Because it’s the most used appliance in your home, replacing your refrigerator is an important buying decision that you don’t want to take lightly.
So choosing a refrigerator with the best features makes sense — even when the best refrigerator features cost more. You’ll get lots of use out of the refrigerator features that you choose.
Here’s a rundown of the best refrigerator features available.
Dual cooling refrigerators
In a refrigerator with a single evaporator, cold air pours into the freezer, and refrigerator limits how much chilled air moves into the fresh-food section. A dual-cooling refrigerator has separate evaporators for the freezer and the fresh-food section, to better control temperatures in each section.
The refrigerator evaporator sends cool air into the fresh-food section when needed, and doesn’t have to limit chilled air that enters the fresh-food section from the freezer. The freezer evaporator can better control freezer section temperature, because it doesn’t have to send varying amounts of cooling air to the refrigerator section.
Better control of fresh-food section temperatures helps prevent items at the back of shelves in the refrigerator from freezing and keeps dairy products fresh.
Look for a dual-cooling feature on your next refrigerator to better control temperatures.
Smart fridge features
Buying a smart refrigerator gives you the best control over this important appliance. You can get immediate notification on your smart phone if something goes wrong so you can take immediate action.
Smart fridge features vary by model so here’s a rundown of the best options to look for.
Refrigerator touch screen
Getting a touch-screen refrigerator expands your kitchen’s communication and entertainment horizons. Check out these applications for a refrigerator touch screen:
- Browse the internet from your touch-screen fridge.
- Find and display online recipes on the refrigerator door.
- Forget those messy notes — use the touch screen as your communication hub for reminders, shopping lists and notes to household members.
- Display pictures of your loved ones and memorable moments on your touch screen refrigerator.
- Watch a movie or your favorite TV show on the refrigerator door.
- Play your favorite music while you work in the kitchen.
Internal refrigerator camera
Choose a fridge with an internal camera to remotely view the food in your refrigerator with your smart phone Check for what food you already have when making a shopping list while you’re away from home.
Refrigerator voice control
Take advantage of hands-free control of your smart refrigerator when you buy a model that responds to voice commands. Some models link up to a smart device with a virtual assistant such as Alexa or Google Assistant to process and follow voice commands.
Refrigerator smart hub
Some smart refrigerators let you connect and control all your smart appliances and devices to the refrigerator.
Dual ice makers
If you often run out of ice, choose a French door refrigerator with dual ice makers. Refrigerators with dual ice makers have an extra ice maker in the freezer compartment to supplement ice production from the ice maker in the fresh-food section. When the ice bin in the fresh-food section runs out of ice, you still have plenty of ice in the freezer section ice bin.
Flexible temperature drawer
Some French door refrigerators feature a shallow drawer between the fresh-food section and freezer that has flexible temperature controls. The drawer controls let you keep foods at just the right temperature, independent of the other sections.
For example, set the flexible drawer temperature at just below freezing and move meats and fish into the drawer to keep them safe and fresh. Set it just above freezing to super-cool beverages or keep deli meats and cheese just under 40 degrees. Use the highest temperature setting to keep wines just above 40 degrees.
Choose a French door refrigerator with a flexible temperature drawer if you frequently need to keep items chilled to a specific temperature.
Getting a refrigerator with the best features can help your household get the most use and enjoyment from this important appliance. The extra money you spend for the best features will pay off with added convenience, better control and more enjoyment.