Hotpoint FZ175A

...I knew I wanted a Hotpoint or Whirlpool, having experienced the very best of customer service previously when needing a repair from these two companies, not to mention the low cost of out of warranty repair by an engineer.

Scouting about, I found this model seemed to fit all my requirements, and the price was quite reasonable as well, being under £500. So, a year on, how have I found this? To be quite honest, I am so pleased it is ...
...a rather shallow one, made for ice cream, ice cubes (trays included, as well as a drinks cooler board for taking on picnics) and the like, and the bottom most one is deep but has a sort of triangular bottom to accomodate the inner workings of the freezer. The other four drawers are deep and fairly wide as this freezer is roughly the same size of a full sized fridge freezer. The door is reversible, so you can hang it either side, which is very convenient ... more

Two years ago, we were moving to our newly purchased home from our rented accomodation. Our rented house had come fully furnished, so with the exception of the baby furniture and a few other minor bits of equipment, we had to go a-hunting for things to furnish our new home with. Even at charity shop and second hand eBay prices, this would be terribly expensive, so I will hold my hand up and admit that after offloading all our unwanted clothes and "stuff" via Freecycle, I shamelessly accepted various goods that we needed. Okay, so I did not expect things like a 10 year old freezer and a 12 year old washer to be the most energy efficient or to last forever, but hey they worked and were free, so we would have the use of the goods until we could shell out for something better.

One of the things I received was a freezer. My first Freecycle freezer was a shop's ice cream freezer, one of those little chest style ones with the clear lid you see in small corner shops. This lasted for a couple of months and then the compressor blew. Luckily someone on Freecycle had an ancient upright I could have immediately, so our pocket was spared a bit longer. This lasted roughly a year, and I have to say that it was a rather fortunate side effect that we got these two very different freezers as a consquence of being broke. Why? Well, the chest freezer came with two very large and deep baskets, and I thought it was all rather convenient. It was, but I found that the upright was even more so. It took the same amount of floor space, but being taller, I got more in it, and with the drawers, there was no need to bend over and go a digging for stuff at the bottom. This practical experience with the two types of freezers meant that when the sales were on and we had a few spare pennies, and the second freezer spluttered and then permanently died, I had a very good idea of what I wanted.

I wanted a large capacity upright freezer, one that I could use to fit an entire month's worth of groceries in when used in tandem with my fridge freezer. I do literally mean an entire month's worth, too. I buy absolutely everything in one go, including fresh milk and bread, all which go into the freezer. I wanted the freezer to be frost free so that I could avoid the faff of defrosting it, and I wanted it A rated. In addition, I knew I wanted a Hotpoint or Whirlpool, having experienced the very best of customer service previously when needing a repair from these two companies, not to mention the low cost of out of warranty repair by an engineer.

Scouting about, I found this model seemed to fit all my requirements, and the price was quite reasonable as well, being under £500. So, a year on, how have I found this? To be quite honest, I am so pleased it is almost ridiculous. It has 6 drawers. The topmost one is a rather shallow one, made for ice cream, ice cubes (trays included, as well as a drinks cooler board for taking on picnics) and the like, and the bottom most one is deep but has a sort of triangular bottom to accomodate the inner workings of the freezer. The other four drawers are deep and fairly wide as this freezer is roughly the same size of a full sized fridge freezer. The door is reversible, so you can hang it either side, which is very convenient as I wished to place it in a particular corner in my utility room and this meant I could have the door able to open fully. It has a temperature selection gauge just inside the foor on the main body of the freezer, as wella s a super freezer selection. The super freeze basically lowers the temperature rapidly so that foods that require a fast freeze or rapid cooling can safely be stored. Speaking of which, I have found ths freezes evenly without any super cold spots, so no worries about freezer burn if placing things in certain spots.

There is also a warning light visible above the door. When it flashes, the manual says that it emans the contents have gotten to warm and to throw them out. Personal experience though tells me to check first. We have to early primary school aged children who frequently go get new loaves and bread and what not out of the freezer and do not shut the door properly from time to time. This means it lets all the nice cold air out, which means it gets warmer than the desired internal temperature inside. The reality of the warning light is that as soon as that internal temperature drops below what it is set for, the light comes on. So it blinks long before the food is actually defrosted, which has been a life saver for us as we have been able to catch it before any harm was done.

As for storage capacity, I can tell you this freezer makes my fridge's freezer compartment nearly redundant. I have been able to safely, and without cramming, fit 18 6 pint containers of fresh milk, 14 800 gram loaves of bread, 2 large packages of chicken drumsticks, 4 kilos of mince, 2 large bags of frozen diced casserole meats, a bag of mixed chicken pieces, 2 packages of pork steaks, 2 packages of steaks, a kilo bag each of peas, carrots, and mixed veggies, 2 fruit pies, a crumble, and topped off with a several boxes of Marshmallow Peeps in the ice cube compartment. This means it is ideal for those of us who avoid temptation by doing a monthly online monster shop for the necessities, for large families in need of food storage, or even people lucky enough to have a large fruit and veggie garden who need lots of space to freeze their bumper crop so that they can eat clear until next growing season.

Now, I have this in my utility room, but not everyone has such a space. I can hand on heart say that if you want to sit this baby in your kitchen or a hallway, it will not draw attention with its humming. It runs silently, free of the gurgles and rumbles so often heard with frost free refrigerators and freezers. I can also tell you that the A rating made a noticeable difference in our electricity bill, so it started paying us back already in more ways than one. I opted for polar white, but you can also get this in a silver finish to complement such a decorating scheme. It is available at most places selling large appliances, but if you are unlikely to have that much cash in one go like us, I can tell you we purchased this for about the same price as everywhere else from Littlewoods and took advantage of the interest free payment option.

 

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