To make a long and boring story as short as possible, this refrigerator came with the condo when I moved in almost 9 years ago. It's been costing me $40-$50 per month in electricity, and it took me awhile to figure out it was the refrigerator.
I finally confirmed it when I found this website where you can find out your old refrigerator's energy rating, and it turns out mine used over 1,300 kwh! These days, most refrigerators are in the 400 to 500 kwh range.
The problem was, the previous owner built custom cabinetry around it, and then added a tile floor around it afterwards. It was bricked in, and there was no way to get it out than to demo part of the tile floor. And I couldn't find another refrigerator that fit the space without having to brick it in again. All American refrigerators are more or less the same spec...humongous. My choices were to either brick in a huge machine again, or destroy all my cabinetry and rebuild it.
Finally I started searching the web--isn't it great when you can search the planet from your own apartment? -- and found a Fisher and Paykel fridge that fit the space with room to spare in height, depth, and width. It was short enough for me to build a platform for it to sit on so that it was level with the tile floor....no more bricking it in! So I tracked down an appliance store that sold this model and then bought it. In 10 minutes.
The old one has been hauled away, leaving a pool of slime in its wake. The new one sits shining, clean, and quietly cooling in my kitchen. The shelves are clean and spacious....not like the crowded bacteria pit that I've lived with for 9 years. It even beeps at me if I leave the door open for too long. I can't believe I've finally solved this problem!
new fridge, with energy sticker
old fridge (side by side doors)
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