Welcome to Liesl, veteran writer for many New York papers and magazines who now is weighing in on kitchen appliances instead of books for a change.
This is a copy of Liesl's letter to Big Chill, which was written at the height of her saga. They kindly replied...
"Dear Big Chill, I spoke to a Big Chill employee on the phone, and learned that you are considering making a slimline version of your fridge. Yippee..."
"I was excited to see your fridges, because I've been looking for a designy, vivid-colored gorgeous fridge, like they have all over Europe, but North American makers are behind the trend, and hardly anybody makes
them--just you and Northstar; and both of yours are too big, though they're probably great for people with
huge McMansion kitchens. I think you'd be surprised how many Americans--not only apartment-dwellers
in NYC, L.A., San Francisco, Seattle, D.C., Philly, and so on...but across the country, would love to buy a
modern, slimline, artistic, colorful fridge that takes up less of their kitchen space.
Euro fridges are narrower than American fridges. As a new Yorker with a kitchen that's 6 feet x 9 feet (with
counters, stove and sink, that means i've got an under-2-foot wide aisle to work in), the king-sized specs don't work for me. But as an American, I DO demand lots of storage in the fridge! How can this seeming conflict be resolved?
Give the fridge a narrow footprint, but make it tall. The only narrow fridges I've found here that have appealing design are the import "SMEG" (what a name), and the only model available on these shores is the SMEG Fabu28, which is barely 5-feet high, and has a freezer the size of a loaf of bread. SMEG's Fabu30, which is taller, is NOT available here. SMEG, I believe, has given up making the Fabu30 for Europe and is making bigger ones, so the Fabu30's moment is probably past, anyway.
Here's my Big Chill design wish list, which I suspect you'd find would be on the wish list of many aesthetic-minded, space-challenged customers:
1) Give it glossy, gorgeous, saturated color, but make it more modern. Not plump and retro-bulbous-- sleek. Also not quite so pale?--e.g., that pallid pastel green might be livelier if it was Granny-Smith-apple green.
2)Try to keep the footprint small, ideally 24x24 but no more than 26x26, max; but make the fridge TALL, so
the fridge still has ample storage. 5'7" to 6' 2" would make sense. Floor space is the problem, in design-
obsessed, cash-rich places like NYC and San Francisco. We've all got ceiling space, so it can go TALL; but
wide does NOT work. With my 31-inch wide GE fridge, I can't even open the door fully--the crisper drawer cannot be pulled out more than 4 inches.
3) Make the freezer-to-fridge- ratio 1 to to 4, or 1 to 3, max. The version you have is nearly fifty-fifty. That doesn't make sense. Think of all the juice, water, soda, milk, etc. we all guzzle, not to mention the fresh veg, and the salad spinners full of fresh mixed greens. The fridge section has got to be bigger.
4) For design ideas, please please look at this gorgeous fridge made by Boretti, called the Bombatino (I like the Bombatino Doppio much much better). See pix below. The Borettis are NOT available in or importable to the U.S. for some reason.
5)Try to keep the price much closer to $2000 than $3000. That higher pricetag will ultimately really suppress your sales, if you ask me. Splurging an extra 1K on a fridge makes me feel decadent. Splurging an extra 2K makes me feel stupid.
6)Make a really fun ad campaign on TV for it. Make people want it. Get OK Go to do a rock video with it, or
Feist or Franz Ferdinand, or Green Day or something. How about a DJ remix of Heard It Through The Grapevine (get it, "Big Chill"?) with hipster band in bright outfits, in choreo'd video of them putting different colored grape bunches in different colored fridges. Or maybe Franz Ferdinand would let you use "Do You Want To" to sell it.
Many thanks! The images attached are Boretti's GREEN Bombatino Doppio (my fave) and the RED Bombatino, which looks too much like a cupboard, but is still neat.
Do please let me know if you ARE in fact planning, soonish, a slimline fridge...
All best, Liesl"
They replied the following business day:
"Hello Liesl,
Thanks for all of your great feedback and product ideas. We will keep you posted on any new developments with any smaller products.
Best regards,
Brian Murphy
Big Chill
Boulder, CO
1-877-842-3269
303-444-4050
www.bigchillfridge.com"
While not the perfect answer, we'll let you know as soon as Liesl hears anything more from Brian.
About Liesl Schillinger: ...Since 1991, she has written for many publications in the United States and Britain, chiefly The New York Times, The New Yorker, the Washington Post, and the London Independent on Sunday, where she wrote a column about New York life in 1996-98. She now writes full time, and is pursuing the goal of living like an expat in her own city.
>> Go To Fridge Saga #2
>> Go To Fridge Saga #1
Tune in for The Fridge Saga #3 - Tomorrow!
