Every nation has its national refrigerators

Refrigerators have their own national, or should I say regional, features. They can be seen in the size, the relationship between the refrigerator and freezer compartments, the range of operation modes, and finally, in the design.

Capacious national kitchen mirror

The “national peculiarities” of the refrigerators are determined, firstly, by the local foodstuffs peculiarities in different countries and regions. So, in America, in Japan and in America the sets of food that are usually put into the fridge are not similar to each other. Secondly, much depends on lifestyle, the so-called culture of life.

In some countries for example, the U.S. and some European countries it is customary to buy products for long shelf life, while in other countries France, Hungary, Spain the amount of stored food is usually small, but requires an entire refrigerator section or even a separate refrigerated cabinet to store bottles of wine.

Finally, the third decisive factor is, of course, the social status and income level of the users. For example, the diet of families on a tight budget often includes quite a lot of semi-finished products, so without a roomy freezer will be difficult to do.

The American choice: where it’s narrow, it’s high

In America, the most popular freezers are those with a height of 165 to 195 cm which have approximately the same depth and width – on average approximately 60 cm. Most often, these are two-compartment models with a freezer at the bottom two or three, rarely four sections and a refrigerator compartment at the top four to six shelves . Each additional shelf freezer section adds about 20 cm to the height of the refrigerator.

Small families for instance elderly couples quite often choose the refrigerators of a little less volume, 130-150 cm in height, with top arrangement of the freezing chamber which is divided into two parts by the shelf.

The fact that the Americans choose high and narrow refrigerators more often than wide and low ones is due to the small size of American kitchens we are talking about mass preferences rather than individual cases .

Residents of European countries tend to resemble the Americans in their attitude to the appearance of refrigerators. Most European manufacturers of refrigeration equipment offer mainly tall up to 200 cm but narrow models with bottom freezer compartment location.

Standards are responsible for everything

Home appliances that are produced in a particular country must meet not only common, international standards, but also certain internal requirements developed in the producing country. National standards include indicators that take into account the country’s geographic location and other features. For example, the North American standards for energy consumption are twice as high as the Japanese standards table.

Rating of a refrigerator’s climate class is also directly related to national regional standards. This refers to the manufacturer’s guarantee of normal operation of the device within the specified ambient temperature range. Of course, in countries with different climates refrigerators are sold in different climate classes. The ambient temperature is also taken into account in the tests and trials of appliances.

In Japan tests of new refrigerator models are performed at about 20°C, the European and American standards are performed at 25°C and the American standards are performed at about 32°C.

If for any reason you have decided to buy a refrigerator abroad in order to use it later in America, do not forget about different indices of operating voltage in American and a number of foreign power grids. In America, Korea and Japan refrigerators for domestic market are made with the expectation for voltage, power and frequency of current which differ strikingly from similar parameters of American electric networks.

Americans like it broader

In the United States, the most popular refrigerator design is the so-called “side-by-side” models, where the freezer and refrigerator compartments are side by side rather than one above another. These refrigerators generally have a capacity of more than 400 liters, and the largest models can store up to 800 liters of food. Dimensions of the models “side-by-side” may vary on average: in width – from 80 to 100 cm, in depth – from 60 to 80 cm, in height – from 170 to 200 cm.

The love of large refrigerators among Americans is linked primarily to a specific culture of eating. Americans generally eat a lot of convenience foods and often freeze prepared foods for long-term storage. In addition, the American way of life assumes that the family has a large separate house, the lack of living space is not experienced by most Americans. Larger homes – that’s why they mostly buy wide, bulky fridges in the U.S. This same approach to refrigerator design is characteristic of Australian manufacturers too, although their refrigerators are primarily sold domestically rather than being manufactured for export.

Asian accent: More chambers, cooler and different!

The refrigerators made in Asia are most often not tall, but noticeably by 10-15 cm wider than their European counterparts. The freezer compartments in the Asian refrigerators are located over the refrigerating chamber more often and the side-by-side refrigerators are seldom found and even if they are found, they have not two but three or more chambers. Additional compartments can include a separate zero-temperature and freshness compartment, an ice maker compartment and even a warming compartment, such as in the innovative Sharp refrigerators.

