I'm spending much of my time now in dirndl skirts and bobby socks, or capri pants a la Audrey Hepburn on alternate days. Why? Ah, I'm so glad you asked, because I'm just desperate to tell you all about my new Smeg fridge-freezer.
I was forced to bid a tearful farewell to my old Zanussi. Not because I loved it so much - it was noisy, lacked space and had ultimately betrayed me in its bid to evolve to an oven. No, I was tearful because of the knowledge that I would have to spend my well-earned cash on a boring replacement.
As you may be aware, I detest cooking and therefor have little interest in those kitchen appliances involved in that hateful pursuit. With a heavy heart, I set off for the electrical retailers.
It's true what they say about love - when you don't look, you find. It was love at first sight in
House of Fraser, when I noticed the Smeg FAB 32AZ, despite it's boring name.
It has a fifties look, all rounded and inviting. And it is available in, wait for it, all of the following colours: black; blue; cream; pastel blue; pastel green; pink; red; silver; stainless steel or white. The joy! With hardly a second thought, I purchased the pastel blue version, with its oversized softly curved chrome handles and SMEG in widely spaced chrome lettering across the top.
My retro style, pastel blue fridge freezer is just the thing to finish my kitchen off. I've been leaning towards a 50's-Americana-ice-cream-parlour look for a while, with a white formica dining set with chrome legs, and pale pink and blue tiling. The smaller appliances are all chrome and curvy, and I've oodles of big glasses with straws and sundae dishes to accessorise my little fantasy café with.
Excitement in the house peaked on the day of Smeg's arrival. Well, the kids were mildly interested, but I was beside myself. Delivery was professional and curteous, direct from Smeg, and all was going wonderfully until I realised just how big the thing was. Friggin enormous (pardon the pun)! Measurements are w600mm, h1800mm, d700mm (including air circulation space) just in case you're considering one. I ought to have paid more attention to this as it necessitated my moving stuff around while the guys waited patiently.
Once installed, I got the chance to get to know my new family member.
Smeg FAB32AZ is equipped with 2 motors and 2 adjustable thermostats. In the accepted energy efficiency ratings, it is classed A. (ratings go from A to G, with A being most efficient). It will eat up 347 kw/h of energy in a year and if so inclined, you can work out how much it will cost to run. I really don't care, I love the evocative design so much.
The fridge will hold 205 litres of food, has 3 glass shelves which can be adjusted for height. There are two containers for fruit and veg and a covered box for dairy produce. A nice touch is a chrome wine rack, much more interesting to me than all the foody bits. It's also fitted with an automatic defrost. I find the fridge space cavernous, easily accommodating our needs. Everything is easy to reach and keeping it clean is a breeze because there are no deep corners.
The freezer holds up to 103 litres of food, in two drawer areas and a third compartment which houses a shelf which is designed, appropriately enough, to hold large pizza boxes. It will freeze 15kg of food in 24 hours and would take twenty hours to fully thaw. Again, this is more than adequate for our needs, and access to our nukeable meals is easy. I've not yet defrosted the freezer, but it looks as though cleaning will be a simple task.
It could be due to the fact that my old fridge freezer was revving up in it's bid to try to get back to planet Zanussi, but I find the Smeg extremely quiet. I can easily hear myself hum "Happy Days" when I'm considering what to open and heat for dinner.
I sometimes sneak down in the middle of the night just to fondle those curves, and imagine that I can eat the enormous tub of ice cream waiting therein, with a spoon. I'm afraid that I have Smeg full of ice cream, pizza, hotdogs and coke at the moment, but less easily influenced folks could use it for all of their wondrous food making ingredients.
All I need now is a volunteer Fonz!
Smeguk.com carries information on this Italian manufacturer, including stockists. Refridgeration products carry a 2 year guarantee. FAB 32AZ retails at around £1299.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Oh no... just seen someone else beat me to the heeeeeyyyyy gag. And there's no way of retracting comments. Hang my head in shame.
Pozza 26.07.2003 21:27
Heeeeeeeyyyyy! These fridges are hip, dude! Paul.
COOOEEE 13.07.2003 11:10
I love the way chio have used a link for the picture where you can see the colours change.I really like the style of the product too. Nice and curvy. Fionaxx
Jul 4th, 2003
very helpful by (100%):
