Choosing a built-in, panel-ready refrigerator.
My original criteria for a refrigerator was to minimize it as MUCH as possible.
In some kind of vortex of frugal-impossibility, the fridge I had settled on was $1,300 AND had a larger interior than our current fridge, despite having a smaller exterior footprint.
I was VERY pleased with myself.
But, like much of life, my self-congratulations were based entirely on my own stupidity; that’s what happens when you are raised by people who have a freezer-on-top-appliance, and the audacity to keep on living.
My blissful ignorance corrected itself IMMEDIATELY, once I saw my frugal choice of standard-fridge; in comparison with tall-and-fancy-and-built-in… Self was like, one of these is not like the other. One of these is SAD.
I reeled from the weight of this new awareness: the full extent of my own sadness… SO SO SO MUCH SADNESS.
Bigly sadness.
I realized two things:
1- minimizing something you hate is not the same as a solution to something you hate.
2- anything not bigly sad comes with a snob-tax.
If you can’t afford the snob tax, you have to go to Sears scratch and dent.
But then it turned out that the original tall/short/SADNESS/visual-issue became a total non-issue… crushed by a larger problem.
Seeing the fridge I THOUGHT was our solution, forced me to visualize EXACTLY THAT in the kitchen.
And THAT made me visualize ANY refrigerator in that space… and I definitely hated all of them… and revisiting this post where we WERE putting the fridge–> ERMAHGAWD, WHAT WAS I THINKING?
Tall.
Short.
Panel.
Stainless.
Glass front.
No matter what, we are putting a cube of metal in ONE corner… AND NOT IN THE OTHER.
The symmetry czar was deeply displeased.
Zeese eeze not korrrrreccct.
I hated all of it.
I hated it more every single day.
To be fair, I hate everything that is not totally useless, (or made of kittens)… so it’s good that I am so full of HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS.
I said— let’s just move the refrigerator to the basement!
But Paul was like— no. I do not want a kitchen SO INCONVENIENT IT HAS NO REFRIGERATOR.
I was like— I hear you, Paul… I don’t want to get out of bed every day. It’s called being an adult. Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to.
So I had to wait him out.
Now we are all on the same page.
Sadly, this new page did not come with $10,000 to fund our improved plan.
For a while, we considered a fridge-only column… I could get the HEIGHT I wanted, it would be half the cost, and we’d just use our chest freezer in the basement.
Liebherr’s just-fridge was the least expensive, at $3,500, (but only 76” tall)… a Thermador fridge column at 83.75” tall was like… BE STILL MY HEART.
VEB+ TalL FRidGE = TruLv.
Paul and I talked about DIY-ing some kind of built-in, with a door to match our house’s interior doors THE FANCIEST DOORS I COULD FIND.
Then the fridge-space would appear fancy but conceal a shorter/less expensive brand.
But ultimately I decided I would be unhappy with a faux-fancy-front that opened to reveal a squatter… being confronted DAILY by my own fraud would be demoralizing.
For a while, I was enamored with the idea of doing a glass-front pharmaceutical/industrial refrigerator… (that fridge linked, is the same as the photo below,) they are WAY more affordable (and bigger) than the glass-front “real” refrigerators on the market.
It seemed like I could SOMEHOW trim out the front of it… I was totally obsessed with the double brass doors towards the end of my post about all the pricey panel-ready refrigerators I cannot afford.(and I actually found a similar pair at a Philadelphia salvage yard!)
But whenever I incorporated that into the big kitchen picture, it fell apart.
EVERYTHING fell apart, and I think in this space, the best thing I can do is KEEP IT SIMPLE.
Contrary to appearances, I AM familiar with the concept of simplicity.
We are just going to have to suck it up and spend the money.
Subzero, built-in, panel ready, over/under fridge/freezer… at 84” tall, it squeaks past Thermador by a quarter of an inch… we can get a floor model (brand new, not refurbished, but also not the newest model) around $7,000.
HIVES.
Also, to clarify, it’s not JUST the height… this panel ready by Dacor is half the cost of the Subzero, and it looks good! BUT while the exterior dimensions are nearly the same, the interior cubic feet is NOT!!! You lose over 2 cubic feet on the Dacor, just in the fridge section… not a big deal IF you are doing two side-by-side units, which we are not!
Subzero has the biggest interior cubic storage of all the brands.
