NOW CLOSED Tell Servis how you would design your own fridge and you could win a £100 voucher

[KatieBMumsnet]

We've been asked by the team at Servis to gather your ideas for what would make your perfect family fridge - share your top needs/ desires below and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £100 JL voucher.

So, what's the perfect design? What colour should it be? How many shelves? What special storage does it need? What else should it do? Is bigger always better? What about environmental factors?

Servis say: "We would love you to tell us how you would design your fridge, from a great piece or art to the outright crazy, let us hear how creative you can be! We look forward to reading your best ideas"

Servis are soon to be running a special competition on Facebook to win the fridge of your choice "giving you the opportunity to win a fridge exactly the way you like it. Fancy having your child's favourite drawing, your best photo or just a unique design...well you can. And don't worry, if you like our fridge freezers just the way they are then that's fine too" keep an eye out for more info.

Please note comments from this thread may well be used on the Servis pages on MN.

Thanks
MNHQ

Adjustable height shelves
Thermostat inside with temp in degrees C
Ice dispenser
Iced water dispenser
Everything easy to remove and clean
Wide range of colours

Thank you!!

Oooh, I would love a big American style fridge freezer! No drawers in the freezers and frost free absolute must - Our freezer that came with our house isn't frost free and is a pain in the arse to clean, Cant wait till I can afford to replace it! A shelf in the door of the freezer is useful for keeping vodka, and icelollies of course.

The fridge needs at least four shelves, all adjustable. I like the plastic drawers that are in most fridges but I find they are always made so you have to pull them up a little bit of a slope?! This always means I cant stuff it full because everything gets squashed when I try to shove it in.
I think a hidden compartment would be excellent, not just for mums chocolate but for treats you don't want the kids to see.

The fridge door MUST have at least two door shelves! My fridge seems to be constantly full with full fat milk, skimmed milk, apple juice, milkshake, wine and normally some kind of fizzy juice. Every time I lie any of these down they seem to leak, even brand new sealed ones! I need more door space.

Outside, I would prefer a Matt finish to all the shiny fingerprint showing ones that seem to be around everywhere. Must still be magnetic though.
Now if only I could find this fridge freezer somewhere!

Oh wow! Design my own fridge, yes please!

Our current fridge freezer has broken veg trays and drawers which are held together by brown tape and are broken so slice my fingers when I try to use it, and the freezer drawers fall down into themselves and get wedged. We are currently looking at refitting our kitchen and are currently looking at a separate fridge and freezer (especially as our freezer just defrosted, froze and defrosted again a load of home-cooked ready meals which ended up having to be binned ).

I would like move-able shelving both in the door and inside the fridge. I would like a corner for (4?) bottle storage to keep wine and other alcohol/non-alcohol drinks chilled, big drawers for veg that can comfortably accommodate the home-grown size broccoli and cauliflower without having to cut them in half. Possibly two smaller drawers for fresh fruit, so it doesn't get squashed. A very thin drawer for sliced meats like bacon and ham, some nice easy to clean sturdy shelves that can be adjusted like someone put above to accommodate a Christmas Turkey or some tall jugs of drink for BBQs. Raw meat drawer or shelf at the bottom.

In the door, there must be a space for butters and spreads, bottles/cartons of milk and juice and some condiment jars. There must be an ice compartment for ice-cubes which has a flat not rigid floor so that they don't spill.

It must regulate itself and not freeze up.
It must have a thermometer in a relevant part of the fridge and a thermostat that is easy to reach and doesn't get hidden or knocked by contents, and a display of the temperature on the outside of the fridge.
It must have an alarm if the door is left open or the fridge temp rises above the desired temperature.
Ideally the fridge would have a scanner for all goods in with the use-by time and display what needs eating by when.
I am not too worried about the colour of the fridge but the handle must not be flimsy and able to snap off or chip.
Drawers and shelves, designed to fit in a dishwasher would be brilliant, but definitely not able to chip or crack.

Clear guidance and/or self-labeling system within the fridge as to where things ideally should go.

If it is a fridge freezer then a mixture of shelving in the freezer to cope with boxes of products and bags and I am not sure how, but an ability to defrost the freezer without the fridge getting warm, better still: frost free.
A quick freeze function for freezing home produce whilst minimising the vitamins lost etc. cause I can do that bit when re-heating the dinner in the microwave after cooking
A good energy rating.

