How to buy the best fridge freezer and refrigerator?

Freestanding, built-in, side-by-side, American-style, UK and EU style integrated - which size, shape and type of fridge freezer is right for you? Refrigeration products are among the higher priced kitchen purchases you'll make, and a fridge freezer is one of the most expensive appliances to run in your home, so it's important to get it right.

We've come up with a fridge freezer shopping checklist to take you through what to look out for when you're shopping for a new fridge freezer model.

Our fridge freezer and refrigerator shopping checklist

Type of fridge freezer
There are three main fridge freezer varieties to choose from - consult individual pages in this guide for more information on each.

The most popular and cheapest type of fridge freezer is a freestanding model, which is easy to fit and flexible, as you can choose to buy one with the freezer at the bottom or at the top.
Built-in fridge freezers are integrated into a kitchen cabinet and are hidden behind a door. Some people prefer the clean look this gives to a kitchen.
Side-by-side or American-style fridge freezers are larger than freestanding models and, as the name suggests, are designed with the fridge and freezer next to each other.
Some of the biggest fridge freezer names include LG, Beko, Zanussi, Siemens, Hotpoint, Bosch, Samsung, Neff and Miele.

Size and space
Which fridge freezer you choose will be dictated by the space your kitchen affords for a fridge freezer, the size of your family - and your eating habits.

Bigger American-style fridge freezers generally suit larger kitchens and can house more than enough food for a large family, but might be too much for smaller households. If you often cook from fresh, look for a fridge freezer with a generous refrigeration space and a smaller freezer compartment.

Try and match up the type of food you buy with the space and features offered by different models, particularly thinking about more bulky or fragile items that could prove difficult to store without the appropriate space - milk, eggs, large bottles and so on.

The usual fridge to freezer space ratio on a fridge freezer is 55 to 45 - so you specifically need more freezer than fridge space you might be better off investing in a separate fridge and freezer.

Capacity
Generally, the bigger a fridge freezer is outside, the bigger it is inside. But that isn't always true: some models have more space inside than others of similar dimensions. Capacities claimed by manufacturers can be misleading, so don't trust them to help you choose the right fridge freezer.

When we test fridge freezers, we ignore manufacturers' claimed capacities and measure the usable space ourselves. You can see the results of our measurements in our reviews of over 130 fridge freezers.

Colour
Just because it's cold doesn't mean you have to stick to a polar white fridge freezer. Red, silver, stainless steel or black - search our fridge freezer reviews and filter by colour using our fridge freezer compare features tool.
Noise
A humming fridge freezer can be really irritating - and you won't know which fridge freezers are noisy until you've got yours home, plugged in and working. To help you find a peacefully quiet fridge freezer, we test each model for noise levels, not only rating how loud each fridge freezer is when it's cooling, but also how annoying the pitch and tone are.

Fridge freezer brands?
Overall, fridge freezers aren’t as reliable as stand-alone fridges or freezers – your chance of buying a model from a brand that may need to be repaired within six years is higher with a combined fridge freezer. But some brands are more reliable than others.

Our fridge freezer reliability survey, which asks more than 9,000 appliance owners to rate their fridge freezer manufacturer, is a good indication of the brands most likely to produce items that last. Brands including Whirlpool, Samsung, AEG-Electrolux, Neff, Siemens, LG, Beko and Indesit have been rated.

Energy efficiency
After central heating, refrigeration products are the biggest domestic users of energy and account for around 20% of the electricity consumed by domestic appliances - making choosing an efficient fridge freezer a key way to reduce your energy costs and reduce your home's environmental impact.

We've found that just looking at fridge freezer energy labels isn't necessarily accurate – we calculate our own running costs for each fridge freezer as an indication of its overall efficiency. Running costs can be as little as £18 per year, but can stretch up to £100 depending on the model - our Best Buy fridge freezers all score well for energy efficiency.

Climate class
Every fridge freezer has a 'climate class', which tells you the range of room temperatures with which it can cope. The two you're most likely to come across in the UK are N class and SN class. Both work effectively in room temperatures up to 32°C.

Features and extras
Thermostats, water coolers, ice dispensers, salad crispers, digital displays, frost-free functions, wine racks, adjustable shelves... Extras like these can make all the difference when you're choosing which fridge freezer is right for you and your home.

The rest of the pages in this guide go through more of the features to look out for in American-style, freestanding and built-in fridge freezer models.