*SOLD* - Fisher Paykel Stainless Steel Fridge

[Pinklepurr]

Crom, if you are worried about a not so crispy pastry, just nuke them until cooked inside and then do a few minutes in the oven to crisp up the pastry. That works just fine for the ones we make (basically the same way as Bender...we have a pie maker too(well 3 actually...3 different sizes...they were presents). I love using the pie maker so many different things you can just put in and experiment with. FB, just an aside, but what is an unmade pie??

F&P fridges vary a lot in their quality...so be careful. My sister has a pigeon pair of F&P but they were bought in NZ and for some reason their local product is not as good as their export models (hmmm, does that sound familiar) and she has had huge problems with the shelves in both the fridge and freezer. I think she would gladly throw in in the Tasman. However another friend of ours has the exact same pair, bought at about the same time but in Oz and hers have totally different shelves and she has not had any problems at all and loves hers. I know of several other stories about the same types of things.

As for icemakers and water dispensers...I would rather have the space in my fridge/freezer to use at will. My Westinghouse came with this huge (removable) ice bucket thing inside the freezer...took up half the top freezer shelf, so it now lives in a cupboard. The fridge is fitted with two iceblock trays of 30 icecubes each anyway. They freeze in under an hour too.

[Bender]

F&P products have been around for quite a while; well before the brand was known in Australia their refrigeration products were sold here under different names, 'Frigidaire' for example. F&P manufactured fridges in Australia for about 20 years from the late 1980s (which explains the difference between the NZ and AUS models). Their Aussie-made refrigeration products are generally well-regarded.

Other F&P products vary; Dishdrawer dishwashers are known for being fairly unreliable, with electronics failures and flooding being the most common problems. Earlier ones had problems with the inflatable seal around the top of each drawer, a mechanism which has since been changed. Maybe the biggest problem with the Dishdrawer design stems from the fact that the drawer is the dishwasher, and the whole mechanism including water supply and drain hoses moves every time the drawer is opened. Interestingly, they also seem to attract cockroaches much more than any other dishwasher brand. Early SmartDrive washing machines were prone to failure of the seal under the agitator, which caused the direct drive motor underneath to flood and need replacement. Interestingly, there's a good market for secondhand SmartDrive motors, which are highly sought after to use as generators for domestic wind turbines and water wheels.

The brand names on most Australian whitegoods have been bought and sold numerous times over the years. Appliance brand names such as Westinghouse, Kelvinator, Hoover, Dishlex and Simpson have appeared, disappeared and changed hands over the years. Many of the Australian brands are nowadays made by Electrolux-owned companies. Often a number of brands are made in the same factory, with only cosmetic differences to distinguish them.

There are a number of imported fridge brands available in Oz, some good, some very dodgy. Case in point being one of the big Korean brands who are notorious for very poor after-sales service. This brand was also exposed as being less than honourable last year (I think?), when it was discovered that their fridges were rated as extremely energy efficient in laboratory testing only because their electronics were programmed to recognise when the fridge was under test conditions (aircon environment and usage consistent with testing protocols), and switch into a super-energy efficient mode. After much outcry the company was made to issue refunds for returned fridges and pay those who decided to keep their fridges compensation money to allow for higher-than-stated running costs.

Japanese brand larger appliances are not common in Oz (the exception being aircon), so you won't find Mitsubishi, Sharp or Panasonic fridges here. What you will find instead is some American names which aren't common in Asia, like Maytag, Amana and Jenn-Air, and Euro brands like Miele and Liebherr.

Long post. Beats working on a Friday morning.

[Fat Bob]

FB, just an aside, but what is an unmade pie??

Sorry, that should have been unbaked, not unmade. Here's an example.

Rather pleasant with salt and vinegar.

[Burbage]

So is fish and chips. Which by the way is one of those excellent reasons for having a freezer. Snap frozen fish is very handy if you haven't got access to good fresh fish.

Did freezer shops (as in shops with only frozen food) pass Australia by or have they disappeared already? They were all the rage in the UK at one stage.

[Scrummy Mummy]

F&P products have been around for quite a while; well before the brand was known in Australia their refrigeration products were sold here under different names, 'Frigidaire' for example. F&P manufactured fridges in Australia for about 20 years from the late 1980s (which explains the difference between the NZ and AUS models). Their Aussie-made refrigeration products are generally well-regarded.