I am undecided what our actual panels will look like; simple/white will match our woodwork… and Self is unusually quiet at the idea of UNREMARKABLE.
Although, of course, you all keep trying to rile her up by sending her emails and being like, BUT HAVE YOU SEEN A FAUX ICEBOX FRONT.
Paul wants to know why you hate him?
Except, the PROBLEM with a faux icebox front is… the FAUX part. I’m afraid that I will always be like, OH THERE’S THAT FAKE PANEL THAT I GLUED SOME FAKE HARDWARE TO.
How awesome is that?
I’m not exactly sure.
But I AM sure it will NOT reproduce for me the feeling of a PHENOMENALLY TREMENDOUS BIGLY FANCY.
So I guess what I’m saying is: GIVE ME old/BROKEN/useless/FANCY… OR GIVE ME DEATH boring refrigerator panels.
Easter is almost here!
Celebrate Easter with COMPASSION!
Celebrate Easter WITHOUT eggs!
Did you know: baby boy chicks are useless to the egg industry; at birth, they are killed.
Grabbed by their fragile wings by workers known as “sexers,” (who separate males from females,) these baby animals are thrown into a grinding machine. Alive.
It confuses me, that humans celebrate Easter, by LITERALLY throwing new life into a shredder.
Ground up.
Suffocated.
Or simply thrown away.
While they are alive, feeling, breathing.
It does not matter if they will be free-range, or organic, or whatever… those terms have no application at a hatchery; an egg hatchery is a supplier… all they do is hatch eggs.
Did you know: 150,000 male chicks hatch every 24 hours at ONE large hatchery.
Did you know: at ONE large facility, over 30 MILLION male chicks are chipped up PER YEAR.
WHY NOT CHOOSE COMPASSION, LOVE, KINDNESS?
We can make a difference, when we open our hearts!
❤️🐾💕🌱🐯🐒
xoxo, VEB
March 21, 2018 @ 5:51 pm
Short & sweet – my white paneled sub zero (same panel as my cabinets) is 30 years old and I love it!!!
March 21, 2018 @ 6:33 pm
I LOVE reading your blog, Victoria. The info you posted about baby boy chicks just breaks my heart. I had no idea.
March 21, 2018 @ 7:21 pm
Wait! I thought you were moving to Hawaii?
March 21, 2018 @ 7:59 pm
I have loved this blog as well. The humor is amazing. I loved following the kittens and the remodel updates. But as a with-all-my-heart animal lover, being unexpectedly smacked in the face with the awfulness about the chicks at the end of a seemingly innocuous post about refrigerator choices was both horrifying and heartbreaking. I’m not one to hide my head in the sand. I know what goes on in this industry, the dairy industry and with animal cruelty in general. I do what I can to contribute to those organizations who are working to put a stop to the cruelty and I agree completely with your position on the subject. I just don’t think it’s fair to force the horror upon your readers in such a manner. I have enjoyed reading your posts because you write well and you’re extremely funny and it’s a nice break from the sometimes ugly realities of the world. But I am unsubscribing today. I’m sure many won’t understand but there are a LOT of softhearted animal lovers like myself out here who are doing what they can to help, but would rather not have the overwhelming horror of it all involuntarily thrust upon them when they are least expecting it. Please understand, this isn’t coming from a position of anger, but rather, from an extremely tender heart. Thanks for the laughs. Best of luck to you always.
March 21, 2018 @ 10:03 pm
Have you seen Yolanda Hadid’s refrigerator that she designed? I believe it has its own Facebook page.
March 22, 2018 @ 4:07 am
I’m so glad you’ve found a happy end to the refrigerator journey. Sometimes, simple is best.
Regarding boy chickens, that is not true in Australia. The boys are used by the same company for meat chickens. Personally, I keep my own chickens and happily eat guilt free eggs knowing the girls will be kept long after they stop laying and go the big yard in the sky.
March 22, 2018 @ 12:27 pm
I was a child in the forties and corny as it seems ,I wish we Americans could recapture a sense of independence from the huge,the corporate grip on all we need and use. Probably not possible but everything big box and made thousands of mile from where it will be paid for and used seems asinine to me. What happens when these countries(not democratic,and strongly opposed to freedom of the people-(may lead to rebellion of their own populations) decide that prices need no longer reflect forced labor costs and no regulation against unfair work practices and pollution and can now generate greater profits since we the buyers now have no other sources due to all other sources having been driven from the marketplace. I guarantee you this is going to happen unless America returns to making at least some necessities for themselves on American soil. We are presently in thrall to mainly China and Communist China would enjoy nothing more than bringing a great Nation to its proverbial knees-begging that the container ships keep coming.
