Got a second refrigerator over the weekend

[AllenOK]

From my MIL's house. We finally were able to get it out of her house and into my basement. Talk about a chore! We had to take my back door off it's hinges, detach the spring for the storm door, AND take the doors off the fridge, then lower it down into the basement.

Man, that thing was filthy! Two months of not being on, with a little bit of food in it. EWW!!! Mildew over the bottom, mildew on the gaskets, dust all over the coils!

It's now clean, everything, top to bottom. I detailed that fridge like a Health Inspector was coming in. I haven't cleaned the shelves and storage bins yet, but, I'll get to that in the morning. It's been running for a couple hours, and it's starting to cool down. It may take several hours to cool down completely, as it's been at ambient temperature for several weeks, and there's no chilled mass inside to help it cool down.

If it's not cool by morning, I'm not sure. Probably have to unplug it until we can afford to call a technician.

It'll be nice to get it up and running, so I have more refrigerated storage space.

Well, I checked it about 30 minutes ago, and the refrigerator part was at an even 40°F! I switched the thermometer over to the freezer portion, and am going to check that if a few minutes, but I'm anticipating that the freezer will be at the correct temperature as well! Yippee!

 

[licia]

I know you are glad to have the extra fridge storage. I don't know what we would do without ours. DH says I couldn't buy so much if we didn't have it.Of course he couldn't have so much diet caffeine free pepsi either.

 

[AllenOK]

This is something I've wanted to do for years, but I had to wait until I got my own home. My parents have two refrigerators, and a stand-alone deep-freezer. I grew up having lots of refrigerator space, and now that I'm a cook, I'm spoiled at having walkin refrigerators.

I did check the freezer section last night before I went to bed, and sure enough, the thermometer was reading around -4°F. Now, I just need to get the shelving cleaned, dried, and reinstalled, then I can start moving stuff around.

My deep-freezer needs to be organized big time. I started a batch of poultry stock last night (it's more turkey than chicken, but I'll use it). I knew I had a lot of turkey gelatine, frozen, that I had managed to scrounge from work, along with some turkey bones, chicken bones, and who knows what else in the past year. So, I started tearing my freezers apart looking for stuff. Wouldn't you know it, but I managed to find not one, but TWO one-gallon ziplock bags full of my homemade chicken stock ice cubes? I didn't even need to make the stuff! Knowing my luck, I'm going to have enough stock to last me until next year!

 

[marmalady]

Allen, I love my second fridge - bought one for $100 at a second hand appliance store.

Little tip for ya - if you're not going to fill that freezer up right away, get some bags of ice and just pack them in the freezer. Then, as you slowly stock your freezer, you can remove the bags. A full freezer will keep the temp a lot better than one with just a few items in it.

 

[Andy M.]

About 6 years ago we bought an upright freezer. I thought I bought one bigger than I would need. It's been full to the brim for years.

You'll enjoy your fridge and it will make life a little easier for you, especially around the holidays.

 

[ronjohn55]

I'm at 3 regular fridges, and one small dorm style one - it's amazing how fast those suckers fill up!!!

But hey, I have to keep the beer cold somehow!
The extra freezer space is handy when stuff goes on sale, too.

John

 

[mudbug]

We put the fridge that came with the house in the garage first, then down to the basement in the laundry room.
We use the freezer more than the fridge. Fridge part is used to stock up on beverages when there's a party comin' on.

 

[urmaniac13]

Allen, the job you had to go through was certainly not for a faint hearted, but having a second fridge will worth every bit of labour you have put in and then some!!
We keep an incredible amount of food for just 2 people, every time after we do a grocery shopping, we are left with a huge challenge of puzzle job in order to fit everything in the limited space. Earlier this year we also bought a deep freezer, that eased the situation a lot, but it is also getting very full... like Allen we are in need of good sorting out inside soon, otherwise we might end up excavating a Neanderthal...