Each year, millions of tonnes of food is tragically wasted in the UK.
There are many reasons for this, mostly due to food being bought in bulk, becoming surplus to requirements, and simply being left to spoil.
The other problem is an increased population of men in their 20s and 30s who, having watched too much TV, have grown long beards and sit gnawing on half eaten animal legs or falafel wraps before hurling them over their shoulder, unfinished, with a cry of “Bring me more!”, in the mistaken belief that they are Vikings.
Jokes aside, regardless of how the waste is generated, the problem both remains and even seems to grow with each year.
Now, while there’s nothing we can do about the Hoxton Hipster Viking beardie weirdies and their relentless campaigns of crêpe and spillage, what we can address is keeping food fresher for longer, thus cutting down on waste considerably, through the modern miracle that is the fridge freezer.
But not all fridge freezers were created equal, and although there are plenty of people out there who tolerate having a great big white, silver or sometimes black box ruining the aesthetic of their otherwise seamless kitchen, and even those who, perversely, actually like it, most wish they could hide the cooling monolith out of sight.
We speak, of course, of integrated or ‘built-in’ fridge freezers, quite possibly the ultimate manifestation of the enormo ice-box.
Usually more costly than their freestanding counterparts and capable of becoming near invisible as they hide behind matching kitchen cabinet doors, for those of you who demand that their white goods assimilate into the existing aesthetics, we’ve selected a fistful of fridge freezers so eel-like in their elusiveness that if wasn’t for the incessant hum, you’d never know they were there at all.
Best integrated fridge freezers at a glance
- Best for food longevity, lower electricity: Haier Integrated ID Titanium Series 6 HBW7518CTK - £999, Haier
- Best for better food freshness on a budget: Hisense RB3B250SAWE1 - £499, Currys
- Best for going 50/50: Indesit 265 - £379, Appliances Direct
- Best for colossal cold storage: Bosch Series 6 KFI96APEAG - £1899, AO
- Best for fresher food and all the frills: Liebherr ICBc 5122 Plus BioFresh - £1,749, Liebherr
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Haier Integrated ID Titanium Series 6 HBW7518CTK
Best for: Food longevity, lower electricity
The numero uno global major appliance brand for the past 16 years, Haier has a reputation as solid as a concrete elephant when it comes to white goods, so you know firmly where you stand when it comes to the reliability of its innovative fridge freezers.
The Integrated ID Titanium Series 6, being the only built-in Haier model available in the UK, made it an easy choice, but its uniqueness in this market is far from the only reason it should command your consideration.
A 70/30 split model (that’s 70 per cent fridge, 30 per cent freezer), the Haier currently skims in at a shade under £1000, for which you get a total internal capacity of 268 litres, with a 128l and an 86l freezer, which should prove ample space for the weekly shop.
A ‘Total No Frost’ number, you’ll never have to waste time and effort de-icing or stanning away at blocks of ice build up with a kitchen knife, while ‘ABT Pro’ removes 99.99 per cent of mould and bacteria from the airflow, obliterating odours and preventing airborne cross-contamination, keeping your comestibles fresher and free from the nasty stuff that lurks unseen. Also on that score comes ‘Air Surround’, which distributes cool air more evenly to keep food from drying out.
Add to this three capacious fridge shelves, plus two ‘zone’ drawers, one for fruit and veg and the other capable of independent temp control depending on what you’re storing, five door shelves, three freezer drawers and – wait for – an energy efficiency of an almost unheard of ‘C’, and the Haier Integrated ID Titanium Series 6 HBW7518CTK not only saves your food, it also saves you money-pounds-cash on those ever-increasing leccy bills, meaning you can feast on fresher food for longer and still stick it to ‘the man’ while you do!
Finally, it is Wi-Fi-enabled, so you can hook it up to the Haier hOn app to monitor performance remotely. The Series 6 is easy to fit, with ‘one-tool’ installation, so you can have your cabinet doors fixed to the front in just 15 minutes, meaning the Haier will be hidden from sight.
Key specs
Buy now £999.00, Haier
Hisense RB3B250SAWE1
Best for: Better food freshness on a budget
Now, I realise full well that £500 may not scream “budget” for many, but when it comes to saving money in the long run on wasted food and wasted electricity, the initial investment in an advanced fridge freezer will be higher than those sloppy, cheap cool-bringers that view your veg and stuff with cold machine contempt. So, the Hisense here is actually a bargain.
A 60/40 model for those households that need a bit more freezer space, the total capacity of the RB3B250SAWE1 is a good-sized 252 litres, split 176- and 76-litres betwixt fridge and freezer respectively, with ‘Total No Frost’ ensuring that latter section remains iceberg-free, saving you from endless hours of scraping and cursing every few months, while fan cooling keeps comestibles in the fridge at a constant, correct temperature.
A dual cooling system keeps the operation of fridge and freezer independent of each other, and all can be monitored and controlled over the ConnectedLife app, letting you fiddle with temperatures remotely to guarantee all your food stays at its absolute best for far longer.
With two shelves in the fridge section, a humidity-controlled salad and/or vegetable crisper drawer, plus space for bottled drinks and dairy, you’ll have no problem keeping all your perishables in the perfect condition. The freezer features three drawers for storing ice, bulk cooking and leftovers.
Controllable via the unit’s LCD panel or the accompanying app, £500 won’t buy you much these days, particularly when it comes to decent white goods that are designed to last, something that makes the Hisense RB3B250SAWE1 a no-brainer when it comes to a connected way to keep food fresh and groceries expense far more economical.
