No modern kitchen can be imagined without a refrigerator. Manufacturers offer more and more technological, multi-functional variations of this household appliance with a wide variety of designs. But nowadays, the owner of an apartment or a private house is faced with the task of acquiring not only a refrigerator with optimal and a set of technical options. It must be also an effective and harmonious introduction to the interior of the kitchen space. Given the wide range of color solutions, options for execution, and internal filling, the choice cannot be fast. We hope that our large photo selection and illustrative examples of the refrigerator in modern kitchen interior design projects will help you decide on the purchase of this important household appliance.
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Recommendations for Choosing a Refrigerator
Only at first glance, it may seem that the choice of a refrigerator for the kitchen is a simple matter. It is simply necessary to choose a unit that is suitable in size and satisfies the buyer’s requirements at a cost. But not everything is so unambiguous. You should choose a refrigerator the way it ergonomically enters an interior of a premise, corresponds to the design of the kitchen. And, the main thing, it should be convenient and practical in operation and possess the necessary set of functions.
We bring to your attention the list of requirements for a modern refrigerator for the right choice:
Obviously, choosing a refrigerator should be necessarily based on the size of the kitchen and the number of family members. If your kitchen has a large area, then there will be no problems with choosing a refrigerator. But for small rooms, one should take into account every centimeter. There is no sense in purchasing a large appliance for a small family.
As a rule, standard kitchens have an area of no more than 8-10 square meters. For such a room, the best option would be a refrigerator with base parameters 60×60 cm (23,6×23,6 inches length/width). For small rooms, manufacturers offer compact models with base parameters 45×60 cm (17,7×23,6 inches).
Ideally, the height of the refrigerator is determined by the level of the furniture set. But not always such a correspondence is possible. The unwritten rule says that the refrigerator should not be more than 1.5 m in height so that its operation was convenient for all family members.
If the home appliance is too small, you will have to tilt all the time. The high model is also inconvenient to use – it is difficult to reach the upper shelves. The best option is a wide and not very high household appliance. But in the case of a small kitchen, you can find models the size of a cooker on a wide range.
Often buyers neglect this criterion. But, in fact, the number of family members, the frequency of cooking, and the size of food stocks that meet the needs of the family affect the choice of the refrigerator. The most popular models are with the European standard volume of 250-300 liters.
A refrigerator with several cameras is necessary for those who need to be able to cool or freeze products at different temperatures. For example, meat and fish are cooled at the same temperature, and greens or berries at another. At present, there are buyers who are satisfied with single-chamber refrigerators. The two-chamber models are most in demand. They come with the possibility of cooling and freezing. There is an increasing number of buyers who purchase freezers and one-camera fridges separately to use in different spots of the kitchen. But we will speak about such a possibility later in this article.
Recently, there is a growing demand for three-compartment refrigerators with zero and lower temperature regimes. The products retain their freshness for a longer time in such household appliances because the temperature regime of cooling or freezing is selected for each type. Greens, fruits, and vegetables look like they were just ripped off the garden after a week of storage.
In deep freezers you can store berries, greens, vegetables, and fruits, preserving their vitamins. The temperature in such chambers is indicated by asterisks – the more the number of asterisks, the longer the products can be stored. Under conditions of a “dry freshness” regime (from -3 to 0 degrees by Celsius scale/ from +26,6 to +31 ⁰F) with a humidity of 50% fresh meat and fish are able to maintain their nutritional qualities for up to a week. If the mode of “wet freshness” (from +0.5 to +3 degrees / from +32 to +37,5 ⁰F) and humidity of 90% is set, fruits and vegetables are able to keep their freshness three times more than the usual mode of the refrigerator compartment of standard models.
In order to ensure the refrigerator perfectly cope with the task of cooling the products, herewith not consuming much energy, it is necessary to choose models with “no frost” or “non-freezing” modes. Such units have the function of self-defrosting. You will need only once a year to disconnect the device from the network and completely unfreeze it in order to wash all surfaces.
The level of noise emitted by the refrigerator depends entirely on the quality of its compressor. In turn, this factor affects the life of the entire unit. The optimal noise level of the compressor is considered to be a value in the range from 21 to 55 dB. Experts recommend buying two-compressor models. Their load is distributed to two (or more) cameras. Also, thermoelectric and absorption devices (without compressors) work quietly. But such modules are only available in compact sizes (due to the characteristics of the cooling system).