Ideally some way of recording the shopping list on the outside of the fridge - maybe a screen you can write on that can sync with mobile phone to transfer the shopping list? , ooo and an app on the door that can provide a nutritious, easy and quick to cook meal out of 5 ingredients in the fridge at that time.

Wow, can't wait!!

A lot of what has been said I totally agree with. More room, flexible storage and shelves of different heights.ore space in door too. Also some sort of alarm system which emits a high pitched scream or dissapproving tuttut whenever my son goes to get a snack for the hundreth time .

• robust drawers and shelves
• no inclines in the freezer department (it's a pain dragging a heavy drawer out at an incline and keeping it there while rooting around for the stuff you need)
• labelling system inside the fridge would be EXCELLENT as DH appears incapable of retaining information about what goes where on his own
• on the more high-tech end, a system for keeping inventory and tracking end-by dates (including of home-made food)

Ok, so my fridge needs to be a double door, with 4 to 5 shelves a piece in the upper section fridge. I have this at home (although needs replacing as ancient) and I like keeping diary and fruit and veg in one half of the fridge and meat products in the other half. The bottom half of both fridges are freezers with big deep draws. This works for the kids who can easily pull them out and get an ice lolly or help mummy by getting out the oven chips etc. Wipe clean doors are essential and a nice rack for bottles is also a must (mummy has to store her wine correctly!). Strong compartments in the doors for milk and cheese etc are also important as the little ones help themselves to juice and don't want the plastic cracking due to heavy handed little darlings. My current fridge is integral to the kitchen, but I would love a sexy colour for my fridge (coral pink or mint green). That's my fridge heaven! Oh, and a built-in fridge thermometer would be super too. :)

I am so glad Servis are bothering to ask us the consumers what we want. I was looking for a new fridge freezer a couple of years ago and it was so frustrating as I could not find what I wanted. I like the American style fridge freezers but could not find anything suitable. They all seemed to have massive fridges and tiny freezers? Who want that I wanted it to be a smaller fridge and massive freezer. I ended up buying two separate products a full length freezer and a full length fridge and putting them side by side! I would like it have good economical running costs with enough storage for bottles, fresh fruit, and meat storage.

Id have a booking in system - you scan your barcode on the front of the fridge and it automatically knows the sell by date and flashes an alert on the fridge door when a food has reached it. If the food has been eaten this relies on people booking it out as well.

The fridge would self clean.

My dream fridge would also be huge and deep.

Def need the meat storage at the bottom. Can never understand why the salad stuff is at the bottom when hygiene dictates you need to put raw meet there

Plus if looking at the American style fridge freezers, can we have more freezer space and less fridge please?

--A kiddie lock that is quick and easy to use and not ugly for adults, but prevents people less than 3' tall from pulling the door open.

--75cm wide so that properly big things (i.e. lasagna, roasting tray) can go in when needed.

--opening mechanism on the freezer so that you don't get the impossible vacuum locking when you shut it so that you can't get it open again for a while.

Oh, and, American fridge freezers are horrible because the freezers are too narrow to fit anything, yet take up a huge amount of space. Having grown up with one myself, I knew when I redid my kitchen that I absolutely did not want one.

I would love one that I could display by digital photos on... Like a giant photo album.... Xx

Not bothered about the colour. Tall, with variable shelf height. One that defrosts itself so to speak. A child lock would be excellent.

Two vegetable baskets at the bottom, with lift out drawers.

Can you design it to self clean please. If it came fully stocked that would also be a bonus....

A magic door system that means only I (or DH maybe) can open it and not rampaging toddlers! Without having to resort to fiddly annoying stick-on fridge locks...!
One that automatically shuts if it's accidentally left ajar (DH, I'm looking at you!)
Moveable shelves, including in the door! So many fridge door sections aren't tall enough to accommodate a 2L coke bottle - really annoying!
A secret compartment as PP have suggested sounds like a great idea...

The problem these days is that jars etc all say refrigerate after opening and this can crowd a fridge so much there's no room for day to day stuff.

Shelves are still too far apart on most fridges. I'd like the option of, say, standard jam jar height spacing for all shelves. Not just the ability to put two close together, at the expense of another one which then becomes huuuge. I'd also like a manufacturer to supply more shelves to put in the huge gaps! Just because they usually have three, at conventional spacing, doesn't mean it wouldn't be nice to have an extra one at half-height again for odds and sods.

