3 Steps Before Buying a New Refrigerator

Step 1: Knowing your dimensions

    Fridges are not technically a standard size, they do however come in more popular sizes and when you fall within those sizes you will have the most options.  So when measuring your fridge, how and what you measure makes a difference.  Some things to keep in mind:

¨  Try and Measure the Opening not the fridge

¨  Take more than one measurement

o   Measure the width in three places, Top, Bottom and Middle

o   Watch for baseboards of lips on cabinets that may shorten your width.

o   What for plugs and water lines that may change your width at certain points

o   Measure height at three places, floors aren’t always level.

¨  If you can’t measure the opening measure the fridge

o   Measure the cabinet of the fridge along the top to get an accurate width and add 1/8^th of an inch.

o   Measure the space on the left and right of the fridge.

o   Measure the height of the fridge to both the hinges and the cabinet.

o   Then measure the distance to the cabinetry above the fridge on both the left and right side.

¨  If you have cabinetry above the fridge, measure how far it comes out from the wall.

While the above measurements may seem daunting they can help you know what you can fit, so you don’t fall in love with fridge you can’t have.  Before ever shopping for a fridge these are the measurements that I would take to simply know what I can fit and what I can’t

Step 2: Things to watch out for, or things you can change

¨  Walls, if you have a wall to the right or left of a fridge that extends past the fridge; it may impede a door opening in a Side by Side or French door, and may influence the way you have to have a Top or bottom Mount open.

¨  If you are short on height because of cabinetry above the fridge, some may consider moving or adjusting the cabinetry.

¨  Islands in front of the fridge.  (The best Measurement for an Island is from the back wall were the fridge sits to the edge of the island)

Step 3: Counter Depth VS Standard Depth

¨  The difference Between a counter depth is the depth of the casing on the fridge, 24” inches with a counter depth and 28” to a standard Depth

¨  The counter Depth is going to give a more built in look as most counter tops are about 24” deep.

How Much Heat in the Kitchen??

A British thermal unit (BTU): It represents the amount of thermal energy necessary to raise the temperature of one pound of pure liquid water by one degree Fahrenheit. One four-inch wooden kitchen match consumed completely generates approximately 1 BTU.

Do electric stoves have BTUs?

The heating power of electric stoves tends to be measured in watts, instead of BTUs. One watt is equal to 3.412142 BTUs per hour.

More BTUs are automatically better than less, right?

Not necessarily! Professional ranges can scorch your cookware and be hard to handle on a normal schedule of cooking.

How many BTUs should my stove have?

This is the key question, right? Ultimately, you want to make sure your stove has enough BTUs to quickly boil a large pot of water, but that there is a large and effective dynamic range between all the burners. You need to be able to simmer on low, fry on medium, and sear on high. If your stove jumps quickly from low to high heat or doesn't ever do low heat at all, that's not very helpful. A responsive dynamic range and easy control is more important than sheer BTU numbers.

The one other place that BTU numbers come into play is choosing a range vent hood. Hoods are calibrated to handle certain amounts of BTUs, so when you are picking out a new hood, make sure you know how many BTUs your stove puts out.