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COPYRIGHT 2002 Consumers Union of the United States, Inc.
Speed cooking has had a place in the American kitchen for a quarter of a century, but only in the last few years has speed chilling been available. Refrigerator makers are betting that the same time-pressed households that embraced microwave ovens will value fridges that cool fast. Of the 24 refrigerators rated in this report, several promise to make more ice in less time. And one model, the GE Profile Arctica PSS25NGM, claims not only to chill soft drinks and wine faster than a standard refrigerator, but to thaw meat quicker, too. We found that it generally lives up to those claims.
This new crop of refrigerators--including 16 tested since our last Update (October 2001)--displays other new features as well. Digital controls and displays have replaced temperature-setting dials on a few side-by-sides. The GE side-by-sides we tested have ice-and-water dispensers that are at least an inch taller than most, so they easily accommodate tall bottles. And the Maytag Plus MZD2766GE "Wide-by-Side" has a zigzag design that adds a few inches of width to its shelves.
Manufacturers no doubt hope that features such as those will make their big box stand out in a crowd of competitors that are largely indistinguishable in terms of basic functionality. We've found most new refrigerators to be at least competent performers. And thanks to strict new federal energy standards that went into effect last July, differences in energy use between models of the same type are minimal. All the tested models meet the new standards, which require refrigerators to use about 30 percent less energy than the maximum allowed under the previous, 1993 rules.
While you might appreciate some of the new features, what counts more are issues such as size (exterior and interior), type, price, and reliability.
TYPECASTING
The first order of business when shopping for a refrigerator is determining what size model will fit in your kitchen (and through your doors and hallways). Then consider type: top-freezer, bottom-freezer, or side-by-side. Models that stack the freezer on the top or bottom are more energy efficient than side-by-sides; that means they use less energy relative to their usable space. Top-freezers put the freezer at eye level for easy access. Bottom-freezers place more of the items you're likely to use day to day at eye level. But they tend to cost more than similar-size top-freezers.
Side-by-sides are typically bigger on the outside than stacked-freezer models, but they don't necessarily give you more space inside. Indeed, our measurements show that side-by-sides tend to have less usable capacity relative to their claimed capacity than do top- and bottom-freezers. The capacities manufacturers tout may include the space used by through-the-door ice-and-water dispensers, which are often found on side-by-sides. We think that measurement doesn't accurately reflect usable capacity. The Ratings on page 46 include the manufacturer's claimed volume and our measurement, which excludes the icemaker for side-by-sides.
Another downside of many side-by-sides: They tend to have narrower shelves than top- or bottom-freezer models of comparable width and thus may not be able to hold wide items such as a pizza box or sheet cake. The Maytag Plus MZD2766GE "Wide-by-Side" addresses that issue with a zigzag design that adds a few inches of width to the top of the fridge compartment and bottom of the freezer space. This design, however, may account for that model's poor...
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