CHOOSE A KITCHEN APPLIANCE
FRENCH DOOR OR 4-DOOR
French Door fridges offer split doors in the fridge compartment without the fridge space being cut in half meaning these are perfect for the entertainer or family who needs to chill larger items such as platters or large baking dishes, pots and pans. With a bottom mounted freezer drawer or doors; French Door fridges give you the best of both worlds. They feature easy access, wide storage, flexible shelving and adjustable cooling areas. More recently, some French Door Fridges might have a middle drawer that acts as an ‘entertainer’s drawer’. This extra drawer usually offers flexible temperature options so you can do anything from a quick freeze of ice cream to chilling drinks or storing cheese before serving. The 4-Door Fridge design offers 2 doors for the fridge compartment and 2 doors in the freezer section for easy organisation of the freezer space. 1
Side-by-side
This fridge features the fridge and freezer compartments beside each other, both taking up the full length of the appliance, with the doors opening from the middle. These fridges often feature extras such as ice and water dispensers, however due to the layout they sometimes do not lend themselves to wider, larger items like platters. 2
Bottom mount
This fridge features the fridge and freezer compartments beside each other, both taking up the full length of the appliance, with the doors opening from the middle. These fridges often feature extras such as ice and water dispensers, however due to the layout they sometimes do not lend themselves to wider, larger items like platters. 3
Top mount
Opposite to the bottom mount, this is the traditional style of fridge and depending on style and brand may generally be the least expensive. The freezer is housed in the top portion with the fridge below. The top mount fridge is perfect if you want to keep frozen treats out of reach of hungry little hands. 4
Pigeon Pair
A Pigeon Pair is a single door all fridge or all freezer that are sold as individual units that can be ‘paired’ together to meet your needs. You may want two freezers together or you can even have a standalone single fridge and freezer next to each other to enjoy extra storage space. 5
INTEGRATED FRIDGES
Integrated Fridges are built-in your kitchen cabinetry and its exterior can be custom designed to match the material and finishes of your cupboards. Growing in popularity, both integrated fridges and freezers are available across many brands. When the integrated fridge or freezer is closed, they display a seamless kitchen cupboard design that keeps your kitchen looking minimalist and clean. 6
FREESTANDING FRIDGES
Freestanding Fridges, like the name indicates, can be placed by themselves and don’t require a dedicated spot in the kitchen. By design, there are more stylish to be a key standalone appliance in your kitchen, whether it’s next to the pantry or on the side of the cooker. Some Freestanding Fridges are built like a Top Mount fridge with the freezer in the top compartment with cooling at the bottom. As Freestanding Fridges can be placed almost anywhere in the kitchen, they don’t usually offer extra functions like a water dispenser that would require a water connection. Given the popularity, many brands have Freestanding Fridge and Freestanding Freezer models which can be paired together or act as a second or storage option when required. 7
Chest Freezer
Chest Freezers are great to store extra frozen goods that you might have bought in bulk. They can be placed in the kitchen or another spot in the home like the garage or patio. Chest Freezers are available in a variety of sizes for domestic use. Some features to look for in chest freezers could include lift-out baskets and/or vertical dividers to help your packing of the freezer. 8
BAR FRIDGE
If you need more space for drinks why not consider a Bar Fridge. You can store your drinks (and snacks) in this small fridge instead of taking up precious food storage space in your main fridge. For more than just drinks, some Bar Fridges even come with a full width ice box, a full width crisper drawer and fridge shelving to help store extra food. Bar Fridges are great for smaller areas like the cinema room, study or for smaller homes like a caravan. 9
Wine Storage
When it comes to wine storage, you have a choice between a Wine Cooler or a Wine Cabinet/Cellar. A Wine Cooler will keep wine at a consistent, cool temperature and is suitable for short term storage before drinking. On the other hand, a Wine Cabinet or Wine Cellar is more of a climate-controlled cabinet used for longer term storage of wine. Key features to look for in a Wine Cabinet includes humidity-management system to preserve corks, dark interiors, soft lighting and tinted glass to protect the wine from damaging light. Wooden shelves that absorb small vibrations so not to shake and disrupt the wine is a must-have too. For storage flexibility, you can choose between a single-temperature cabinet which is ideal for cellaring wines, alternatively a multi-temperature model enables you to store and serve your reds and whites at the required drinking temperature in one cabinet. 10
FRENCH DOOR OR 4-DOOR
