Hotpoint FFA52

I have had this fridge/freezer for several months now and have to say overall it's a reliable machine that is well worth a look if you're looking to replace an older unit.

Size

One of the advantages is the width of this unit, my kitchen is literally tiny so everything has to be slimline in order to have room to move. The freezer has 3 pullout draws, 2 of which are of reasonable size although it could be said they lack depth and so you'll find yourself cramming items in which don't fit. The bottom draw is the largest and is where bigger items will have to be kept. There is also a shelf above the draws which adds a little more room to the freezer.

Another little space saver added into the freezer are the ice cube trays built into 2 of the freezer doors. Each tray is actually an elongated blue plastic tubes with bumps along the bottom. Filling these trays is simplified by a well marked "Fill Level", these are then placed back into the freezer doors and a while later you have ice cubes. These do work well but can at times be tricky to get out of the tube and will have you smashing them on the kitchen counter.

I have found the fridge to have ample space and a good number of compartments in which to seperate foods. The inside door has 3 shelves, the bottom shelf offering the most space and where I generally keep 4pints of milk, 2 litres of coke and a water filter. The middle shelf is very useful for small pots and sauces that need to be refridgerated but that's about all the will fit due to height restriction imposed by the shelf above. The top shelf could be described as a compartment as it has a sliding door which can enclose the top shelf.

There are a maximum of 4 shelfs that can be placed inside the fridge, although reallistically you will probably only want to use 3 of them as using the maximum really restricts the height of things that will fit upon the shelves. The bottom of the fridge is divided into two draws which I have found extremely useful for storing vegetables.

Energy Efficiency

The fridge came with a sticker that said it was extremely efficient and in my experience it has been. The unit comes with 5 settings, 1 being the most efficient and usung least energy up to level 5 which will be far more costly to run. The guide recommended leaving the fridge on the 3rd setting for a few days after first use , while doing this the milk in my fridge froze overnight. Since then I have never needed to have it above the very lowest setting.

Reliability

6 months after purchase and it still works perfectly, occasionally the fridge will have frozen water on the very back but the the auto-defrost button located on the top front of the fridge this can be easily resolved. No other issues have come up since purchase so I have been very pleased with it.

Overall

I would recommend this to anyone who has no more than 2 people in their home as the size of the freezer just isn't large enough. The freezer becomes packed with just a weeks worth of shopping so definately would not be suitable for a family but it suits my girlfriend and I extremely well.