Sep 22, 2024
Fridge recommendations
City Cost thrifty veterans, give me your recommendations! If you read my blogs, you know I cook three meals almost every day. My current fridge, a Daewoo 120 liter model, is starting to give out after 10 years of use. What size would you recommend for a single person who cooks daily? What brands do you swear by? What features are must-haves for home cooks?
Best Answer
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on Oct 7
@genkidesu Using Amazon for smaller appliances has been a better deal than electronics shops and they also have plenty of options. For some reason I hadn't thought of it for a fridge. Did they include shipping? How does it work with hauling off the old fridge?
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on Sep 22
We have a Sharp brand fridge which we got off Amazon JP several years ago, it's 350 liters which has been fine for our family of four -- but in saying that, we've changed our shopping habits a lot since living here and grab groceries several times a week instead of a once-a-week thing that's more typical where I'm from. I think back home we'd likely need a much bigger unit just to fit the different lifestyle there. One thing I LOVE about our fridge is that the main door opens both ways, so you can grab stuff out from the left or from the right. Below the main fridge section there's a pull out freezer section (admittedly I wish this space was a bit bigger), and then another fridge pull out drawer. We mainly picked it because it was on sale at the time (I'm definitely not a fridge brand expert!) but we've been really pleased with it. I think around 120L sounds about right for a single person who cooks daily.
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on Sep 23
For what its worth, our fridge is a Toshiba and its 27 years old and (I hope I'm not jinxing it now) is still going strong! Its 310 liters. The freezer part is only a third of the whole thing, which is a bit small, but to date we haven't needed the freezer much, but we will in the future, so next one I buy I'll get a half and half.
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on Sep 23
@BigfamJapan 27 years is amazing...that's a testament to good quality. Off topic but my husband bought his Zojirushi rice cooker since he was in college, so about 20 years, and that's still going strong too! I don't feel like appliances I buy these days last as long :(
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on Sep 23
@BigfamJapan That's impressive longevity for an appliance anywhere in the world! I'm going to look at Toshiba and Sharp models.
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on Sep 27
I do like those Sharp open either way models, but my husband said Sharp has a bad reputation (no idea why). We have an old National (Panasonic) one person fridge (similar size) that is too small for two people who always cook at home. We both shop a couple times a week and both cook, using different ingredients. It's at least 16 years old - we got it used but they stopped making them / using the National branding. I feel less alone in the old fridge too small for our family size club. I get the idea that most Japanese brands last for a long time. You might want to pull yours out and vacuum around the back or other easy maintainence to see if it helps it to keep going longer. I found some really good info in Japanese on recommended fridge size based on lifestyle/family size and what to check for. Yours sounds close as far as size, if it seems like you need to shop too often or want a bigger one, 150-175l or so models are common. We are gonna start looking for a new one soon so I'm following this question.
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on Sep 29
@helloalissa I had no idea about the bad rep, I just bought Sharp because it was cheap for the size at the time...it was also a gold colorway (it's not super gold, just a metallic tone that isn't the usual silver) so maybe that also made it better value than some of its similar sized counterparts. I always thought they were a Japanese owned company though...so I don't know why they have a bad reputation either! On that note though, are there any brands here that are seen as better than others for appliances? I'm curious now!
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on Oct 7
@helloalissa This is one of my biggest issues, disposing of the defunct fridge if I buy from an Amazon seller. I'll check this out and post when I find out!
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on Oct 25
@helloalissa sorry, I didn't see this before! When we got our fridge out here in Niigata we didn't have a fridge -- we'd moved out here from a place which had a fridge included previously, so we didn't have one that we needed to dispose of. Shipping was included and they brought it in and set it up as well, and took the box + plastic wrapping etc. in the process. I imagine *possibly* that they could take an old fridge away too, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Depending on the area you live (and if the old fridge is still functional) then you could give it away or sell it on various buy/swap/sell Facebook pages.
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on Oct 25
@helloalissa Oh and for what it's worth we also got our washing machine/dryer combo on Amazon and they did the same, set it up to make sure it was working and disposed of the packaging items for us as well!
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on Dec 28
@TonetoEdo Did you manage to find a new fridge or is your Daewoo one still kicking?
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on Dec 28
@genkidesu To my surprise, yes, the decrepit fridge is still functioning well! In the stifling heat last summer, it trucked along making a lot of unpleasant noise, but since autumn, it runs nearly silent. The Daewoo fridge has nearly seen the end of its days so I'll replace it in spring with a fridge about the same size. Thanks to all for the fridge feedback!
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on Jun 17
I never updated that we ended up buying a Sharp (open both directions) fridge in the end! I don't remember what the reason was for my husband not liking them before, but he's the one who decided on which brand. It was purchased in store, a discounted display fridge, last season's series. And I've since nearly forgotten how much I grumbled about the old one being too small, hah.
13 Answers