French Door fridges offer split doors in the fridge compartment without the fridge space being cut in half meaning these are perfect for the entertainer or family who needs to chill larger items such as platters or large baking dishes, pots and pans. With a bottom mounted freezer drawer or doors; French Door fridges give you the best of both worlds. They feature easy access, wide storage, flexible shelving and adjustable cooling areas. More recently, some French Door Fridges might have a middle drawer that acts as an ‘entertainer’s drawer’. This extra drawer usually offers flexible temperature options so you can do anything from a quick freeze of ice cream to chilling drinks or storing cheese before serving. The 4-Door Fridge design offers 2 doors for the fridge compartment and 2 doors in the freezer section for easy organisation of the freezer space. 11
Side-by-side
This fridge features the fridge and freezer compartments beside each other, both taking up the full length of the appliance, with the doors opening from the middle. These fridges often feature extras such as ice and water dispensers, however due to the layout they sometimes do not lend themselves to wider, larger items like platters. 12
Bottom mount
This fridge features the fridge and freezer compartments beside each other, both taking up the full length of the appliance, with the doors opening from the middle. These fridges often feature extras such as ice and water dispensers, however due to the layout they sometimes do not lend themselves to wider, larger items like platters. 13
Top mount
Opposite to the bottom mount, this is the traditional style of fridge and depending on style and brand may generally be the least expensive. The freezer is housed in the top portion with the fridge below. The top mount fridge is perfect if you want to keep frozen treats out of reach of hungry little hands. 14
Pigeon Pair
A Pigeon Pair is a single door all fridge or all freezer that are sold as individual units that can be ‘paired’ together to meet your needs. You may want two freezers together or you can even have a standalone single fridge and freezer next to each other to enjoy extra storage space. 15
INTEGRATED FRIDGES
Integrated Fridges are built-in your kitchen cabinetry and its exterior can be custom designed to match the material and finishes of your cupboards. Growing in popularity, both integrated fridges and freezers are available across many brands. When the integrated fridge or freezer is closed, they display a seamless kitchen cupboard design that keeps your kitchen looking minimalist and clean. 16
FREESTANDING FRIDGES
Freestanding Fridges, like the name indicates, can be placed by themselves and don’t require a dedicated spot in the kitchen. By design, there are more stylish to be a key standalone appliance in your kitchen, whether it’s next to the pantry or on the side of the cooker. Some Freestanding Fridges are built like a Top Mount fridge with the freezer in the top compartment with cooling at the bottom. As Freestanding Fridges can be placed almost anywhere in the kitchen, they don’t usually offer extra functions like a water dispenser that would require a water connection. Given the popularity, many brands have Freestanding Fridge and Freestanding Freezer models which can be paired together or act as a second or storage option when required. 17
Chest Freezer
Chest Freezers are great to store extra frozen goods that you might have bought in bulk. They can be placed in the kitchen or another spot in the home like the garage or patio. Chest Freezers are available in a variety of sizes for domestic use. Some features to look for in chest freezers could include lift-out baskets and/or vertical dividers to help your packing of the freezer. 18
BAR FRIDGE
If you need more space for drinks why not consider a Bar Fridge. You can store your drinks (and snacks) in this small fridge instead of taking up precious food storage space in your main fridge. For more than just drinks, some Bar Fridges even come with a full width ice box, a full width crisper drawer and fridge shelving to help store extra food. Bar Fridges are great for smaller areas like the cinema room, study or for smaller homes like a caravan. 19
Wine Storage
When it comes to wine storage, you have a choice between a Wine Cooler or a Wine Cabinet/Cellar. A Wine Cooler will keep wine at a consistent, cool temperature and is suitable for short term storage before drinking. On the other hand, a Wine Cabinet or Wine Cellar is more of a climate-controlled cabinet used for longer term storage of wine. Key features to look for in a Wine Cabinet includes humidity-management system to preserve corks, dark interiors, soft lighting and tinted glass to protect the wine from damaging light. Wooden shelves that absorb small vibrations so not to shake and disrupt the wine is a must-have too. For storage flexibility, you can choose between a single-temperature cabinet which is ideal for cellaring wines, alternatively a multi-temperature model enables you to store and serve your reds and whites at the required drinking temperature in one cabinet. 20
THINGS TO CONSIDER
The style of fridge you choose will be greatly impacted by the space and kitchen layout you have available, so here are a few things you should consider…
What are the dimensions for where it will sit? Freestanding Cookers come in a variety of sizes – slim line to wide industrial-sized, the choice is yours to make, depending on your kitchen’s space and your cooking
lifestyle.
