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Anyone using JUST fridge drawers?

15 years ago

Anyone out there using just fridge drawers without a stand-up refrigerator? I'm planning on stand-alone 18" freezer column with ice-thru-door, but would love to open up some of the wall space. I have room for several drawers, just wondering if this is practical.

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Comments (9)

cross_stitch
15 years ago
How high off the floor would the drawers be? I would think need you would want to consider how much you enjoy bending over, now and as you age. I am 62 and after visiting my daughter's home and taking ice cubes from the rear of her freezer drawer, I learned that I could not be happy with that style refrigerator. And lifting heavier items from below waist level -- ugh!
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malhgold
15 years ago
I have frig drawers along with a 24" frig and a 24" freezer. The drawers are typiclaly 5 cu. ft and the frig is I think about 10-12 cu.ft. I guess it depends how big your family is and if you have a spare frig elsewhere. In my opinion, you would need at least 2 frig drawer units(each unit has 2 drawers in it). Also, I don't know that everything "fits well" in the frig drawers. They are deep, but you would have to pile things on top of each other. Have you seen any in person? If not, you should take a look and see if it would work. They are also much more costly for the amount of space you get than a frig.
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erikanh
15 years ago
How many people in your family? The largest capacity I've seen are only 6 cu ft.
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rmkitchen
15 years ago
malhgold basically wrote it for me. We've a 30" fridge column (and a separate 30" freezer column) plus some 24" fridge drawers (they also come wider, of course). Listen, they are super-handy for us in terms of keeping children's snacks / drinks and my husband's beer, and I love the glossy images SubZero promotes of doing away with a traditional fridge and having drawers placed hither and yon .... Having said that, I don't think I'd want to have them as my sole cold storage.

I'd have to plop stuff on top of stuff, and cross_stitch is right (for me): all those deep bends might get real old, real fast. And, I'd have to have a whole lot of them, and that cost would get real big, real fast.

But so they wouldn't be right for me, but I can see how they could be ideal for someone who'd rather have scads of countertop with less storage underneath. Or, someone who goes to the market every day or other day -- then they wouldn't need to store lots of things.
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User
15 years ago
rmkitchen, do you have photos? I like the 30" column fridge & freezer too & think I might like an extra drawer or two also.
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rmkitchen
15 years ago
Sure marti8a!

Specifically, here are the columns:

fridge is on the right of the entry, freezer is on the left

And here are the fridge drawers:

fridge drawers to left of sink

This the link to my finished kitchen photo album.

We are really pleased with the Thermador columns!
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ruthmiamibeach
Original Author
15 years ago
Hmm. Maybe the narrow columns are the way to go. RMKitchen, what width are yours? And what do you use the drawers for?
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ruthmiamibeach
Original Author
15 years ago
Oh gosh, sorry, I see you answered my questions in your earlier post. Never mind and thanks!
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growlery
15 years ago
It is not uncommon in Europe to use one or two undercounter refrigerators (like the kind you would see here in a dorm room), even for a family. With a chest freezer, undercounter or in another room.

It would also be much cheaper.

I had this setup in a flat I lived in and it worked fine. It just depends on how motivated you are.
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