Appliance Shopping? Little Features Will Make You Happy! #TestDriveMoms

I forget where I heard the quote, “You can’t enjoy a car till you put your first dent in it.” It’s such a truism—we are so afraid of wrecking our brand new toys, we don’t really use them. At least, we don’t use them in a way that doesn’t make us obsessive and batty in the eyes of all our friends and family.

I postulate that the same is true of appliances. Case in point: my husband laughed at me early on for washing my hands before I would touch our new Frigidaire Gallery® Custom-Flex™ refrigerator. 

In retrospect, this was silly of me for two reasons, one: how can I test the claims of features such as that the Smudge-Proof™ Stainless Steel resists fingerprints and is easy to clean if I’m afraid to touch the darned fridge? And two: I have a six-year-old son. My vacuum cleaner LIVES in my kitchen for a very good reason.

I’ve had my fridge long enough now that I’m no longer afraid of it getting dirty. This is because it’s gotten messy through means I was powerless to prevent. Entropy is real. Over time, order becomes chaos.

I’m happy to report that the stainless steel IS as easy to clean as claimed. I also had my first spill in the fridge, but it was easy to manage, and trust me, with the bright white LED lighting in the fridge and freezer, there’s no place for spilled stuff to hide in the dark. Bonus feature: there’s also no dark corners for the leftovers to be hidden for eternity.

In a day and age where there’s an overwhelming choice in appliance purchases, my words of wisdom are: little features affect your satisfaction the most. When you go shopping, they’re often downplayed by salespeople in favour of bragging about an energy star rating or capacity. All refrigerators will keep your food cold. All will hold food. It’s pretty much a given. But it’s the little things that will affect you for better or worse every day–and trust me, when they’re problems, they are going to nag you like a hangnail. 

So ask about the little things! Smart, little features are what will make your life so much easier and make you super happy with your purchase.

Personally, I’ve enjoyed the usability and features of my Frigidaire Gallery® Custom-Flex™ right from the moment I first set it up and realized I didn’t have to insert my torso into the fridge to adjust the temperature like I have every previous fridge I owned. The Space-Saving Ready-Select® Side Controls are cleverly located on the side, and near the door. 63% of people prefer the side panel. I assume the other 37% either have never had to deal with temperature settings in the back, or they have much longer arms than I do, but I for one am grateful that it’s easy to reach.

Speaking of the door, the customizable door has gone through some changes as I’ve tested out what works best for us, and the nice thing is, is that the changes are fast and easy to make. I removed the drink dispenser and replaced it with a small and a mini bin full of fresh fruit and banana bars for fast lunch-packing in the morning (I owe a fellow #testdrivemom for this clever idea, since I buy so many fruit and vegetables!).

I also experimented with the Store-More™ Slide-Under Flip-Up Shelf, which is great when you need just a little extra room for storing tall things. It can flip up, slide under the back half of the shelf, or pull out to a full shelf as needed. I could definitely see the half-shelf being handy around Easter, when my fridge is full of prepped food and large bottles of pop and wine for entertaining.

One thing that hasn’t changed over the weeks is my use of the Store-More™ Drawer. I really like this little drawer. It’s a great place to keep all those fussy items that don’t sit well or take up a lot of space in other places—like fresh herbs; lunch meat; and the many many awkward little packets I have of flax seeds, chia seeds, and hemp seeds for baking, oatmeal and smoothie-making.

The Store-More™ Drawer is also where I keep things that are unsafe for my son. My son’s allergic to dairy and tree nuts, but as a food blogger (and a cheese lover), I usually have to have cheese around. I find it’s a perfect place to store the little containers of grated cheese in particular.

Because the cheese isn’t stacked on a shelf, and nobody has to move them or can touch them by accident, this reduces the risk of accidental exposure or cross contamination.  Any spills of grated cheese are safely contained, which is a total bonus. In my previous fridge, I kept grated cheese containers in dishes or on trays so that they could be handled safely and be contained if they spilled.

I’m no longer wasting food space by putting containers in containers, and I find I have so much more room now than I did in my previous fridge. Because a lot of the little things have a place now, there’s way less clutter and everything is easy to see and reach.

Now that’s what I call SpaceWise® organization.

Disclosure: I am part of the Frigidaire® Canada Ambassador program with Influence Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.