the same price, if you have room for them.
posted by Robert Angelo at 7:55 PM on July 2, 2007