At last, my beers are cold again! (Matsui MC170GWFF)

Member Name: thehonesttruth

Product:	Matsui MC170GWFF
Date:	02/10/09 (95 review reads)
Rating:

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A couple of months ago, a common theme in a lot of my food reviews was me whining about my fridge freezer having broken down, and living on tinned stuff.Well, I'm happy to report that I now have a new fridge, and am back to having cold beers and real food!

I purchased this fridge from Currys for 229.99, paying an additional 19.95 for express delivery and removal and recycling of my old appliance .

After is was delivered, I let it stand for 2 hours before plugging it in and switching it on - apparently this is because the fluid inside needs time to settle after moving. As soon as it was plugged in and switched on, I took myself off food shopping in a state of high excitement - a fridge full of cheese, salad, and ice cold beer, and a freezer full of ice cream were such an exciting prospect.

I came home an hour later, laden down with bags, to find the fridge happily whirring away, and a strange little growling noise . The growling noise worried me a little - and I really couldn't work out where it was coming from, until I realised that my Guinea Pigs, having gotten used to the silence in the kitchen, had taken against the fridges whirring noises, and were growling at it.I'm not entirely sure how two small balls of fluff thought they could take on a fully grown fridge freezer, but it was amusing.

So, time to put my shopping away - and to tell you about the capacity of the fridge freezer. The unit itself is 152cm tall, by 49 wide and 56 deep . It's really quite a compact little thing, narrower and shorter than my old one . Actually, it's size did concern me when I saw it in the shop, I wasn't entirely convinced it would be big enough, and deliberated a fair while before buying it .

The fridge has a storage capacity of 117 litres, and the freezer has a capacity of 55 litres. Which is all very well if you're going to lie it on its back, fill it with water, and use it as a fish tank, but not altogether helpful when you're trying to work out what it will hold - so rather than just giving you the stats , let me tell you about how I've found using it .

The fridge section is at the top, and in here you'll find the single thermostat that controls both the fridge and the freezer . I find that setting 2 (it goes up to 7) is sufficient to keep my frozen stuff frozen and my cold stuff cold. Theres also quite a bright light at the top of the fridge . At the bottom of the fridge is a generous sized salad drawer - I find I can easily fit a bag of onions, a bag of potatoes, a bag of carrots and a couple of cucumbers in there without any problems .

The fridge then has two adjustable height saety glass shelves, as well as 2 shelves and a bottle section in the door itself. It also comes with an egg holder (which I've never used, I just keep mine in the box!).

I find I can store pretty much everything I need to in this fridge with no problems (usually, it's just me and my daughter, leaving loads of space, but occasionally by boyfriend visits and I'll buy extra fresh food, and there is still loads of space!) . The shelves can be taken out and adjusted easily, which is useful if I perhaps have extra bottles I want to keep cool, and also very handy when it comes to washing them .

The freezer has three drawers, the bottom one being larger than the other two . Again, I found that despite looking quite small, I was easily able to store plenty of food in this freezer, and even a large pizza I purchased slotted in there with no problems. I imagine some of the extra large pizzas you can now buy might be a problem to fit in, but everything I had purchased went in easily.

I found the handles of the drawers to be easy to get hold of to pull out, and the clear drawer fronts I loved . In my last freezer they were white, requiring each drawer to be pulled out so I could inspect the contents, but with this one I can tell at a glance what is in each drawer.

Despite some initial whirring and gurgling in the first few days, this fridge is actually very quiet when it's running , and I barely ever notice it making any noise . I've found cleaning it very easy, as all the shelves and drawers come out with minimal effort making giving them a wash down in the sink very easy . All the internal surfaces are smooth, making them easy to wipe down, as are all exernal surfaces .

My appliance is white (they do it in silver too but it's slightly more expensive) and I think it looks very smart - clean simple lines with a very subtle Matsui logo on the fridge door .

This is an A grade in energy efficiency, and I have actually noticed a difference in the amount of power I use to run this compared to my old one which was, I believe, an E rating . I use a prepayment meter, and I've noticed I need to top up by about a pound less a week - it all adds up .

The freezer is frost free, so thats all the bother of defrosting done away with. It comes with an instruction manual, which is written entirely in English . I like this, as I don't have to try to find the right bit of the instructions amongst a mixture of languages, not that I really need any, as the fridge really was simple to get up and running. The manual does tell you have to change the side the door opens on should you need to, some tips for cleaning, and points out what all the various bits are (just in case you didn't know what an ice tray looks like). If you do need to switch sides with the door, all the bits are included to do so .

I haven't had to reposition my fridge since it was installed, but I did notice that it had two wheels at the back! This is, I think, a stroke of genius as it means that one relatively fit person can easily move this by tilting it onto those wheels . Its also very light, at just 52 kg .

So far, I've had no problems with any power cuts, but the manual informs me that should my power go out, the foods inside will remain safe for consumption for 5 hours . Now, this isn't very long, and my old fridge promised my 16 hours of safety for my frozen foods, so this is a small negative point against this fridge, although I hope it will never become an issue .

The fridge also has a warning light that will glow if your fridge is having trouble keeping things at a safe temperature , which is good to know as it will give me a little prior warning should this fridge start to break down in the future, allowing me time to arrange storage of my food . In fact, this is a massive plus point in this products favour - my old one had no such warning light, by the time I noticed it wasn't working it was already too late, and roughly 70 quids worth of food was rendered inedible .

According to the manual, this consumes 256 kwh/year , and also that the freezer will freeze 3kg of fresh food in 24 hours .

I've had this fridge a little under a month now, and so far, I'm very impressed with it . It's quiet, energy efficient, nice looking, has convenient clear drawer fronts, and is the perfect size for the items I need to store. In addition, its easy to remove shelves for cleaning, and it's frost free, so no bothersome defrosting.

I think it's brilliant - it only negative is the short safety span in the case of a power or appliance failure . 5 hours doesn't seem that long. However, so far this fridge has been very reliable, and I don't anticipate any problems with it in the near future .

I think the price I paid for it was reasonable, although I'm sure with a bit of shopping around I might have been able to find it a little cheaper, however.

A great fridge freezer at a reasonable price . 4 stars!

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