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

1. In the door I would love large spaces to put fizzy (2L) bottles of pop in - as its now really hot we are drinking more pop, bottled water and my fridge door is not coping well under the strain

Also some sort of stopper to put around the bottles so as not to fall to one side when shutting the door.

1. May be boxes that stack to put cheese, butter, baby bell etc so they do not have to keep being picked up to get at something under neath.

1. May be even a slatted plastic flap door over shelves that hold ham etc so you can get the packet out without to much heat getting in when the door is open - a bit like the ones in butchers shops behind their freezer door.

1. Easy method of door removal - left hand open / right hand open. Would love to press and change over if needed.

1. Maybe a chalk board added to outside of the door for notes, kids to play on etc.

1. Doors that could hold full size family photos, pets etc. instead of a colour usually white.

I would like a fridge door which stays open when you are filling with groceries / getting things out - for some reason ours closes by itself despite being on a level which is really annoying as you have to prop it open.

Space for a dozen eggs - I always buy dozen packs as we use a lot for baking etc but our egg holder only fits 10 eggs so 2 have to sit precariously on top!

Deeper holders in the doors to hold large 2 litre bottles.

Don't have the light in the top taking up loads of space - possibly thin led type lighting?

Shelf at the very bottom for meat.

For those of us who live in homes with small kitchens, an 'upandover' door for the fridge part would be jolly useful.......

Actually, Servis, I met the fridge that I want today - here it is - if you could do that for less than half the price, that would be great.

I'd just be happy with a fridge with a door that didn't keep falling off!

A self cleaning fridge would be ideal!

Seriously, bigger salad drawers and more space in the door for large bottles (such as wine!) would be useful.

A fridge takes up a lot of space so I'd like one that doubles up as a giant kitchen ipad. The front of my fridge would be a touch screen that when on "stand-by" tells me the temperature of my fridge, the contents of my fridge, the sell by dates of the contents and what items I'll need to buy soon, like milk and veggies.
With a swipe of my finger it would then display recipe suggestions based on the contents of my fridge and my own personal preferences, and if I choose to cook one of those recipes it would give me a step by step tutorial if I wanted one. Other apps would include a music player, a day planner, a virtual whiteboard for messages and a kids art app so they could "draw" on the front of the fridge, a modern update of keeping kid's artwork on the fridge with magnets.

So the standard things I want from a fridge are: multiple shelves that you can move to alter the distance between them, durable salad drawers, all drawers and shelves easy to clean (ideally dishwasher safe) and multiple shelves on the inside of the door that are safe to hold milk and condiments so they don't fall out when the door is opened.

Now for the (hopefully) newer ideas:

1. Temperature in degrees Celsius rather than arbitrary numbers on the thermostat to take away the guess work.
2. Odour catcher built in to the fridge with changeable inserts to try to avoid the problem of strongly smelling foods affecting everything in the fridge.
3. Soft closing doors that automatically shut fully once the door has been pushed in that direction - I want the door to stay open when the fridge is in use but currently the door can stay open a few centimetres without you realising. The soft close function would make this safer if there are little ones around.
4. The ultimate ability to personalise your fridge - clip on fronts that function like mobile phone covers that you could replace and have made to your own design.

I would like easily moveable shelves, or failing that a range of widths, a water cooler and ice maker would be good. For when the children were young a quick 3 digit keypad to open it would have been good (that would keep them out now as well!).

Digital temperature display and controls. Easy clean designs, fridge seals are always collecting stuff. Door shelves that can fit the 4pint bottles of milk handle side out.

And in this heat I'd love for it to have a mini air conditioner so I can cool the kitchen down while cooking, though I'd probably take longer than needed cooking dinner ;)

Top of my list of needs is a deep door that can hold large bottles and cartons.So often I have to lie these down on the shelf and they take up too much space.
I'd also love a sturdy salad/veg drawer, these end up getting broken on all of my fridges.
Finally some kind of alarm to let me know if the door is not properly closed, something my family do all the time.

I would like a fridge which is quiet. No annoying buzzing or humming. Easily removable shelves and storage boxes for cleaning and they should all be interchangeable so you don't end up feeling like a contestant in the krypton factor when you're trying to put them back.
The storage in the doors should be secure enough so that things don't fall over when the door is closing. A soft close mechanism on the door?
Label suggestions in the fridge as to what sort of stuff should go on which shelf (dairy / raw meat / cooked meats etc..)
In fantasy / sic fi land I would have a screen on the front like an IPAD with an inventory of what's currently in the fridge and what needs reordering when, it could also suggest meals and recipe ideas for what's currently in there.

Having to remove shelves to clean and then finding bits stuck in the sides of the shelves (sort of between the glass) is really annoying. Cleaning the thing is a pain and should be made as easy as possible. Maximum flexibility in how the shelves / doors can be used would be great. We had a huge pain reversing the door on ours to fit it in so that should be easier. A lock? Or an option for one to keep small people out, or at least a catch. Ours often gets left open so an open door alarm would be good. Less breakable shelves, more robust would be ideal.

More options for the interior.