Considering the model you like, pay attention to the shelves in the refrigerator. Manufacturers offer us monolithic products from:
- plastic;
- metal;
- glass
Experts recommend buying shelves in the form of grates as the air circulates freely through them inside the refrigerating chamber. This has an effect on maintaining the level of freshness of the products.
Most of the modern models of refrigerators have an internal cavity with a special, antibacterial coating, created from inorganic silver. Unpleasant smells in the fridge are left in past. There are also variants for this most important household appliance equipped with antibacterial charcoal filters.
Saving electricity is not a fashion trend, but the need for today. It’s not just the electricity bills, but the entire energy consumption of our planet. The most economical from the point of view of power consumption are the models marked A, followed by the B and C scale. There are also the top innovative brands that introduce models with A+, A++, and even A+++ energy consumption (up to 150 Watt/hour under load and up to 0,5 kW/day).
Obviously, not only the technical characteristics and dimensions of the refrigerator model are the selection criteria. The way of execution of the unit, its color, and a stylistic decision will influence the perception of the entire image of the kitchen. In addition, it is important that the refrigerator can serve as “faith and truth” for as long as possible. And this is influenced, among other things, by the way, to create a cover for its skeleton. Manufacturers offer us three options for such coverage:
- from the pouring glass (no traces left of the fingers);
- stainless steel;
- surfaces treated with paint and enamel.
Choosing the Color and Location in the Kitchen
Color Solution
One of the most popular color solutions for the execution of refrigerators is snow-white surfaces. Not surprisingly, most Europeans and Americans prefer the traditional color palette option. Such a device fits seamlessly into any interior design, designed in any stylistic direction. But such a refrigerator will not become the accent of the image of the room. The exception can only be if all other surfaces of the kitchen are made in dark or bright colors, but this option is extremely rare.
Equally popular are models with a stainless steel coating. Such a refrigerator can easily be combined with the execution of other kitchen appliances (ovens, hoods, cookers, microwaves, dishwashers). It looks organically fit into any kind of modern style of decoration of kitchen spaces.
If you want to make the refrigerator an accent element of the kitchen interior, we recommend opting for a bright, rich color of the device surface. A similar effect can be achieved by installing a black refrigerator in a light kitchen. But it is important to understand and be prepared for the fact that all fingerprints will be visible on the surface of such an aggregate.
But in some cases, the color of the refrigerator will not matter. It is a question of camouflaging a household appliance behind the facades of the storage system. Most often, this design technique is used to create classic kitchen interiors. To ensure that the appearance of the classical kitchen interior was close to the canons of this style, modern household appliances better hide behind the facades of cabinets that correspond to the design of the furniture set.
But one can meet the use of this design technique in modern variations of the design of the kitchen space. The refrigerator “hides” behind the smooth (or simply without decor) facades of modern furniture, perfectly fitting into the overall picture of the interior.
The next option, in which the color of the surface of the refrigerator is not particularly important, is associated with the use of black magnetic boards, on which it is possible to write down recipes, lists of products, or simply leave messages to household members.
Location of the Refrigerator in the Kitchen
If the kitchen space has an average and a large area, then there is no problem with the location of the refrigerator. You can choose the optimal location for the convenience of performing work processes (near the sink and cutting surfaces). In this case, the rule of feng shui can be observed which says do not have a “source of cold” in the immediate vicinity of the “source of fire” – the stove or hob. In a spacious kitchen, you can install even two refrigerators with different modes (including a wine cooler), placing them symmetrically to create a harmonious interior.
But what is the best way to install a refrigerator in a small or even a tiny kitchen space? Experts recommend choosing one of two options. The first is due to the fact that the refrigerator occupies one of the free corners of the room. The second – the household appliance is installed at the door. Everything depends on the size of the room, the location of windows and doorways (and in some cases also on the number of them, because the room can be a passageway), the presence of protrusions and niches (for example, the presence of a garbage can).
The location of the refrigerator at the entrance of the kitchen space may in some cases require disposal of the door or the transfer of the doorway. But these will be small sacrifices for the possibility of installing a refrigerator in a small kitchen space because to put this device in the interior of any other room (in some cases, the owners have to install it in the hallway) will be times more difficult.
Most often, designers offer the embedding of a refrigerator in the framework of a furniture kitchen set. Thus, this unit will not be standing out from their overall picture, attracting excessive attention. In addition, the box created for the refrigerator can be supplemented with a shelf for installing a microwave oven or any other home appliances or storage system. And an additional locker in the kitchen is never a problem.
If the kitchen area is part of one spacious room that combines several functional segments, then it makes sense to consider the possibility of embedding the refrigerator in the interior partition walls.
