Am I mad to consider an under counter fridge?

[omnishambles]

Ok so bear with me. Tiny kitchen - 8x8 or something so a U-shape with the door at the bottom. sink and back door on the right hand side, so far so normal.

The present owners have a normal size fridge freezer at the end of the worktop on the left. I think I need to claw back some worktop and cupboard space/light by having an under counter fridge and putting up lots of shelves above/continuing the worktop.

At the moment there are probably about 2 cupboards for food - nothing else and a very small amount of worktop.

I think I can live with an under counter fridge as we only buy weekly and can be much more organised - there isnt any processed food or drinks taking up space, and not much meat, it is all dairy and veg.

What do you think?

You may well faint at the sight of my behemoth then MrsEricBana

We’ve had an under counter fridge FOREVER , even as a family of 6! Its doable

Fridge porn Whatthefoxgoingon

I think the message here is clear - thanks all.

Just warning as well that there is going to be multiple threads about this new house and the storage issues therein. which would be fine if we were minimalists. But we aren't. Our current living space looks like the set of a Merchant Ivory front room.

No no no they are god awful. You constantly have to bend right down and the space is awkward eg with the salad drawers as lift up flaps.

I'd definitely go for the new drawer type under cabinets fridge:

https://m.johnlewis.com/hotpoint-ncd191i-integrated-fridge-drawers/p230723543?sku=230723543&skwcid=2dx92700024307466819&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIw6WztKXd2QIVirXtCh1rTA3gEAQYBiABEgIBuuDBwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

No way would I consider oneself. The fridge is the main space where I store food. No point having a little fridge whereas things like your dhal won’t fit + a cupboard with fruit and veg going off... It makes a lot more sense to have a big fridge and store all meat, dairy, fruit and veg, bread and drinks etc in there. To free up workspaces, make sure you don’t keep stuff on them. And if you need more cupboard storage, I’d be more inclined to get a good looking cabinet in the dining room for things cereal or rice etc.

If you invest in some of those clear plastic fridge organiser trays, it makes the lower shelves more accessible. Ie you just pull out the cheese box or cold meats. Tkmaxx/homesense normally have them.

I have one but it just stores milk, cheese, lots and lots of jar which most of should probably be thrown out and sandwich making foods.

Everything else lives in a big American fridge freezer in the utility room, I keep all our veg in the freezer. We have a huge amount of fridge food, hummus, smoked salmon, pasta dishes, cold meats, olives, that’s kind of thing so couldn’t manage with just our under the counter one. However if that was only option I’m sure we’d adapt.

You can have my under the counter fridge as moving back to a fridge freezer in order to stop all the swearing that it causes.
Hope you find a solution and you enjoy your new home

I can’t bear under counter fridges. So much harder to see anything in it and I hated having to bend down all the time.

We have a small under counter fridge and a small freezer in a tiny utility. There are 2 adults in the house but often have guests and kids to stay too and it works just fine for us.

We do shop fairly regularly which makes things easier. I reckon that having a small fridge helps prevent food waste as you have to keep on top of what's in there and can't use it to stash so much that things get hidden.

You do have to get up and down a lot to get things out but I have tried to turn this into a positive by squatting rather than bending down. Much better for your back and means you get a good leg workout every day without too much effort! It's fine once you get used to it.

We don't have much counter space either but are scrupulous about clearing clutter so there is always room to prep food etc. May be more difficult to enforce with kids and teenagers in the house though!

Just realised my post wasn't v clear. We have a small freezer in the kitchen and a separate under counter freezer in the utility

Oh ffs a FRIDGE in the kitchen

I think it depends very much on your diet and how often you go to the supermarket.

If you are changing the kitchen, I would suggest you get an under counter fridge and an under counter freezer it is always tricky to access stuff in lower cabinets so they are normally full of tat you hardly use anyway and ensure you get wall cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling.

NotSure, that’s what drawers are for. We haven’t got a single base cabinet as they are awkward indeed.

Yes for base cabinets drawers or pull out wire baskets behind the doors make a huge difference.

We have an under counter fridge. It's all there was space for in our new house.

We do have a tall fridge/freezer in the garage, but it's not use that fridge for drinks and spare milk.

There are four of us and we've been managing fine.

Yes. I am all over the cupboard storage solutions - I have a pinterest board full of them. I will look into those fridge inserts too - hopefully lakeland have something similar.

Another vote for undercounter fridge and separate freezer in garage.
We did it in our main house and sometimes we arw two people and some weekends six and anything in between depending on where our four daughters are...its fine.

You can get those fridge inserts cheaper at
Wilko. I ordered them online.

ooh yes, do they stack?

www.wilko.com/search?q=fridge+storage

Sorry the answer is yes - ignore me, I am truly a shambles today and now I'm talking to myself. We exchange soon!

JOJO, I have a variation of different depth drawers for pans, spices, recycle, etc. But not all kitchen companies have so much choice and it is not always possible to use drawers all around in small kitchen or under limited budgets. Hence the suggestions.

I have a similar size kitchen, under the worktop I have:

• deep drawers under sink
• dishwasher

-washer dryer

• A 3 drawer unit for pans and cutlery with 2 extra inset drawers
• a corner cabinet that I hate, but I couldn’t fit drawers there anyway and has turned into a good place to keep all those kitchen gadgets you only use once in a blue moon.
• a very thin cabinet with door that I put in a corner as a filler but has turned out absolutely great for all those baking paper, foil, film rolls, trays and chopping boards.
• a drawer under the oven for Tupperware’s
• a 5/6 drawer unit

And, yes, I confess I have a skinny but quite high fridge/freezer but after having a medium sized one that was not big enough for DS and I, I was really looking forward to it. Having said that, I only go to the supermarket every 10-15 days and cook batches of food in advance so that is why I need something so big.

If the wall cabinets go all the way to the ceiling, you have more space for other stuff but it also makes the room look much bigger. Having only integrated appliances makes quite a big difference too.

We have two. Had for 3 years as we are renovating whole house. They are a NIGHTMARE. We have thrown away so much stuff as it goes at back on bottom shelf and you can’t see it.