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
This seems like an excessive amount of time and energy to buy an appliance. My own appliance-shopping guideline is: the most affordable efficient item, in white. I'd rather spend my decor money on furniture than on a fridge.
view Lisa Hunter's profile
I waited all day for more info on her fridge search, since I'm currently on the same hunt. Just getting the previously mentioned letter to Big Chill, while entertaining, was disappointing.
view Shawn's profile
Have you seen LG's 24" bottom-freezer fridge? It's 10 cubic feet, I think model number LRBP1031 or LRBP1031TT...
http://www.nextag.com/lg-cabinet-depth-refrigerator/search-html
view helloat's profile
I wish I could write so well. I think it is neat to let companies know what we want. Taller fridges do make sense to me even though I am only 5 ft tall. I know what I need, and I am often disappointed by not finding it.
view Sonia's profile
I had the exact same dilemma as Liesl and held out as long as I could, but wound up settling for stainless which is a giant pain. American appliances really need more color. I see red and blue washing machines now, why not fridges? Sigh.
view judes's profile
so she bought the too big fridge?
view brooklynjennie's profile
I'm surprised Big Chill responded at all. Any letter that includes "Yippeee..." at the very beginning is simply unprofessional looking and the letter would thus likely be taken as such. Even if Big Chill hadn't been put off by the "yippeeee...." comment, Liesl's letter is extremely long and her diatribe would have likely been ignored. Hope she doesn't hold her breath waiting for a longer response, because she's not likely to get one.
view Daily Nuance's profile
Thanks for fighting the good fight. It would be a dream come true to have a skinny, colorful, retro-looking fridge available in the USA.
view Cassis's profile
yeah but....who can afford a $2000 fridge? i know thats a common price, i'm not complaining about that, i'd just love to see a simple, straightforward post about apartment-sized refrigerators with a range of prices, from "hey, i rent" to "i can afford to buy in NYC". ya know?
while i think Liesl is a faaabulous writer, this whole saga just got my hopes up and then kinda let me down.
view my little apartment's profile
Is this a joke?
view petro's profile
can someone please explain why the small refridgerators are so expensive?
view coco's profile
can someone please explain why the small refridgerators are so expensive?
Because she's shopping for high-end refrigerators that would be pricey at any size. Plus, most are probably priced in euros, and the dollar/euro exchange rate is not a happy thing for Americans right now.
If you go to Sears or Lowe's or whatever and order their 24" refrigerator (which is approximately what I would have done in a typical San Francisco condo kitchen and many mainstream brands offer one fridge in this size), the prices are line with the store's other refrigerators of the same brand. A 24" may not be as much cheaper as you'd expect, based on cubic footage, but that's partly because they make and sell fewer, so you have fewer economies of scale.
Is anyone going to explain how a 24" refrigerator will open fully in an 18" space?
view wende in the twin cities's profile
where is the best place to buy a under the counter refrigerator and separate freezer with drawers? not too pricey.
view superrenee's profile
It's so funny Liesel has brought this topic up because I had this **exact** conversation at dinner a couple of weeks ago.
The fridge part is OK but what I really need is more freezer space. This would mean buying a huge family size side by side or pigeon pair - oh yes and ripping out the kitchen. Let's say about Aust$20,000?
I stumbled over bar freezers. Although I've known about bar fridges forever, I had no idea they had a companion.
My plan is:
1. put braking castors on the dining table & move it out of the kitchen
2. get a bar freezer
3. get a piece of benchtop 70 x 140 cm or 27.5 x 55 inches
4. Put on four legs with braking castors - Hafele makes these.
This will slide over the fridge and stop anything from dropping into the back.
Not only will this be extra benchtop which I desperately need, but I can roll it into the living room to use as a cutting table for sewing or other craft. The widest fabric is 60 inches wide or 30 inches doubled over and I can walk all around it. Heaven!
I will also make a smaller table to slide under 60x60 (24x24), and a stool will go under this. For under A$1000 I get 3 things which will improve my life *so* much.
FYI my kitchen is 2.5 x 3.8 metres (8 x 12.5 ft) but the position of door & window makes it awkward - 2 L-shapes in opposite corners.
So now I'm doing a massive cleanout so I can rearrange the living room for the table.
view Deb of Oz's profile
I'd have to disagree with the half and half fridge freezer comment - in the UK its very hard to find 50/50 fridge freezers - most of them have only a three drawer freezer compartment much smaller than the fridge - I want loads of freezer space - my freezer is always stuffed with food to last me a long time - the fridge is for food that gets eaten quickly and goes off quickly so its never very full as there are that many people in my house to cater for
I don't fill it with all the bottles of drink I've jsut bought - I put one in to chill and replace it with the next as it empties
view Violetsrose's profile
Violetsrose - is it? Although UK fridges are smaller than American I've always found 50/50 the standard?
http://www.johnlewis.com/Electrical Appliances/Fridges and Freezers/Fridges and Freezers/Fridge Freezers/513/ProductType.aspx
view Lesley - London's profile
I've been thinking of buying this exact same fridge! Mine's about to konk out and this is just the dimensions I need. Delivery is always a problem because I live in a fifth-floor walk-up, though. By chance do you have stairs in your apt. and was the delivery company OK with that??
view bettyt's profile
Lesley - if you open that John Lewis page and click on the top right Bosch (the first fridge that isn't a side-by-side) it sure looks like a 50/50 but compare the specifications - the fridge holds 159 litres - the freezer holds 97 litres - so there is a lot less space in the freezer bit - and most fridge-freezers in the UK follow this - its very hard to find one with the freezer having the same or larger capacity that the fridge part
view Violetsrose's profile