Other F&P products vary; Dishdrawer dishwashers are known for being fairly unreliable, with electronics failures and flooding being the most common problems. Earlier ones had problems with the inflatable seal around the top of each drawer, a mechanism which has since been changed. Maybe the biggest problem with the Dishdrawer design stems from the fact that the drawer is the dishwasher, and the whole mechanism including water supply and drain hoses moves every time the drawer is opened. Interestingly, they also seem to attract cockroaches much more than any other dishwasher brand. Early SmartDrive washing machines were prone to failure of the seal under the agitator, which caused the direct drive motor underneath to flood and need replacement. Interestingly, there's a good market for secondhand SmartDrive motors, which are highly sought after to use as generators for domestic wind turbines and water wheels.

The brand names on most Australian whitegoods have been bought and sold numerous times over the years. Appliance brand names such as Westinghouse, Kelvinator, Hoover, Dishlex and Simpson have appeared, disappeared and changed hands over the years. Many of the Australian brands are nowadays made by Electrolux-owned companies. Often a number of brands are made in the same factory, with only cosmetic differences to distinguish them.

There are a number of imported fridge brands available in Oz, some good, some very dodgy. Case in point being one of the big Korean brands who are notorious for very poor after-sales service. This brand was also exposed as being less than honourable last year (I think?), when it was discovered that their fridges were rated as extremely energy efficient in laboratory testing only because their electronics were programmed to recognise when the fridge was under test conditions (aircon environment and usage consistent with testing protocols), and switch into a super-energy efficient mode. After much outcry the company was made to issue refunds for returned fridges and pay those who decided to keep their fridges compensation money to allow for higher-than-stated running costs.

Japanese brand larger appliances are not common in Oz (the exception being aircon), so you won't find Mitsubishi, Sharp or Panasonic fridges here. What you will find instead is some American names which aren't common in Asia, like Maytag, Amana and Jenn-Air, and Euro brands like Miele and Liebherr.

Long post. Beats working on a Friday morning.

Ta for that! I'd been warned about the drawer-dishwashers, which is why I was a bit wary of F+P.

I've found two bottom freezers (sounds painful) on Appliances Online that look like they'd match like a pigeon pair. It looks (from the pictures) that you could match one with water/ice dispenser with one without. Since I'd basically have 2 quitte big fridges, the loss of space wouldn't be such a big issue.

The energy efficiency ratings given by Appliances Online seem lower than those I've seen quoted for the same products in the UK - no bottom freezer got more than 3 stars, and most (including the F+Ps I've seen) were 2 or less.

[baloo]

re matching two fridges, the F&P I just sold was available as a right opening or left opening. You just tell them which one you want. I'd imagine many fridge models allow you to do that.

[Scrummy Mummy]

Yeah, I saw yours on the website but two of those are too wide. There's one similar but a bit narrower that you can order left/right door and, I think, with/without ice dispenser, so we'd just have 1 ice dispenser.

So, how much space to leave around, anyone know?

[Bender]

The energy efficiency ratings given by Appliances Online seem lower than those I've seen quoted for the same products in the UK - no bottom freezer got more than 3 stars, and most (including the F+Ps I've seen) were 2 or less.

Australia revised it's star ratings some time ago - the benchmarks are now much higher than they used to be. Appliances that used to rate 5 star under the old standard would now rate less. The source for star ratings is energyrating.gov.au.

Space requirements around/behind the fridge depends whether it has a condenser (coils) on the back or whether the condenser's underneath (or elsewhere) and fan-cooled. Exposed condensers generally need about 1" from the wall and enough space above to allow warm air from the condenser to rise. Fan-cooled ones usually need less space. Generally there's not much space required at the sides, but allow some in case of condensation buildup. You should be able to download brochures from the manufacturer websites - they'll have the requirements in them.

[Scrummy Mummy]

Ok, I'll try that, thanks.

Are you an expert on washing machines too?

[Bender]

I'll send you my schedule of fees.

[Scrummy Mummy]

LOL!

Better give me a quote for explaining TVs/Internet/Phone/naked Internet etc. in a few weeks when I ask.

[cromasaig]

LOL!

Better give me a quote for explaining TVs/Internet/Phone/naked Internet etc. in a few weeks when I ask.

Easy. Naked internet is what shows up on the history if any man is left alone with a broadband connection for more than thirty seconds.

[baloo]

Naked Internet, A Self Portrait

[Tas]

isn't that the guy that used to live in the condo across from Batty (have I got the right condo?)

[Bender]

...brand was also exposed as being less than honourable last year (I think?), when it was discovered that their fridges were rated as extremely energy efficient in laboratory testing only because their electronics were programmed to recognise when the fridge was under test conditions..

A follow-up on this issue:
"For the next three years, LG will have to submit each new model of washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, television and airconditioner for independent energy testing. All current and future models of fridge must also be tested."

The full article appears here.