Garage Refrigerator

[Color Me Badd Fan]

It's only a matter of time until we need a refrigerator to put in our garage. My wife likes to load up on frozen food when it goes on sale, so we'd like the extra freezer space.

I would just buy a chest freezer which are fairly inexpensive and efficient but for two facts:

1. Most or all of these chest freezers are manual defrosting.

2. We have a side by side fridge in the house and the major drawback to this kind of model is that it's very difficult to put in anything wide without clearing off an entire shelf.

I'm looking therefore to just get a conventional top freezer bottom fridge model (18 cubic feet). The cheapest brand new models run around $375 to $400. I started thinking, why not just buy a used fridge off craigslist? there's no shortage of people right now that have to sell stuff.

I'm seeing a lot of models in the 4-7 year old range that people are selling for around $200. I also saw a three year old 23 cubic foot stainless steal, bottom freezer, single door top fridge model for $475. This thing's going to be chugging away in my garage which faces west in a pretty hot climate. I'm just wondering if there has been a big jump in efficiency and performance with refrigerators over the past 7 years or so.

[FN Phat]

It's only a matter of time until we need a refrigerator to put in our garage. My wife likes to load up on frozen food when it goes on sale, so we'd like the extra freezer space.

I would just buy a chest freezer which are fairly inexpensive and efficient but for two facts:

1. Most or all of these chest freezers are manual defrosting.

2. We have a side by side fridge in the house and the major drawback to this kind of model is that it's very difficult to put in anything wide without clearing off an entire shelf.

I'm looking therefore to just get a conventional top freezer bottom fridge model (18 cubic feet). The cheapest brand new models run around $375 to $400. I started thinking, why not just buy a used fridge off craigslist? there's no shortage of people right now that have to sell stuff.

I'm seeing a lot of models in the 4-7 year old range that people are selling for around $200. I also saw a three year old 23 cubic foot stainless steal, bottom freezer, single door top fridge model for $475. This thing's going to be chugging away in my garage which faces west in a pretty hot climate. I'm just wondering if there has been a big jump in efficiency and performance with refrigerators over the past 7 years or so.

Yes.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Yes.

How so and how much? Was there some point where things improved quite a bit with these things?

[Donuthole]

Yes.

Is it like the change in auto refrigeration, circa 1996, i.e. more energy efficient and eco-friendly, but less effective? Because r13 auto A/Cs kick the trash out of R123a A/Cs.

[marsupial]

It's only a matter of time until we need a refrigerator to put in our garage. My wife likes to load up on frozen food when it goes on sale, so we'd like the extra freezer space.

I would just buy a chest freezer which are fairly inexpensive and efficient but for two facts:


2. We have a side by side fridge in the house and the major drawback to this kind of model is that it's very difficult to put in anything wide without clearing off an entire shelf.

I absolutely hate side-by-side fridge/freezers. I love my bottom freezer, top fridge with French doors. I'd put your side-by-side in the garage and move the bottom freezer to the kitchen.

As far as energy efficiency goes, you could probably google the brand and model and see how it fares.

[FMCoug]

We picked up an upright freezer for the garage for $25 off of Craigslist or KSL. It's been great. Ugly as sin but who cares? It's in the garage.

[Katy Lied]

Is your garage finished? Does it get hotter than 90 or 100 in the summer?

[landpoke]

Is your garage finished? Does it get hotter than 90 or 100 in the summer?

Or cold in the winter? Beer bottles explode when they freeze, btw.

Edit: Never mind on my first sentence, I missed the "hot climate" comment. Take my second sentence as an interesting anecdote about life in the landpoke household.

[Katy Lied]

Freezers have to work extremely hard in hot garages.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Freezers have to work extremely hard in hot garages.

It definitely gets to above 90 and it may get above 100 sometimes. Again, it's on the west side of the house and it's a three car garage, so there's a ton of surface area on the garage doors which seem to radiate heat into the inside. I may have room for it in my laundry room which doubles as a mud room which connects directly to my garage. If that's the case, the top french door/bottom freezer would be an option for the kitchen and the side by side would move to the laundry room.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

I absolutely hate side-by-side fridge/freezers. I love my bottom freezer, top fridge with French doors. I'd put your side-by-side in the garage and move the bottom freezer to the kitchen.

As far as energy efficiency goes, you could probably google the brand and model and see how it fares.

The french door portion is awesome, but I've always thought the bottom freezer section would be a pain in the ass because you're basically stacking stuff on top of each other like a chest freezer. Plus they're too damn expensive.

I have a stainless steel Whirlpool Gold side by side (it's not a Viking or anything, but it's nice for me) which is less than two years old, and dropping another $1500 at least on a stainless steel french door model isn't really a possibility.

[Babs]

I have a stainless steel Whirlpool Gold side by side

For a second there I misread that and thought you had a gold-colored fridge. I was thinking that must be one crazy pimped out kitchen.

[marsupial]

The french door portion is awesome, but I've always thought the bottom freezer section would be a pain in the ass because you're basically stacking stuff on top of each other like a chest freezer. Plus they're too damn expensive.

I have a stainless steel Whirlpool Gold side by side (it's not a Viking or anything, but it's nice for me) which is less than two years old, and dropping another $1500 at least on a stainless steel french door model isn't really a possibility.

Well, the stainless steel one you were looking at on craigslist sounded nice enough to put in your kitchen and not knowing anything about your current fridge, I thought having the bottom freezer would be enough to make a switch.

[Katy Lied]

Additionally, although many people like to keep their freezer in their garage, manufacturers say this isn't a good idea. In hot weather, a product's compressor has to work overtime to keep food frozen, making it more prone to breakage. We contacted Frigidaire, and a representative told us that the ideal temperature for keeping a chest or upright freezer in the garage is between 55 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. So if you live in a very mild climate, keeping the freezer in the garage isn't a problem. For most, however, the basement is a better option.

Whirlpool has designed a line of garage-friendly appliances able to withstand very high or low outdoor temperatures. The Gladiator Garageworks brand is designed specifically for a garage. Gladiator's 21-cubic-foot Freezerator Convertible Refrigerator/Freezer GAFZ21XXRK (*Est. $1,100) has 15 cubic feet of freezer space, with 6 cubic feet of space on top that can be used as either a refrigerator or freezer. It has built-in heaters for cold outdoor temperatures and a cooling system for hot weather. Even so, it is recommended that you don't use the Gladiator in temperatures below 0 degrees or above 110 degrees. User reports on this model are mixed.

http://www.consumersearch.com/freeze...rtant-features

Basically, if you like to shop all at once and load that sucker up, a chest freezer is best. (Also if you hunt, or like to keep that possum you just ran over).

[Color Me Badd Fan]

I bought a six year old KitchenAid for $200 today. It was in pretty good shape and apparently the woman was only storing wine in it most of the time. It also has a water dispenser and ice maker that I'll never use. It also didn't have exposed coils in the back which was a good thing. After having looked at new fridges for the past week, I'm pretty sure it was one of the nicer top freezer/bottom fridge models six years ago.

Apparently this woman is in her late 30s/early 40s and got a big inheritance. She blew all of the money buying a ton of crap and a friend of hers has been assisting her in selling her crap.

There was a Ms. Pacman arcade machine in the garage close to the fridge. I've mentioned in the past that I have a theory that these arcade machines from the Golden Era of video games will be bigtime collector's items at some point. They're selling that too, but I think they're asking for too much. Plus the joystick sticks a little bit.