Most importantly wipe clean exterior that doesn't show streaks and sticky fingers! Smeg do great colours, but not many other brands? Secondly, good use of EVERY inch of space, often there are so many unused gaps in fridges so clever shelves and door boxes to make use of this. Thirdly a large enough vegetable box, I can never get enough in mine! Ice machine always a plus too. And the light in a place where adding in food packets etc doesn't block out the light!

the design of the fridge, would be picture of my children all over it. would have a water dispenser and ice dispenser. it would have a child lock so my children cant get inside. also i am always thinking ive shut the fridge but its left slightly open, so would have some system which lets you know if its not shut properly, a beeping noise or something.

I would like a tardis fridge/freezer please, it doesn't have to look like the Tardis (although that would be cool!) But I need it to be bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

Can you make me one like that?? Pretty please!

My perfect fridge would be spacious and Eco friendly

My ideal fridge would be slick and stylish on the outside, with a cold mineral water tap on the front of the door.

On the inside there'd be a really deep door with enough room to put family size milk (huge!), family size orange juice (also huge!) and several bottles of wine don't bother with the egg/cheese bit at the top as it never gets used for that.

In the main part of the fridge I'd like pull out trays instead of shelves of varying depths, sort of like a chest of drawers but made of clear plastic and without a top or and end (if that makes sense!) just so you can pull it out instead of reaching right to the back.
Adjustable thermostat with the real temperature on it instead of 1-5.
The thing I'd most like is to be able to take all the food out of the fridge, press a button and have it clean and antibac itself.

A bit like those portaloos!
Do all this and you're onto a winner!

I personally don't feel that fridge designers make the fridge area big enough for a growing family !!! I feel that I could do with more shelving in my fridge. I like to keep all my foods separate according to departments and find that when I fill my fridge on a weekly basis that there isn't enough room to place a week full of food for a family of 4 in it and end up stacking items on top of each other.

The milk compartments are never big enough and with a few litres of whole milk and skimmed milk etc. never have enough room for bottles of water/pop/wine etc. in the door.

I would love a fridge to be more energy efficient as I am sure that this appliance is a consumer of the electricity in my house.

A drinks and ice dispenser would be lovely and should now start to come as an option in most fridges these day similar to the American appliances.

Hope these ideas are useful for the Servis team !!

I'd like to have wipe clean stickers on the edges of shelves so I can write next to, eggs for example, which are the oldest and which the newest. Would also be great to be ble to write underneath things which are allowed to be eaten and things that are destined to be part of a meal so no one scoffs them when I am not looking!

A place to store breast milk bags upright and in date order would be very handy - and could be used for storing freezer bags of stock, soup etc once past the baby stage.

We currently have an American-style fridge freezer that is on it's last legs. Having recently been shopping for a new model, I can't believe how difficult it has been to find 'the perfect' fridge/freezer!

For me, I'm a traditionalist when it comes to kitchen appliances. I like sleek white or stainless steel. Proper SS, not a look-a-like plastic.

I'd want lockable wheels instead of feet, so that I can pull it out to clean behind easily. (Have you seen how much gets behind those things?!)

For an American-style FF, I'd like a 50/50 split on the width between the fridge and freezer, or better still a double door opening, with fridge above and freeze drawers below. Please, no more turkey wrestling for this mama.

I'd like an ice and water dispenser that has a child-lock facility. Yes, my daughter did proudly wash her paint brushes at the freezer door in the 2 minutes it took me to use the bathroom.

Egg tray. Why do fridges no longer have those little holey egg things anymore?!

Wine shelf. Full width. Mandatory.

Oooh... and a little slider / indicator / gizmo / magic button that I can press to remind me when my fruit / veg / yoghurts are near expiry would be awesome.

You need door inserts that offer adequate depth. I can't tell you how many times I've opened the fridge and been almost knocked out by falling ketchup bottles!

Adjustable shelves in the main compartment of the fridge as well as doors as I can never get bottles to stand up in the door and there always seems to be wasted space.

Egg holder needs to not exist!

Thermostat/temperature guage

Some form of alarm if left open too long as my kids have a habit of raiding the yoghurts and leaving the door open.

Easy to clean...everything can be removed to clean easily

Instead of just the salad drawer, maybe some extra boxes to store stuff in to maximise the shelf space.

Would be nice to have a fridge that isn't white!

I currently have a laminated bit of paper on the front of my fridge that i use as a whiteboard for my shopping list, would maybe be good for some form of list to be part of the fridge.

I use my PIL fridge frequently. The designer of said fridge should be shot.

Fridges should have door space for wine bottles or big milk containers. They should not bend buckle or break under normal use from one over seventy and one toddler.
Shelf height sould be adjustable.
A decent depth to fridge, I hate having to reshuffle / open packets in order to close the door.

No egg storage, useful lidded compartment to cofuse smalls.
With a nod to by BF's fridge, NO HINGED SALAD DRAWER, it needs to pull out otherwise we park salad in drawer and put something on top. If we require salad we have to empty the fridge. (I never ever thought fridges would make me so angy).

Easy clean, who ever said dishwasherable drawers and shelves was spot on, a must.
Washable matt (black chalk board surface would be the best) no shiny anything other than white carcass.
The top should not have a grime collecting rim, it should also be heat proof so when I put a boiling pan of soup on it I dont immediately think oh shit.

A very wide door to fit all the bottles of wine large milk bottles and longlife juice.

More than one light so it doesn't get blocked.

I would want a large vegetable section and also a couple of smaller compartments- so you could keep things like cooked meat, raw meat in completely separate parts of the fridge.

A wider variety of colours, not just white or silver, but not too fancy- just plain exterior.