What Freestanding Cooker size will suit your needs? The most common size for Freestanding Cookers are 60cm in width, with 90cm and above being popular for larger families or home entertainers. Choose a size that
will work for your lifestyle in the kitchen, for example, if you don’t cook often, purchasing a 60cm Freestanding Cooker instead of a 90cm model is a sound decision.
Due to the unique nature of a Freestanding Cooker having both an oven and a cooktop, there are a myriad of functions and features that come with it. Knowing what you need and don’t need in the kitchen would be advantageous
when you go shopping for a new Freestanding Cooker. Ask yourself the following:
Is the oven self-cleaning? If it’s a wide model or you use the oven often, will you be thankful for this feature to help with the cleaning process?
Are the controls easy to view and use?
Does the oven have any child or door locks and a cool oven door?
Is the burner layout on the cooktop efficient? Having the burners you use most at the front is not only more convenient, it’s also safer so you’re not leaning across an open flame when cooking.
What accessories would I need for both the oven and cooktop to maximise my cooking?
Do I need the space of a storage drawer that’s built into the Freestanding Cooker?
Quick Tip – Kitchens sell houses. Even if you’re not planning on selling, investing in good quality appliances and smart and functional designs are essential.
Now that you’ve had a quick think about life in your kitchen, there are two pathways for you to explore to help find the right solution for you.
ARE YOU
Understand the space
Measure the space of the cavity that your existing appliance is installed in. This includes height, width and depth.
Is it integrated into the cabinetry or is it freestanding?
In the case of a dishwasher, does it need to fit under the bench top?
Do you have plenty of bench space? And therefore space for two cooktops? Do you need to have space to fit a microwave, or is there space for it to be built-in?
How deep and wide is the cabinetry? Are you restricted in size when choosing a rangehood? Or will it need to be suspended from the ceiling?
Materials and Finishes
Look at the existing finishes in your kitchen.
- Do you want your new appliance to match others?
- Will it be integrated?
Infrastructure
Make sure you understand what type of appliance you have now.
- Does your appliance use gas or electricity or both?
- If you want to change from gas to electricity or vice versa is this possible?
Must Haves
Have a think about the things that are most important to you before you start looking at new products. This will ultimately help narrow your search and save you on time and money.
- Is energy consumption a key consideration for your household?
- Do you want to stick to a particular brand for synergy within your kitchen?
- Function vs design – which is more important to you?
- Is there a particular function you need to have? E.g. Safety features, automatic pre-set functions or Artificial Intelligence?
Understand the space
If you haven’t already, you should get a clear picture of the dimensions of the space you have to use – the length of the walls, height to the ceiling, where windows and doors are placed etc.
Depending on your budget, you may choose to use a kitchen design company, an independent drafts person, an architect or use online tools to design it yourself.
What style of kitchen are you going for?
If you need some inspiration, we recommend you do some research. Browse through our inspirations page and start visiting kitchen showrooms to experience different materials and finishes.
Infrastructure
Imagine if you designed your perfect kitchen only to find out it’s impossibly expensive because the utilities have to be moved. It is very important to have an understanding of where your gas, water and piping is and if they can be moved if necessary.
Must Haves
In planning a kitchen, you’ll no doubt have some things that are absolute musts.