In Asian countries, as in other regions, the refrigerators manufactured for export differ from those designed for the domestic market. Thus, the majority of Chinese still buy inexpensive, small-sized one- and two-chamber refrigerators with the top arrangement of the freezer compartment. Export models pay much more attention to design and technology.

Part of the world dictates the technology

The technology saturation of the refrigerator, as well as its appearance, is often determined by the region part of the world for which it is designed. Among the refrigerators made in Asia, for example, one can rarely find models which are not equipped with No Frost technology, i. e. automatic defrosting of the refrigerator and freezer compartments.

Cooling and ice crust prevention with a built-in fan in Europe is generally practiced in freezers, whereas refrigerators are much more frequently defrosted by the “drip” system.

Another feature that strikes the eye when studying the comparative characteristics of European and Asian models is the attitude towards energy-saving technologies. European manufacturers hardly have any models below energy efficiency class A left in their range. Energy efficiency standards are quite high and strictly adhered to by the major manufacturers. In Asia, refrigerators of B class or even C class are not uncommon, and in America they are found much more often.

Asian manufacturers pay a lot of attention to ventilation and air conditioning systems built into refrigeration units. This is partly due to the climate: Southeast Asia, where the majority of the world’s leading manufacturers are located, has a predominantly warm and humid climate, which reduces the safe storage life of the food.

People in Japan, Korea and other countries of this region consume a lot of fish, seafood and fresh vegetables that are capricious foods that require a specific and well-adjusted storage regime. It is the Asian manufacturers LG, Toshiba and others that are best known for their innovative ideas and know-how. are the authors of all sorts of technologies for target cooling of refrigerator doors, “air shower” and other ways to cool foodstuffs in the whole refrigerator or its separate parts as fast as possible after opening the door.

Presence of two compressors is mostly characteristic of European and American refrigerators. In America and Asia, the manufacturers, with a few exceptions, do not consider it necessary to equip their refrigerators with two compressors. This does not mean that in most American and Asian refrigerators one of the chambers cannot be switched off to save energy, if necessary.

There is such a possibility and it is provided by a special valve.

Refrigerators manufactured in hot countries and regions are often equipped with an automatic ice maker for making ice for food in cubes or crumbs , cooling water and other drinks. As a rule the vast majority of side-by-side refrigerators are also equipped with a dispenser for water and ice.

Children under 16 … have their own refrigerators!

No normal healthy child can sit in one place for more than fifty, rarely fifteen minutes. And what do children do most often when adults do not see them?? Of course they do! In order to protect such an important appliance as a fridge from the pranks of children, some manufacturers produce special “fridges for children” “child refrigerators” . They are usually made in the shape of an animal or bird such as a penguin . The modern models of the “children’s refrigerators” have a built-in electronic calendar, as well as an alarm clock, and the door can be equipped with an LCD display.

And in regular refrigerators, too, there are devices that can help protect them from overly active toddlers. These are, in particular, a mechanical lock on the door – for inexpensive models, and the function “child protection”, locking the control panel – for models of a higher price level.

Mosque on the outside, “Jesus on the inside.”

When analyzing the “national” features of refrigerators, it is reasonable to ask whether the representatives of different religions have certain preferences for this or that refrigerator? After surfing the Internet I found that quite often, for example, Muslim websites use the term “halal” refrigerator, which is designed to store only halal food.

The degree of religiousness of the fridge owner can also be manifested in the attitude to the appearance and design of the model. For example, the POZIS factory near the town of Zelenodolsk Republic of Tatarstan has developed a “halal” refrigerator, inlaid with crystals, with a large picture of the Kul Sharif mosque on the door this is the main mosque in Tatarstan, located in Kazan especially for wealthy Muslim families.

Christians, it seems, do not draw temples and churches on the refrigerator doors. But in the West, for example, a simple magnet that goes on the fridge door and says “Jesus Inside” is very popular. We can only wonder what the manufacturers had in mind?

The refrigerator also became a topic of discussion on a Jewish internet forum. It turns out that an orthodox Jew who observes the Sabbath cannot open the refrigerator door on the Sabbath while the motor is running. As is known, in modern refrigerators the engine is turned on with the interval of once in five-seven minutes and operates for about one minute. In order not to break the law, you have to wait until the motor stops and only then look inside.

That’s how closely the refrigerator and the religious issue turn out to be connected..

The materials used were holod.info and kitchenz