Cool! (Hotpoint FFA74)

Member Name: ButterBear

Product:	Hotpoint FFA74
Date:	13/09/07 (407 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Defrost alert

Disadvantages: noisy at times

All homes now a days need a fridge or freezer of some variety, when I moved in with my husband we had seperate units but we simply didn't have enough space and so decided to get a combined fridge freezer. This is a good size freezer with equal sized compartments for the fridge and the freezer, something we felt we needed with our increasing family.

Fridge-
Within the fridge there are 3 glass shelves, each made of 2 sections that are able to fold(this makes them easier to put in or take out, it also has a bottles rack which holds up to 5 bottles of drink. There are 2 plastic drawers at the bottom for veg/salad or whatever you decide to put in there(we have snack bars!)

There is a round display screen by the door which indicates that the fridge is at the right temp by turning green and saying "ok" if the fridge isnt cool enough it will be black.

The door has a bottom shelf for bottles/milk etc, 2 smaller shelves(one with an egg holder for 8 eggs) and a top shelf with a lid for smaller items(we keep medicines in ours because its right at the top and out of the way of small hands) The fridge capacity is 154 litres with 5l door storage.


Freezer-
The freezer has 1 tiny drawer(ice cube tray size), 1 large, 1 small and 1 half drawer, advantages include it being "frost free" and having a defrost alert(in case the door is accidently left open) this is at the top of the fridge freezer along with a button to reset the defrost alert and 2 dials to change the fridge and freezer settings. The freezer capacity is 84 litres.

The freezer does not have an ice maker function or humididty control. Which, while it's not really a problem, the extra features would be nice.



Price & Availability-
It is available in white, sandstone and graphite for £290, it comes with a 12 month warranty and is available at curreys. Because of the size of the fridge freezer I would recommend having the store deliver it, it doesnt come on wheels/castors so the big strapping delivery men will be able to put it place for you(delivery did cost us extra though)


My Opinion-
It is a good freezer, we've had it for nearly 4 years and have had no problems, it looks good and there is plenty of fridge space. It doesnt have enough freezer space for me though, I really feel that the freezer size has suffered in favour of the fridge size, what seems like good depth in the drawers is actually an illusion as the bottom drawer is only half the size it would appear, I probably could get a turkey in the largest drawer but not alot else with it, so I wouldnt recommend it to larger families, families of 3 or less shouldnt find a problem though, I simply can't get all the frozen food I would like in there.

Being able to move the shelves around and even half their size is a real helpful feature if you have a larger item that needs refrigerating. It means you can make the best use of the available space for your personal needs. The salad drawers would probably have been more useful if they had been made as one, the split between the 2 means theres less capacity then there could have been and it is also harder to get larger items in the drawers.

The fridge freezer is very easy to clean and all the compartments can be removed in order to do so. You dont need to defrost it often as it is a frost free but you will need to if you want to clean the freezer section.

The bottle rack is sometimes cause for concern, the 5 bottle maximum doesn't really seem accurate, if i've ever had 5 in there they are squashed together and put up a real fight when you want to get one out, the wire rack also doesn't seem strong enough although it hasn't failed yet.

I do like that the fridge is at the top( I have seen ones with fridge at the bottom and freezer at the top and didnt like them) as I'm more likely to have things I don't want little people getting their hands on whether it be medicines, tupperware with food in(that could get spilt) or my husbands occasional alcoholic drink.

Overall it is a good reliable unit and I would recommend it if your priority is the fridge not the freezer. It measures 180-60-63cm and it's energy band label is A with an estimated annual running cost of £23 that is a perfectly reasonable amount for any family to afford. It does make some strange noises but apparently thats normal for this model, it can be a bit suprising when you first get the fridge freezer though.

Summary: a good reliable unit

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