This review is for the Hotpoint RLA36 fridge.
Setup
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Well you initially get all the parts inside the fridge. You have the shelving units and then you have the plug at the back to connect to another place.
When you open up the package you assume the door is already attached when it is not, you have to put the door on yourself with the screws provided.
You put inside the draws and then you are ready to go. You do need to wait for an hour once the item has been plugged in before you can place items inside again. My advice for this is do not turn off the other fridge you have at all during this time. I would have both plugged in and that way you have no food which ends up tasting funny during the waiting period.
Design
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Well the design is very simple and the overall outside colour is this very metallic silver with a hint of white in the centre at times. Only a small hint mind you and it does have that appeal of something expensive.
The Inside you have got this white backing which is nice and very much works well with the outside metallic colour.
You have on the door four sections and the top section is covered by a plastic lid and this would be suitable for items such as a small container of butter or a meat product like bacon.
Underneath you then have another two sections and one is for eggs due to the egg tray and the other is for items like a can of cola or something similar to this. These two compartments are very small.
Finally underneath all these on the door is a place to store your milk or wine bottles as this is a free standing section of the fridge.
Inside the fridge down the centre is where the shelving is and you have four more sections here as well. The top three sections are all the same and just normal shelving and you place items in there and the bottom you have this storage space which is covered up and I would say this is extremely handy for vegetables more than anything else.
Overall design quite impressive and layout very tidy indeed.
Specifications
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This fridge is 85cm in height, 60cm in width and 62cm in depth. I have to be honest here and the width is slightly inaccurate because depending where the door is you could end up with a few extra centimetres on the end so just be careful with those numbers.
The energy saving rating for this fridge is A+ which is the best rating you can receive.
The net capacity this fridge has is 149 litres and my previous fridge was really awful compared to this machine. This is a really good number and even though other fridges are higher I think this suits most people.
The annual average energy consumption is 117kWh and I have no idea how good this is but I was told it was not to bad and not the best in the world but not too bad.
Overall the specifications are good but just be careful with the overall width of the fridge.
Features
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Well this machine has built into the system an anti bacterial protection system which is quite good when you think about how many of us worry about bacteria and I am forever looking at trying to make sure I do not make myself ill with left open food all the time.
This fridge somehow manages to help combat this problem and for me that is a fantastic feature to have because helps your mind be put at ease somewhat.
The cleaning of this machine is so easy that it is not even a challenge. You grab a shelf and pull it towards you and instantly you have the item out of the fridge and ready to clean. You are cleaning glass remember as the shelving is glass but they are easy to clean and place back inside again afterwards. I like how easy the item is to clean because some fridges need you to disconnect one corner and you up breaking the sections off accidentally.
There is automatic fridge defrost function on this machine as well which is very good for a few reasons. If you have a water pool which can happen sometimes then this fridge does not have this problem. You never see water on the fridge and if there is and you shut the fridge door usually within a few minutes it has disappeared. They say in the manual that also if you get frost it prevents this as well, but I haven’t had frost so cannot leave judgment on that front.
There is a section for dairy products at the top of the fridge with a lid facility which is there to keep the dairy products away from other items such as meat which might be left open. Sometimes you have a product like cheese and you can taste a meat on them and this fridge helps you put various items into sections to stop this from happening.
The other feature which sounds like madness but is good is the ability to swap the fridge door to either the left hand side of the right hand side depending on your own preference. I know it sounds odd but if you had a fridge which was only able to open on the left hand side and the space in your kitchen was only making it possible to open from the right hand side then this fridge works for you. I had this issue and the ability to swap the door to one side to another is fantastic.
Another feature which I feel most fridges have but at the top when the door is closed you get told the temperature at all times and I like that because this features lets you know if there any problems such as the fridge have issues with temperature or the plug at the back isn’t plugged in correctly.
Good points
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Well the best point is the amount of storage space but also how the fridge is laid out. You have a section for the vegetables at the bottom and you have at the side a place for dairy product.
You can place items into areas which will keep them save and lasting longer. I am someone who always put meats next to vegetables and I end up either smelling the meat on my vegetables or tasting the meat and it is not a pleasant taste to have. So the overall storage is a huge added bonus for me and something I think they did well to consider when making the design.
I think the actual shelving made from glass is good because my previous fridge was plastic and it seemed to stain instantly if I spilt something on there and kept having some of the areas break due to the weight of products.
With the glass you can wipe away any spills and not have the stains and you also have a very good cleaning schedule you can maintain at the same time because of the easy nature of cleaning.
I think the fridge design is good as well when you open this fridge you hear nothing at all so silent and when you close the fridge it is silent unless you have bottles of wine on the door shelving otherwise the sound is very quiet and peaceful and this is really nice to have. I think sometimes a fridge can sound very loud when there is no need for it to sound this way, so overall the fridge volume levels are very good.
Bad Points
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Well a big problem for me is that when I am doing cooking and I need the fridge open and shut all the time I get fed up very quickly so what I do is I leave the fridge door open slightly to get the items quicker and I notice that if I do this for 5 minutes the temperature of the fridge goes up and I think wow that is really high and you have to end up waiting a good 45 minutes for the temperature to return to normal. So you cannot in theory leave the fridge door open at all otherwise you face the prospect of having items go warm.
My other concern is at the top shelf there is a light there which is in the corner and if you place products such as a low fat butter you can guarantee when you take it out it is warm and not cold. The light they suggest in the manual does not let off any heat at all and yet I know for a fact it does. This tiny light once made yoghurt I had on the top shelf go very warm when I was eating it. The only way to avoid this matter is to try and not place items to close to the light but that is easier said than done.
Summary
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This fridge has many good points to it with the great energy saving rating and the nice features inside and out.
The problems with the machine could be a big factor in whether this is a purchase for you or not. If your someone who never has a fully packed fridge then why not by this item.
If you’re someone like me who is full of items in there fridge then perhaps this is not the best item to buy due to the problems with the heat managing to get inside.
My advice think really hard before you buy, I learnt the hard way as I got this without a review to look at and I think I made a slight error in judgment.
I got this fridge for £170 and it was in a sale I know Amazon do sell this product but for over £200 so there is a big asking price at the same time.
Rating wise 6 out of 10.
© Tink-er-bell
Smooth Operator 
