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Whirlpool ART262A+
by NotMyToothbrush
We got this fridge freezer after having our old one for many many years before it broke. Our old fridge was also a Whirlpool branded one and therefore due to the reliability of that one, we trusted the brand with our new purchase.
To date, we have had this fridge for about 4 years. During the first year, we had it in the ... kitchen of our old house (This room was rather warm - this becomes relevant later). We then moved house and had the fridge in the utility room which was on the edge of the house as an extension and had very little heating; this meant that in winter the utility room was as cold as outside generally. The reason I am telling you this is that the temperature around the fridge appears to be very important. As long as the temperature of the room stays at about 5-8 degrees Celsius or higher, the fridge works perfectly - both the fridge part and freezer part either cools or freezers at the desired temperature and the food always keeps because of it. HOWEVER, if the temperature fell below 5-8 degrees, the freezer part completely stops working. Without warning, the winter we moved into the house we opened the freezer to find everything defrosted. We assumed the freezer had worn out for some reason but after speaking to Whirlpool, we found out that the temperature was the culprit. This therefore means that we are unable to use the freezer from November-March usually.
We recently moved the fridge from the utility room to the kitchen which does have heating and is more central in the house and haven't had a problem since.
On the good side, when the fridge freezer is working properly; the freezer is completely frost free and we have never had to defrost it even slightly. The fridge part contains a filter for smells which can be replaced cheaply every couple of years or so. The fridge is very spacious and can accommodate large amount of food - more than enough for 4 or 5 people for weeks!
There are a multitude of compartments in the fridge and door to store all sorts of food neatly and in an organised fashion. Most of the compartments are very solid however there is one shelf which is of a different design. This design seems to be far less sturdy than the others and has snapped on our fridge in the middle slightly. This happened only by putting some food which was not particularly heavy on it.
If it wasn't for the poor shelf and the fact that it doesn't seem to like the cold (kind of ironic), this fridge would be fantastic. However, these issues are inexcusable and therefore only earns it 2 stars.
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Samsung RL42LGMH
by jenny23
I recently bought this fridge freezer as I have moved into a new house. I didn't particularly set out to purchase a Samsung fridge freezer but after looking round stores like Currys I found that these seemed to have the best designs for me, in stylish designs, and it is a good quality brand.
This fridge freezer is most ... suitable to you if you prefer a larger fridge space, rather than a larger freezer compartment. The freezer here contains two full size drawers and one half size drawer. The fridge has four main shelves and useful smaller shelves in the door. What I found when looking round was that a lot of the stylish fridges with the ice/cold water dispensers lack in door storage because of the water/ice unit (I was wondering where I'd put milk, orange juice etc) so just bear this in mind if you do use the fridge door for certain items.
Now in my house, the fridge looks really good and I've had a few compliments from visitors about how good it looks. When you first turn it on the manual says to leave it for 3-4 hours before putting anything in it, but after about 2 hours I found that it was really nice and cold, although I waited longer for the freezer to cool just to be on the safe side.
The shelves seem really sturdy, and it was also packed and taped up well when delivered to prevent any mishaps in transit. There are useful little extras that come with it such as an egg holder and a cool ice cube tray with different shapes.
I would definitely recommend this fridge freezer to couples or small families, as long as you aren't after a large freezer.
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Indesit NCAA 55
by angelboouk
~Reason For Purchase~
One day last year our fridge freezer suddenly stopped working. It had lasted well and had been offloaded to us by my Nana but I had noticed our food wasn't being kept as fresh as it should have been. It was still a surprise though to return home to a broken fridge and £40 of frozen food defrosted all over ... my kitchen floor.
Myself and my fiance don't really have money put aside for things like this nor did we have insurance at the time. As a family of three, we needed a fridge and we needed one asap! Luckily my lovely Mum came to the rescue and whisked me off to Comet the next day and armed with her credit card. We had a look at a few different fridge freezers. Space wasn't an issue as our old fridge freezer sat against a wall. I really wanted a decent brand of fridge freezer which was spacious enough for us and not too expensive. I finally settled on the NCAA55. I believe we paid £249.99 for our fridge freezer.
~Essential Information~
The NCAA55 is offered by Indesit. I trust Indesit to be a well appreciated appliance brand so was happy to make a purchase from them. This fridge freezer has an A+ energy efficiency rating which allows it to be more economical to run. It also has a four star rating and is recommended for family use. It is a freestanding fridge freezer with the fridge section are the top and the freezer at the bottom. The fridge features three shelves, two crisper drawers and door racks. The freezer has three drawers including a fast freeze drawer. There is a similar fridge freezer available with four freezer drawers.
Important specifications :
*Energy consumption - 253kWh per year
*Size - H157 x W55 x D54cm
*Fresh food volume - 150 litres
*Frozen food volume - 67 litres
*Storage capacity - 8.05cu ft
*Reversible door
*Ambient temp - 10 to 43c (not suitable for use in a garage)
*High temp warning facility
*15 hours power failure safe storage
Also included is a 1 year labour guarantee and a 5 year parts guarantee.
~Price and Availability~
The NCAA55 is currently available from Argos priced at just £219.99. This price includes free delivery and Argos will take away your old fridge freezer to recycle it should you wish them to do so.
~Arrival and Set Up~
Our fridge freezer arrived in a huge box and included an easy to read user manual. I wasn't at home for the delivery but my fiance and his brother set up our fridge freezer which involved adjusting the foot underneath to ensure the fridge freezer was balanced correctly. It is important to let the appliance settle for at least three hours before plugging it in. We have left the doors the way they originally arrived but full information on how to change the way they open is included in the manual. We gave the shelves and other bits and bobs a rub down before slotting them in to place.