(I'd also like oven manufacturers to do likewise. How many other folk when doing eg a roast dinner don't have enough shelves? Seriously, two, when a roasting tin takes up a whole one? Just think, turkey plus stuffing plus roasties plus parsnips = a whole lot more than two shelves. Ahem Sorry... serious digression)

Love glass shelves. No dripping.

Hate the little ramps for water to run down in self-defrosting fridges. They gunk up, and then I have to call DH to ungunk as it makes me heave. Provide a brush for them?

Redesign manual defrosting water channels on freezers so it doesn't leak out the sides and create a lake on the floor.

Door pockets that are capable of keeping at least 3x4 pints milk in.

I do use the egg pocket, but the egg dimples are a removable insert so it can become a little shelflet too. Useful for choc bars

Oh, anyone suffering from broken freezer drawers? Get some Sugru...

I would love one designed like a chest of drawers rather than an upright as to go under counter level and I wouldn't get hit by falling apples, tomatoes... etc. Would also be easier to stack things.

Or as a feature in a more traditional fridge a pull out vertical set of shelves so you could get round the sides easily and it packs away more neatly when not in use.

Can you guess I am currently experiencing severe frustration due to a very small fridge.

Disclaimer: I am not a designer and have no idea how practical these ideas are! I'm guessing not very!

I would like a nice big fridge with lots of shelves with labels that can be written on, for example to identify which food is for which day/person. I would also like a lockable section for me to keep my treats in away from the thieving teens and DH in my family!

I do like a white fridge- but would like one that didn't allow dirty marks to show up.

Draws that can be easily collapsed/taken apart to clean. The drawers i have don't fit easily in a sink, which would make cleaning off squashed cucumber much easier.

Shelves that can be adjusted to accommodate large items, but can be put back so as not to waste space post Christmas for example.Wider shelves in the doors so the bottles fit.

If it is a fridge freezer- be better designed than my samsung American style one.The freezer side is too narrow, and everything longer than a burger box has to be put in on an angle

I like TeamEdward's blackboard/whiteboard idea, and the idea of a temperature display for both the fridge and freezer. Temp display should really be on the outside so you don't need to open the fridge to see it, although this might be a bit unsightly.

I agree with the fridge skins idea so that you would be able to personalise your fridge freezer or change the colour if you redecorated.

I have just yesterday had a new fridge freezer delivered and am liking the amount of space in the fridge section. More shelves would be welcome, perhaps as half shelves to make the space more flexible. The door shelves need to be robust, as do the crisper drawers, since I tend to find they break easily.

Panel light, adjustable door storage, easy to clean, durable fittings, good size freezer drawers, under-shelf bottle rack, energy efficient and quiet running.

An ice cream making compartment is what my mother would like to see in a freezer! :)

wheels. I SAID WHEELS little ones at the back. I have the prospect of pulling the fridge freezer out by myself. I am not thrilled.

On reflection I don't actually need a tablet. What I want is an adaptable charging frame, set into the door of the fridge, with a wipe clean transparent "door" to cover, so I can use it with wet hands etc.

I could then plug in my own tablet or phone, use it as a charging station, and as a great waterproof/smashproof holder in the kitchen.

Any other stuff - photo frame, stock keeping, recipe generation, shopping integration - can be dealt with by apps on my existing unit, and I wouldn't need to replace my fridge when the tablet is obsoleted (because I would not, I would just feel like I had a crap fridge, so best not to build it in).

I have this one. It is perfect in every way except the freezer drawers are a little flimsy.

Extra gadget's like a radio, tv, I pod docking station or similar could be a cool attractive gimmick but it would depend on how I felt on the day to whether I would go for it!

I need a fridge with deep doors that will store milk & juice & wine & smoothies - not one or the other! Adjustable height shelves too.

I would like both doors to have an all-over clear plastic 'door' on the front that can be opened to insert pictures/notes/drawings without all those magnets that get knocked and fall off.

The fridge door would do away with silly little compartments and egg holders to have two large drinks holders with a bar so the bottles don't almost fall every time you open the door.

It would have a light in the freezer (why do you only need to see what's in the fridge when it's dark?) and shelves rather than drawers with hinged doors on each to prevent drawers that get stuck when you cram stuff in.

I would also have a compartment lined with a protective layer (if this is even possible!) so that food could be placed in there when there's only one left from a big box and I've run out of freezer bags.

Finally, now we're getting into dreamland territory - I would have a barcode reader on the front that you can use to scan things as you run out of them, the details of which then get sent to your tablet/computer ready to make a shopping list or order the shopping online :-D