How to Buy a Bottom Freezer Refrigerator

A bottom freezer refrigerator is the same as a classic fridge, except for 1 thing: cooler placement. Although most people use the cooler compartment more often than the freezer compartment, it is the one that is lower than eye level. If you need fruit, vegetables, milk, or anything else, you have to bend over. If you buy a bottom freezer refrigerator, that problem is nonexistent.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Tape measure

1. Look inside your old fridge. Is most of your food in the cooler or the freezer? When you open the freezer, take inventory of how full it is. A typical bottom freezer refrigerator has a slightly smaller freezer than one on top. Usually it isn't a big deal, unless you keep a lot of food in it. In that case, make sure you find a model with an equally large design.

2. Think about your preference when it comes to the door. A bottom freezer refrigerator has 2 options for a door: drawer or hinge. Drawers are useful if you only store a few boxed items. Typically, there isn't a lot of shelf storage. If you store un stackable freezer items, the hinge type works best.

3. Make sure you have room for full sized frozen pizzas if you eat a lot of them. There are a lot of bottom freezer refrigerator models that aren't wide enough for standard frozen pizzas.

4. Check for the energy star label. If you're going to purchase a new bottom freezer refrigerator anyway, you might as well give yourself some energy savings and conserve electricity.

Tips & Warnings

• Check with your local utility company. Many give rebates for energy star appliances. You might get as much as $150 back.