There is a temperature control from 1-5 inside the fridge and a bright light which is perfect for midnight fridge raiding! I normally have our fridge freezer set at number four and find this is fine for us. On the first day we received this, I decided to leave the fridge freezer on overnight and then do my proper shop the next day. The fridge freezer took little time to become cold and useable.
~Appearance~
Whilst I really want one of those fancy American fridge freezers, this one will do in the meantime. It is white and looks very clean. It fits in with my other white appliances. This fridge freezer isn't as tall as my previous fridge freezer and sometimes I do wish I had opted for the larger, four drawer one but I can't afford to be complaining now! This fridge freezer is a comfortable size for a family of three in my opinion.
The fridge compartment is very spacious and looks good in my opinion. The glass shelves are much nicer to look at that my the racks that we had in our old fridge freezer. There are three door compartments which can be adjusted as can the shelves inside the main part of the fridge. I like this option and make use of it often if I need more space for certain food or packaging. The crisper drawers are large and easy to access.
The freezer section isn't the largest but is fine for us at the moment. I may consider buying a small, seperate chest freezer in the future though as I have took a liking to batch cooking and freezing food! The top drawer has a fast free function which can be operated by clicking a switch inside the fridge. This function is suitable for fresh food which hasn't previously been frozen and turns off after 24 hours automatically. There is a regular sized drawer and a deep 'bin' drawer.
~Performance~
I don't pay a great deal of attention when it comes to checking how much electricity an appliance is costing me but have noticed that our electricity credit has been lasting a little longer since we purchased this fridge freezer and our Hotpoint washing machine at the same time. Coincidence - I don't know but I'm happy regardless! The door opens to quite a large angle and this allows me to put my shopping away quickly and without obstacles.
This fridge freezer performs to a high standard on a daily basis and when we first started using it, I noticed a big improvement in how fresh our food was compared to our old, failing fridge freezer. Occasionally there is a still murmur of noise from the fridge freezer but for the best part, it is almost silent. This fridge freezer runs incredibly smoothly.
Our fridge freezer is always in use. The doors shut well and the seal remains strong and durable. I do a weekly shop on a Friday and buy bits and pieces during the week. This fridge freezer has proven to be really good. The fridge compartment is very spacious. I normally just slot the food in until it looks neat and tidy but try to keep the different types of food to different shelves. I place my fresh meat including sausages and bacon on the top shelf. Ialso use the top shelf if I need more height for a large bowl of triffle or something.
Eggs and cheese normally go on the middle shelf and there is plenty of height to allow me to stack two 300g tubs of Philidelphia on top of one another. The bottom shelf is for other bits and peices including my fiances beer, bottles of water and juice normally. The crisper drawers have came in very handy for storing yoghurts and fruit/veg. Any loose food can go in here and be kept neatly together.
The shelves on the door are spacious and moreso than our previous fridge freezer. I would the bottom one isn't very strong though and starts to tip slightly if I try to fill it up too much. I usually store a 2l bottle of juice here, diluting juice and milk. The next shelf is perfect for jars of beetroot, onions and bottles of tomato sauce. I use the top shelf for butter. Everything has its own little place in my fridge! Food is kept chilled and fresh so no issues there.
The top two drawers of the freezer pull open whilst the bottom drawer can be removed. I like the fact that the front of the drawers are clear. I like to keep my freezer stocked up with packet foods for convenience but also with frozen veg, any home cooked meals that I have batch cooked and any meat which I have bought as part of a deal which may be short dated. The freezer compartment performs to a high standard. If I have been delayed whilst returning home from Tesco with frozen food, I make use of the fast freeze drawer and this ensures speedy freezing. This is also perfect for fast freezing my home made soup in little tubs. I use this section often when I need to quick set jelly for a dessert. It has come in very handy indeed.
The freezer is spacious and i can fit quite a lot in it. It doesn't look very big but when you play freezer tetris like I do then you will always be able to fit the frozen shopping in. I tend to slot the boxes and tubs in the top two drawers and reserve the bottom drawer (which is quite deep) for packets of frozen veg, chips etc. I find this is the best way to arrange my freezer. There is a little ice cube tray attatched to the bottom drawer but I haven't used this.
The freezer compartment doesn't seem to become as frosty as my old fridge freezer (which resembled the North Pole at times). This isn't a frost free fridge freezer but it certainly doesn't over freeze. We haven't experienced any issues with the freezer compartment and whilst not big enough for a large family, it suits our needs at the moment.
~Cleaning and Maintenance~
Once thing I would say about the glass shelves is that they become quite cloudy looking very quickly. I try to keep them clean and they are easy to wipe over. I clean my any spillages or leaks immediately but like to take the various shelves out to give them a thorough wash regularly. The fridge has an automatic defrosting hole at the back which needs to be kept clean. I wipe it over regularly to ensure any excess water runs away easily. I don't feel the need to defrost the freezer compartment often but when I do, it is a quick and easy task. I give the outside of the fridge freezer a wipe over with a damp cloth to keep it fresh and looking new.
~Conclusion~
I would say that the NCAA55 is a well designed, attractive looking fridge freezer which does a great job of keeping our food fresh, chilled and/or frozen. It is easy to maintain and is generally a really good, reliable appliance. It is an affordable price in my opinion and I can highly recommend it at the current selling price. It can be found on other websites.
Thanks for reading :)
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