Icy White and Bright FUTURE (Hotpoint RZA50S)

Member Name: rachels_ratty

Product:	Hotpoint RZA50S
Date:	03/01/03 (349 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Efficient and economical, Silent, Fast freeze capability

Disadvantages: None so far

Every year, if there is any money left after the Christmas spending spree we buy something for the whole family to enjoy or benefit from. A present for the house you may say! Twoyears ago it was a DVD player, last year a tumble drier and this year a new freezer. To say the old one was on its last legs is an understatement, besides which it was far too small. Now to be fair to it, I have no idea how old it was but the words inefficiently ancient spring immediately to mind. But I digress. I went to John Lewis and, well there is now a sparkling and brand-spanking new Hotpoint Future RZA50 upright freezer currently taking pride of place in my kitchen!


~ BASIC SPECIFICATIONS ~

Has a dimension of 60cm in width, 135cm in height and 62 cm in depth.

184 litres frozen food capacity, which equates to 7.7 cubic feet of available space.

Four medium, one small and one huge solid style food baskets, which can be removed so the built in shelves can be used instead. Two of these baskets are capable of fast freezing.

Exterior fast freeze button.

A rating for efficiency, which is the most economical.

High Temperature warning light.

Grab style handle for easy opening. Door can be adjusted to open to the left or right.

HFC and CFC free.


~ EXTERIOR LOOKS ~

This freezer is available in three colour choices; polar white, natural linen (brown to you and me) and silver. I chose the white one because it matches all the other major appliances in the kitchen. It looks very stylish, has clean lines and is very gently rounded at the top with little curved details at the front, above the door. Here is where you will find the three indicator lights, the temperature dial and the fast freeze button.

The handle is made of metal for strength and finished with white plastic caps top and bottom. It feels very secure and capable of withstanding multiple tugs for want of a be
tter word
. Currently mine opens to the right, but will be changed round as soon as I can find a spare half an hour to follow the instructions!

Hotpoint provide plastic door hinge protectors that simply clip on to the bottom of the freezer, to the left and right obviously as the door can open either way. They not only protect the hinges but also finish off the look of the freezer well. These are easily fitted and because they are shaped you can't get them on the wrong way round. Unfortunately, mine came with two right hand one; but one quick trip to John Lewis and they swapped the extra one for a leftie..!


~ THE INTERIOR ~


There are 6 very good sized and sturdy reinforced plastic baskets for food storage; or alternatively, with those removed you've got 5 built in shelves. I personally choose to utilize the baskets; you could of course choose a mix and match style. The first 4 baskets in the stack are what I would describe as being medium sized, the next one down is HUGE (and will hold a 20lb turkey) and the final one, whilst at first glance looks as large as the previous one is actually only half sized depth wise. Still big enough for FOUR 2-litre tubs of ice cream though. Ahem!

Two of the drawers are specifically for the purpose of fast freezing, these are the uppermost one and the largest one which is 5th in the stack.

Each of these draws has an inbuilt handle moulded into the plastic front. When I bought it, there were small thin adhesive backed sponge pads attached to the front of each drawer just above the handles. I am guessing that they are placed there by Hotpoint to help prevent damage during transit but I have left them on simply for the fact that they are a good point with which to push each drawer to slide back into place after usage. Better than touching ice cold plastic in my opinion!


~ INSTALLATION AND CONTROLS ~

As with all freezers this model needs around 15 minutes to set
tle when you have got it unwrapped from the huge amount of packaging that it comes wrapped in, placed it into position and got it level Sounds complicated? It is not, honest. This model comes with wheels so it is an absolute doddle to manoeuvre and the front feet adjust simply in case your kitchen floor is as uneven as mine.

It should be located away from heat sources as with all freezers as extreme heat can seriously impair its performance. You should also allow for a clearance of at least 10cm from the top of the freezer to any high level cupboard above for the purpose of the freezer needing full ventilation clearance. The door needs a minimum space in front of it of 60cm purely to allow the door to open fully. Sounds obvious but I know I forgot to check any of these measurements before purchase!

When you have got it all unpacked, positioned and levelled and you have patiently waited the 15 minutes for it to settle; plug it in to the mains and flip that switch! The freezer makes a tiny noise, gives a little judder and two lights come on at the front. Then silence. If it wasn't for the lights you would think it had already conked out! The first light is green and indicates there is power passing to the freezer and the other is red and indicates that the temperature inside the freezer is too warm. Simply wait for the red light to extinguish and then the freezer is ready to use.

The brief time it took to chill to its correct temperature was equally as shocking to me as the fact that it apparently runs in a silent stealth mode! There was me expecting to have to wait overnight before it was ready and this efficient little bugger was all iced and ready in less than two hours. It may have been less than that even; I have to say I didn't check it that closely because I wasn't expecting THAT level of efficiency. All I will say is that I about fell over in stunned amazement when I saw that little red dot had gone out so quickly!


Next to these aforementioned indic
ator lights is another to indicate that fast freeze has been selected. This one shows amber when lit. But what?s that you wonder? Well there is a little silver button next to the lights that you push when you want to freeze quantities of fresh food. How early you hit that button depends on how much fresh food you have. Put simply, if you need to freeze both fast freeze drawers full of fresh food then hit the button, pop in the food and leave the freezer for 24 hours set in that mode. For smaller amounts obviously you need the fast freeze option for less time but the instructions for this are very clear in the booklet provided. For really small amounts, like a few loaves of bread or joints of meat, there is no need at all to utilize this at all.

The exterior temperature control dial comes factory pre-set to number 3 on the scale which sets the freezer temperature to minus 18, standard I believe. You can of course reset the dial to make it slightly less like the arctic, or more so. I havent touched it.


~ EXTRAS ~

The instruction booklet is 20 pages long and comes with both illustrations and real pictures, which makes life easier I think! It?s well written and just in English. It has all set up information, detailed control points and handy advice to get the most efficient use from the freezer.

The freezer comes with a sturdy ice cube tray, an ice scraper and a small tube of plastic. After a study of the instruction book to convince myself that Hotpoint hadnt lost the plot I discovered that this clear piece of tubing was an aid for defrosting. At the bottom of the freezer, underneath where the lowest basket sits is a small central gully running from around half way from the back to the front. Insert this piece of tubing into said indentation and all the water will simply run out via the pipe into a tactfully placed container (provided by you of course). I suppose it helps that this fr
eezer is raised up off the ground slightly to a
llow this but personally I have never seen this kind of drainage system before! Unfortunately I cannot comment as to if it actually works or not as Ive yet to be brave enough and besides its new!

Hotpoint seem to be pretty confident in the longevity of this model; they provide a years labour for any repairs plus FIVE years parts in with the purchase price as long as you use an approved Hotpoint fitter should the need arise. I went one better than that as buying from John Lewis gave me an extra year free labour, making my personal deal 2 years labour and five years parts.


~ IN CONCLUSION ~

From what I can tell so far this is an excellent freezer. Having been used for so long to my old one I still have to glance at it every time I pass it to check the power light?s still lit as it literally makes no noise at all. I paid £319 for it; I have seen it cheaper but not with the two-year labour guarantee and delivery was free too. Apart from that little niggle that the left hand hinge cover was missing I can make no complains abut it at all so far and that hardly merits it losing a star for so I wont make a deduction. It gets a full 5 stars in my opinion and well-deserved ones too.


Now pass me that ice cream...!!!

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