Key specs
Buy now £499.00, Currys
Indesit 265
Best for: Going 50/50
Cheaper than frozen chips, for households that need to keep initial outlay to a bare minimum while still walking away with a decent capacity cool-unit that splits fridge and freezer duties more evenly, the 265 from Indesit could well be your match made in ice-cold Arcadia.
A 50/50 option that frees up far more space for frozen goods. If “mum” has indeed gone to that specific supermarket for the weekly shop, then the 102 litre capacity freezer, complete with ‘Low Frost’ tech to keep ice build-up to a minimum, will house it all, and not just the meagre haul featured in the accompanying photo.
Quiet running at just 37dB, the fridge half of the 50/50 equation opens up a sizeable 163 litre capacity (yes, I’m well aware that this is not an even split, but, hey, I don’t make the things, I just review them) across 4x shelves, 1x fruit and veg crisper drawer and 3x door shelves, while the freezer goes all out on drawers to the tune of 4.
With LED lighting to keep your food floodlit and, of course, help keep electricity bills low, the Indesit 265 is rated ‘E’ for energy efficiency, which is clearly further down the efficiency scale than might be deemed desirable, but more efficient models cost much more money (as highlighted with the Haier above and the Liebherr below), which is the trade-off.
Still offering excellent value for money and ample capacity for all your comestibles, there are cheaper integrated options available, but none even approaching Indesit’s capacious scale.
Key specs
Buy now £379.00, Appliances Direct
Bosch Series 6 KFI96APEAG
Best for: Colossal cold storage
For fuller families or just the excessively gluttonous individual, sometimes it pays to take a leaf out of the book of the world’s most edacious nation and just go XXL. Yes, America, the US of Avarice, home of the Side-by-Side fridge freezer, and this Bosch is an absolute beauty.
Featuring a 60/40 fridge/freezer split, the Series 6 KFI96APEAG has a colossal 605 litre total capacity. Okay, it’s costly, but not only do you get a box with the internal dimensions of a stainless-steel TARDIS, you also get a wealth of technologies to keep your food fresh as a cryogenically frozen daisy.
Technology such as ‘VitaFresh XXL<0°C>’ which keeps the entire fridge storage environment ideal for different food types, lower for meat and fish, and in-drawer climate-controlled for fruit and veg, ‘Metal Backwall’ and ‘Multi Airflow’ ensuring temperature and humidity are distributed evenly to keep everything at its prime.
‘No Frost’ in the freezer section does exactly what it says, saving you from having to unplug and defrost or, indeed, stab away at ice build-up with a relatively blunt instrument.
Being a multi-door model, there’s an array of shelves within the fridge and the doors, the main shelves coming fully adjustable too. Meanwhile, six shelves in the freezer give enough space to stock up and survive post-apocalypse.
Large, good-looking (even though it’ll be hidden away) and undeniably commodious, the Bosch Series 6 KFI96APEAG easily serves even the biggest households. The icing on the colossal cake? There’s also a non-plumbed water and ice dispenser, which you’ll wonder how you ever lived without.
Key specs
Buy now £1899.00, AO
Liebherr ICBc 5122 Plus BioFresh
Best for: Fresher food and all the frills
So, rumour has it that life’s been particularly good to you in the fiscal sense and, naturally, you now want to invest some of your wedge in a fridge freezer that will keep running costs on the down-low and reduce food waste to nothing. This being the imagined case, let me introduce you to the ICBc 5122 Plus BioFresh from world-renowned German brand Liebherr.
An 80/20 split model with a total capacity of 255 litres, the Liebherr is rated as ‘C’ for energy efficiency, which means future electricity bills will barely dent your bank account. When you factor in that Liebherr fridge freezers are engineered for longevity, you’ll be enjoying that sweet return on your investment for around 15 years.
Other things you’ll also enjoy includes ‘Duo Cooling’ to keep fridge and freezer air flows separate, and 2x air-tight ‘BioFresh’ drawers in the fridge to keep the likes of fruit, veg, meat and cheese in prime condition, holding it all at a constant temperature of close to 0°C to extend edible life for far longer.
And in the freezer section, you’ll find ‘SmartFrost’ technology, there to significantly reduce any ice build-up, saving both defrosting effort and energy consumption. Plus, should you need to freeze food quickly to preserve vitamins, simply hit ‘SuperFrost’ on the touch display and leave the Liebherr to it.
Interestingly, while the Liebherr doesn’t come internet-ready, there is the option to retrofit a ‘SmartDeviceBox’ which then links the device to your home Wi-Fi, allowing you to monitor and adjust settings via the smartphone app. This also brings into play a wholly unique app aspect that many of us will wonder why it hasn’t been thought of before – ‘BottleTimer’.
White wine too warm to drink? Stick it in the freezer, hit ‘SuperFrost’ and select ‘BottleTimer’ on your app. Voilà, when your vin reaches optimum quaffing temperature, the app will remind you to retrieve your Sauvignon Blanc, now ready to drink. Genius.
A full-on 5x shelves in the fridge, alongside the 2x ‘BioFresh’ drawers, and 1x bottle rack and 2x can racks in the door provide ample space for all and sundry, the ‘PowerCooling’ system keeping it all at the ideal temperature, while the LED lighting keeps it all elegantly lit and energy usage down.
Expensive? Yes. Efficient? Also, yes. Plus, it comes overflowing with innovation to keep food fresher for much longer than conventional fridge freezers and, as highlighted, it can chill a bottle of plonk to perfection in next to no time. For all these reasons, the Liebherr ICBc 5122 Plus BioFresh is no mere appliance; it's a solid investment in the future of your food.
Key specs
Buy now £1749.00, Liebherr
