Wednesday, March 23, 2005

My refrigerator's death throes

The first thing I noticed this morning, was that the fridge/freezer was even more noisy than usual. Like the dehumidifier, it has gotten increasingly loud with age. I've had it for maybe ten years, and in that time it's progressed from a quiet wee thing (like a large, white church mouse) to occasionally producing loud cracking and creaking sounds, sudden enough to induce heart attacks in the elderly; now it's developed a high-volume hum which sounds to me very much like a cry for appliance euthanasia.

What added to our problem this morning was that the freezer door had somehow been left ajar overnight.

Initially, I didn't do anything about this other than to rectify the door position and then tell the boy about it when he got out of bed. The boy was not such a bimbo about it however. He rightly set about going through the freezer contents, tossing out anything that felt thawed. Ten minutes and a shopping bag full of potentially bacterial produce later, our freezer is less than a third full and I've got doubts about the stuff we left in there.

It was a sign I think, to finally do something about replacing the fridge/freezer. I know the boy would much rather we spent our money on something more fun, like another boxed set of Angel DVDs or another X-Box game, or even some flash baby-care equipment. But I'm going to have to put my foot down. I'd love one of these curvy retro designs, preferably in red - but most likely it'll be a boring boxy white thing, perhaps one that beeps at you when you leave the door open for too long.

14 comments:

Jon said...

What is SMEG? Sounds too similar to SMEGMA, not something that should be selling food storage products!!!

flying kiwi said...

Are those US dollars? Yegods.

The fridge at my house is pretty amazing, my favourtie feature is that it tells you the temperature in both F and C.

Watson Woodworth said...

Go retro baby! If your going to lay down the bacon ,or whatever NZers use for currency, you might as well look the cooler for your effort.
Maybe a matching Kit-Kat clock to go with?

glomgold said...

I say screw the retro and go for a space-age stainless steel jobber with all that wackiness inside that'll never be used but is cool "just in case".

Ms Mac said...

I'd love one of those red curvy fridges! But I'd also rather spend the money on Xbox games and Buffy dvds! So I'm no help at all, really!

Happy and Blue 2 said...

The problem with retro is it looks old. Funny that..
Why not just eat out all the time.You won't need a fridge that way..

Anonymous said...

From experience, you have to weigh up what you're going to use it for.

Do you want a fridge/freezer or how about a fridge/humidifier (keeps your fruit and veges crisp and fresh) and have a separate chest freezer? If the former, do you want the freezer bit on the top or the bottom? Or do you want no freezer at all?

If you choose the freezer on the bottom, make sure you can reach the top of the fridge - my sister in-law is short like me and somehow got talked into getting a fridge that's way too tall for her to reach the top - we said it was her tall hubby's revenge for all the grief he went through when they redecorated the kitchen...

Emphatico said...

Sorry to hear about your fridge contents. My parents town and surrounds were recently ravaged by wildfires.

Let's just say that when people got back to their homes - those that had any, set about taping their fridges and freezers with duct tape for the municipal collectors using loaders and a flat deck truck.

Hmmmmm. Can you say "Biohazard"? What I want to know is: Where did they put it all and what did they do with it?

m.

The Skirt said...

Funny, the fridge at our house *mysteriously* gets left open when The Trouser has been foraging...

I'm all for the retro look too - much more fun, plus you can get the whole retro blender, toaster, etc. as well to accessorise :-)

Not so keen on the kind of stainless steel that shows fingerprints (especially as you will have a child to help spread the fingerprints), but the non-fingerprint-showing stuff (F&P, I think) is quite good.

Beware of the beeping fridges though - ever since we moved out of a place with one of those, The Trouser can't seem to close the door properly (see above)!

Violet said...

EB: Chrome is so Nineties.

Jon: What's SMEGMA? Something rude, no doubt...

Flying Kiwi: yeah, a scary amount of money isn't it? I want mine to be self-defrosting AND self-cleaning

Nigel: no way am I gonna be paying $US4000 for a refrigerator, even if it is curvy and red.

Glomgold/Mrs Mac: I think I'll let my Asian practical-ness (and thriftiness) take over, and go for a boring but functional and affordable one. Then there might still be money for DVDs.

Happyandblue2: I don't like eating out all the time. It means less money for DVDs.

Desiree: the new fridge will probably a similar height and width to the existing one - just newer and more energy efficient. And with the beepy thing when you forget to close the door.

empatico: that must've been awful - both losing your home and returning to a fridge full of evil-smelling stuff that used to be yummy.

The Skirt: Perhaps I should order a black one, which doesn't show the dirt?

Jon said...

Um, I feel weird telling you what smegma is, but if a guy is uncircumcized, it's the collection of dead skin that can look 'cheesy' that gathers under the foreskin (assuming he doesn't bathe rugularly--ewwww). I had a litle snip snip done when I was a baby, so I don't have this problem. Oh, and you can do a Google image search if you desire, at your own risk.

flying kiwi said...

Also, "smeg!" is the swearword of choice on Red Dwarf, if I remember correctly.

Violet said...

Thanks Jon, I'm sure that information will come in useful one day...

Funny how smeg is a swear word on Red Dwarf, and Rimmer is the name of a character on the same show. Toilet humour, anyone?

Anonymous said...

Sadly all appliances die with age. But at least newer appliances are more energy friendly, to offset their steep prices!