In many countries, it is common for fridges and freezers to be separate appliances designed to be cheap to manufacture and frugal in electricity use. However, as the rising tide of globalization lifts more and more people around the world out of poverty, a Western style lifestyle is gaining in popularity. One common feature of Western kitchens – particularly North American ones – is a large combination refrigerator and freezer appliance.
These appliances come in two basic styles, over and under – the smaller type – and American fridge freezers – significantly larger. This article briefly discusses the American fridge freezer, and its growing popularity around the world.
An American style fridge freezer is a side-by-side fridge freezer – which is how it is labeled in some countries – which consists of a freezer and a refrigerator sitting next to each other in the same ’shell’. These appliances usually have a fairly generous capacity – particularly in the fridge compartment. The freezer, while they can be a significant size, will generally be smaller than is found in a separate deep chest freezer for example.
Most American style fridge freezers come standard with a lot of features that many separates do not have. Even the most basic refrigerator of this type is likely to come with slots for ice cube trays, if it does not incorporate an automatic icemaker itself! Also popular are filtered water and ice dispensers, considered by many Americans to be almost a ‘must have’ when purchasing a refrigeration appliance. Other common features are vegetable crispers, special drawers for storing defrosting meat, auto defrost and even special spill proof shelving to prevent messes if something in the fridge should tip over.
These units are often designed with style in mind. To this end many models are available in a variety of finishes. While a lower end refrigerator may just be available in white, a premium model may also come in stainless steel and/or black. There are many people who consider a stainless steel fridge freezer to be the ultimate in appliance style when designing a new kitchen.
Most serious fridge manufacturers have at least one or more of these American fridge freezers in their line-up these days. From Kenmore and Beko, to Electrolux and LG, the potential buyer certainly suffers no lack of choice.
With a constant flow of new consumers entering the market in the newly emerged economies, demand for this type of American fridge – and the Western lifestyle they represent – will only continue to grow.
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