The environmental cost of shipping stuff is huge. Can we fix that? – Vox
https://www.vox.com/2015/12/23/10647768/shipping-environmental-cost
Dec 23, 2015 – Much of the stuff around us at any given moment — be it product, commodity, or raw material — was once on a boat. To get from wherever it was made or … Ships handle roughly 90 percent of global trade, nearly 10 billion metric tons (11 billion tons) of stuff per year. Boats and ports are only a part of the …etc.
March 22, 2018 @ 10:57 am
As a person who likes convenience (like refrigerators in the kitchen) AND someone who is OBSESSED with symmetry, I had a thought.
I know you hate fridges and everything they stand for. But… what about getting MATCHING separate fridge and freezers? Then you can make it all symmetrical and matching with cabinet front panels.
March 22, 2018 @ 11:44 am
For an appliance that is used daily, I say get the best you can afford and save $$ elsewhere. Regarding the chicks, most people would be horrified at what happens to them, but that’s what happens to babies on a daily basis and people turn a blind eye.
March 22, 2018 @ 7:36 pm
I’d like to say, “For Pete’s Sake, just pick a refrigerator and have it over with!” But since that isn’t a nice thing to say, I’ll say this instead: Maybe you need to just take a step back and do something else. Give the fridge a rest and go back in a bit with a fresh start and maybe a new outlook. Wishing you the best in whatever you decide.
March 23, 2018 @ 9:09 pm
I think you should take a break from Fridge Angst and go shoe shopping. Trust me, it will help. As for the chicks — this is appalling! Surely small farms don’t do this too??
March 23, 2018 @ 9:50 pm
Okay… So I did some follow up research and it looks like the U.S. egg industry has pledged to stop killing male chicks by 2020, by using emerging technology to identify the sex of the eggs before they hatch… This is supposed to be a victory for animal rights advocates, but I’m not feeling like throwing a party for some reason. But then I found out about a guy who is trying to go back to heritage chicken farming using normal chickens that can lay eggs AND get big enough for meat, so the male chicks would no longer be superfluous: http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2014/08/29/open-sourcing-chicken-breaking-free-from-corporate-genetics/. Anyway, I thought you’d be interested. We can decide to personally not eat eggs to support the industry, but lots of other people are still going to keep on buying eggs and chicken meat. Helping humane poultry farmers create an alternative to the sadistic commercial farm products is something we can do to help make a difference.
March 24, 2018 @ 9:35 pm
Just now found you. Just now subscribed. Just now fell in LOVE. 🙂
March 29, 2018 @ 1:10 pm
After your last post were you illuminated in unforgivable and unforgettable ways – the true cost of the meat and dairy industry, not only to the animals, but to the very sustainability of the earth, I gave them both up. I, a person who is 0± blood type (see blood type diet), and has been a meat and dairy eater MY WHOLE LIFE. I, who two years ago had to go on A VERY strict diet in order to manage my auto immune disease. No grain, soy, starch, sugar or lactose (only aged cheeses), plus no corn, and only specific beans (see SCD diet). I who basically lived off a diet close to paleo minutes the root vegetables. I became a ovo-pescatarian (along with my whole family-because I do all the shopping and cooking so TAKE WHAT I GIVE YOU!) And now, to reward me for giving up most foods in the world. Let’s see… I can eat fruits, vegetables, and um… Yeah. Are giving me information to take away my eggs? Next will you come for my fish? For the love of God woman. I don’t promote circuses, I foster kittens AND volunteer at a shelter weekly, now I live off of nothing and still is not enough for you. Can’t you leave me my blessed ignorance now that you’ve already changed our lives? ARGHHHHHH… My family is going to leave me.😵
April 14, 2023 @ 10:12 pm
Fuck you for not having a trigger warning. Seriously fuck you. Mark Twain said, “One should never use exclamation points in writing. It is like laughing at your own joke.” Imagine what he would have said to your constant oh so cute device of crossing out your words (but leaving them up to be read by all) and rewriting them?