Kitchen Configuration?

[Lily left the valley]

I'm 6'3" so an under-counter fridge would be a solution but it wouldn't be ideal. Recently replaced the refrigerator in this house , which was working perfectly fine, because it was a top-freezer type and the entire contents of the refrigerator were below my waist. I got a bottom-freezer type. I could live with something like your snazzy Admiral, however. A tiny freezer would not be a problem; I only need ice and a spot for the occasional pint of ice cream. I was told vintage refrigerators consume a massive amount of electricity, and then I heard they don't. Do you know which is true?

Depending on the fridge...sometimes newer fridges actually use more because of the auto defrost. Yes, you have to deal with the occasional labor of a manual defrost without such in most older fridges, but everyone chooses what's best for them.

Size too...makes a huge difference. Not that you're looking to get a subzero bigger than reason for a small family, I mean in general.

[Willa]

I was told vintage refrigerators consume a massive amount of electricity, and then I heard they don't. Do you know which is true?

I did a bunch of online research about 18 months ago, but could not tell you where/how regarding this. The conclusion I retained was that the "massive amounts of electricity" claim was bunk.

There has not been any significant design evolution for fridges in the last 70 years or so, with the exception of things like icemakers and auto defrost. The auto defrost actually uses MORE electricity than an old fridge without. Additionally, today's fridges are like giant coffins that are at least double the capacity of a 1950's fridge. This may explain why North Americans are significantly heavier than they were 60 years ago - refrigerator gigantism !

I'm not a gourmet type, and never have dinner parties, so I am refrigerating perhaps a weeks worth of perishables, plus condiments. I don't buy frozen dinners, so the smaller capacity suits me fine. My fridge was someone's cabin clunker. The only issue is that the compressor is audible when it cycles. Not a big deal for me. The biggest hassle was getting it moved, since it is a heavy awkward thing - but still nothing like a massive french door refrigerator that the movers I used flatly refuse to move under any circumstances.

http://www.antiqueappliances.com/faqs/#energy

http://ncph.org/history-at-work/rethink ... rigerator/

[Mick_VT]

I was told vintage refrigerators consume a massive amount of electricity, and then I heard they don't. Do you know which is true?

My best guess is that on average they consume more - whether or not they consume huge amounts probably depends more on things like the condition of the insulation, seals and condenser , and whether or not the refrigerant is properly and fully charged.

[Mick_VT]

Some info courtesy of the Googles here: http://www.denisbyrne.com/fridge.html

[Manalto]

I've revived an old thread (my first post) because today I came across this article on "The Frankfurt Kitchen." I recommend.

https://www.citylab.com/design/2019/05/ ... ket-newtab

[Gothichome]

Good write up. The three step triangle kitchen. About the same time there was another woman in the US doing very much the same thing, only her kitchen involved a fridge.

[Manalto]

Mass-produced refrigerators were hitting the scene just as Schütte-Lihotzky published her work.

[phil]

when I was arranging my kitchen I put some thought into fridge efficiency.

If you step back and look at it. OK the fridge needs to be cold, but we place it in a room that is warm, then we spend money making it cool and in the process we generate more heat.

so in summer that is pretty inefficient. Our fridge is fighting the air conditioner if you have one , otherwise just generating a lot of heat where we don't want it , all in order to keep the milk cold.

some have successfully placed the fridge in a back room , where the room isnt' heated so then the fridge doesn't need to work so hard to keep cold, since there is a direct relationship between temp inside the fridge and outside of it that relates to the energy use.

so I put my fridge in where I had an old pantry to start with.
I had future plans to create a line of cabinets that will come flush to the front of the fridge so they will all be flush on the front and was able to put the fridge beside an outside wall. basically I boxed it in but left about a foot of width that I thought could be used as a broom closet.

I insulated this space and drywalled the area with the intention that what I would do next is make a couple of vents to the outside... so in summer when I do not want the heat from the fridge then it can vent outside. sort of a box around the fridge. this will allow cool outside air ( from the shady side of the house) to cool my fridge and also allow the warm air a way out so it isnt' heating my kitchen all summer.

In winter it could cool the area around the fridge but I also need to keep the water line to the fridge warm enough so that doesn't freeze. In winter the fridge could almost not run at all because it is cool enough out..

I thought of making a couple of 6 inch vents maybe with a thermostat to allow them to shut if it gets too cold in there. maybe I'd wan to shut them if it's too hot out ? maybe they could close if it is freezing out and open when it is moderately cool.

Im not really sure what to do . I have the fridge installed and it's ok. I want to make a bit more counters along that wall that are just a foot deep.

I'm not really sure about the efficiency or if it can save power but I think that our fridges should have some sort of jacket and outside venting as I do believe that we have created a situation where we are using the fridge to keep the milk cold and all the while we have pretty cool temps available for absolutely free free right outside for part of the year. in winter the fridge does supplement furnace heat. that complicates any calculations.

a more sophisticated plan might involve a baffle that separates the coils at the back from the rest of the fridge so it can be vented independently and some temperature controlled flaps could control venting. also I need to be mindful not to create a soggy atmosphere where mold could be an issue. I think the idea has merit but how to measure the savings is a bit more than I can calculate easily. Its not exactly rocket science to create a situation to let the heat out from the back coils in summer or to cool the fridge from the cool outside when it is cool out already.

I stopped there I'm still pondering the idea. James made me think about it in some of the earlier posts about fridge efficiency, but i didn't want to complicate the kitchen planning attempts earlier in the post.. now its an old post. I have an extreme insulation lab where they study housing efficiency right near me so I think I'll run over and discuss with the experts , see what they say about the idea.



Phil

[Gothichome]

Bump