Beko CDA 653 F

Author's product rating:   

Performance	Excellent
Ease of use	Very easy
Durability	Long
Cleaning & Maintenance	Very easy
Value for money	Excellent

Advantages:	Space, price, appearence
Disadvantages:	Can't think of any

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

When I moved in with my boyfriend we were very lucky, there was a cooker, a dishwasher and a washing machine in the house. This was great as it meant that we did not have to buy all those goods, however we did have to buy a fridge and let me tell you this was not an easy decision. My parents have always had chest freezers and then a large stand-alone fridge, his parents had always had always had small fridge freezers. I wanted a large fridge freezer and finally managed to convince my boyfriend that this was the way to go, despite the fact, we both agreed that we would never fill it. This was not the difficult part, the hardest thing was that we now had to pick which fridge freezer to buy. I think this was harder as this was one of the biggest decisions we had made as a couple. We also had to find a product which was not too expensive but also offered the storage space and energy efficiency we wanted.

We traipsed around all the obvious shops, we checked the internet and looked through all the catalogues we could find. It is very important to me how things feel and have trouble imagining what things will be like when I have only seen them on the internet or in a catalogue, I am a woman! So I wanted to shop in the shops. I was really drawn to a Kalvinator fridge freezer as it was spacious and the price was appealing to, at only £249.99, this was my budget and I really didn’t want to exceed this. We went to see it a few times as I had to be sure, meanwhile my boyfriend continued to look around but found nothing I liked. One evening we went to Comet to buy the fridge freezer and this was when I spotted the Beko fridge freezer, there was no questions asked, I wanted it, we bought it that night, for £299 plus the £22,95 delivery charge. Opps! There went my budget but never mind.

I was not pleased with the service Comet offered as we had paid an additional amount in order to have the fridge freezer delivered on the day of the move, in the afternoon when we knew we would be available to take delivery. Instead we got a phone call at 9.15am letting us know that the driver was ten minutes from the house, my boyfriend was out and couldn’t be contacted, I lived more than half an hour away from the new house. Luckily the driver was willing to wait, and it only took twenty minutes for my boyfriend to get there. There was two men in the van, who unloaded the fridge freezer and then placed it in the kitchen and “installed” it, which really consisted of plugging it in. They then took away all the packaging, I was impressed by this part of the service.

I love the look of this fridge freezer, it towers over me, it’s about six feet tall. It is a matte grey colour with a silver BEKO logo on the fridge door. The handles for the doors take up the entire width of the door in a slightly lighter shade of grey. To open the doors the handles are just sunk into the doors, I think this is a lovely feature and makes the appliance very accessible. The water dispenser is labelled and is again in shades of grey and silver.

All the shelves are made of glass and arrived stored within the fridge and where covered in a plastic wrapping and all kept together with tape. All the shelves have plastic lines in them and plastic ends. There are three full sized shelves and one half sized shelf. There are several slots for the shelves, there is also a thick metal bottle holding shelf, which should be placed in the middle of the fridge as the slot is a different shape. There are also two crisper drawers at the bottom of the fridge, these are very spacious. The fridge has yet more storage space in the door, there is an egg rack which can hold ten eggs, this could be moved into the fridge as it is freestanding. This would increase the space of the enclosed shelf at the top of the door. There are also two small boxes which slide under this shelf, these are great, we use them to store cheese. Also included in the fridge door are four small bottle holding shelves which also have metal enclosures. The main storage space in the fridge door is taken away by the water dispenser. There is a large water ‘tank’, which holds approx 2 litres of water. I really like the water dispenser but the problem I have had with it is that when you refill the tank the shape is very cumbersome and difficult to hold when full, thank goodness for having a man about the house.

A few final points on the fridge. As with all modern fridges as soon as you open the door a light comes on, I often accuse my boyfriend of teasing the fridge as he is always opening the door and then pressing the button to turn off the light. There is also the equivalent of a dimmer switch on the top of the fridge. This allows you to set the temperature of your fridge. When it arrived with us the fridge was set to 3 (there are 6 differing settings, 6 being the coldest), this was far too cold and there was soon ice all over the back of the fridge. We have found that somewhere between 1 and 2 is the ideal temperature. The doors on this fridge freezer are also reversible, so if you would like this fridge but are worried about the space, it is supposedly easy to switch the doors over.

The freezer is also quite spacious. There is a small thin tray at the top of the freezer, this is called the Ice Bank and includes two ice cube trays. This is a very cute idea but I don’t really tend to use this and have taken the tray out in order to increase space in the lower section, Fast Freeze. The fast freeze compartment is not like the other in the freezer, rather than a drawer this section has a front which just pulls down. This is the coldest section of the freezer, I tend to put food into this section and then move it once frozen. This part of the freezer includes a fan to freeze food super fast. There are then three large drawers and the bottom drawer looks the same but is not as deep, I have found that this is best used for things like packs of peas. The inside of the freezer door is covered in large dimples, I have no idea what this is all about. Again, this door can be reversed.

Since we have had this fridge freezer I have cleaned the fridge twice. It is very easy to clean as all the shelves and surfaces are smooth with sleek lines. It is a cleaner's dream, well frankly it's anyone's dream, the amount of cleaning required. It also manages to keep very clean as all the shelves are glass.

The other nice thing about this fridge freezer is that is quiet. I have never really noticed any noise even when standing in front of it.

Performance Specification
- Energy Efficiency Class - A
- Energy Consumption - 340 kWh/year
- Net storage - volume of fresh food - 166 litres/5.9 cubic feet
- Net storage - volume of frozen food - 94 litres/3.3 cubic feet
- Total net storage - 260 litres/ 9.2 cubic feet
- Frozen food compartment rating - ****
- Conservation time from failure - 13 hours
- Freezing capacity fresh food - 6kg or 13.2lbs in 24 hours
- Climate class - SN
- Operating noise level - 41dB

The instruction manual is very comprehensive and includes
- Safety First / Electrical Requirements
- Transportation Instructions
- Installation Instructions
- Getting to Know Your Beko Fridge/Freezer
- Water Dispenser
- Reversing the Doors
- Suggested Arrangement of Food in the Fridge/Freezer
- Temperature Control and Adjustment
- Starting
- Storing Frozen Food
- Freezing Fresh Food
- Making Ice Cubes
- Defrosting
- Cleaning and Care
- Replacing the Interior Light Bulb
- Do’s and Don’ts
- Energy Saving Tips
- Problem Solving
- Guarantee Details
- How to Obtain Service

Contact information
Beko plc
Beko House
Caxton Way
Watford
Herfordshire
WD18 8UF
Tel : 01923 654 650
Fax : 01923 819 653
Email : service@beko.co.uk
Website : www.beko.co.uk

So, to conclude I love my fridge freezer, it is my baby, it was my treat when I moved in with my boyfriend, he had a leather sofa. This is a budget fridge freezer which I think would be ideal for families, it meets all the essential criteria. It looks good, it’s quite and to be honest for what you get, it’s not that expensive. I have had this appliance for about six months now and have had no problems with it other than, I have clearly overloaded one of the drawers as it has cracked. I don’t really think this is a defect with the freezer as the drawers are made of thick plastic, this is really my own fault, so a warning if you do get one be careful how much you cram in.

For more information you could also try http://www.beko.co.uk/default.asp?docId=12920&productGroupId=17506

Hope to have helped

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If there is any additional information you would like or think would improve this review, please let me know.