It took us about a year of searching for inverter appliances because we’ve had our refrigerator and washer for 10 years already, and thought it was time to change, most especially when a friend told me she saved atleast PHP 2,500 per month just by switching to an inverter fridge, so our hunt began.
Inverters are great energy-savers, and work even better when used for long hours, so an inverter refrigerator is probably one of the best investments you can make for your home — good for your bill, and good for the environment.
Initially, as we were looking around, I was after the features. Good thing there are many Facebook groups nowadays, so I did more research and realized that more than the features, I should be focusing on the brand — things to also consider would be how long they last, how is the customer service, and well, is there still a need a after-sales service?
Based on the stories and sharings I’ve gathered online, Electrolux is one of the very few brands for home use that customers hardly have issues with — most replies would be about how their appliances have been working for years and still no repair! Two of my friends actually told me they think this brand is underrated, and it was their replies to my query that really helped me with my focus and just choose from the Electrolux line available here.
We eventually settled for the Electrolux 503L Nutrifresh Inverter, and in this blogpost, I’ll share what I love about this specific model.
THE PHYSICAL DESIGN
Electrolux has a lot of designs for their refrigerators, but this is the one we thought suits best for our family — a family of vegetarians with a young child.
We were originally looking at the bottom mount fridge and the french door styles, but realized that to help our son help himself, we had to get a simple door design that would allow him to easily open the fridge – this model works well for that purpose.
Other than this, I love the size — it’s perfect for our space. We are a small family, but we always have guests in our home, so we still settled for a big refrigerator, and I love how it’s not only wide, but deep! I don’t make an effort to fill it with food unless there’s a party or there are lots of leftovers – I simply lower the temperature of the fridge (more on this later). The same goes for the vegetables bin — it is tall enough that I can put 2 organizers on top of each other – so we get to organize our vegetables, yey!
The glass shelves are also placed on the lower corner, and it’s perfect for us, because that’s the area we need for our son – as soon as he opens the fridge, he will see his fruits and snacks already! Wait, did I mention it has a separate area for bread, too? It’s a bit small for the sizes of our usual breads, but I still get to fit a few of our oversized pan de sals!
When we got the actual fridge, there are 3 more physical aspects I learned about and love:
- how well-lit the refrigerator part is! it’s so easy to find everything even if it’s at the back!
- how energy-efficient it is – the doors are harder to open when you’ve just closed it – my guess is to seal the temperature! Love how it became a control of error for my son and does not encourage him to just open and close the door. Also, the doors alarm when they’ve been open too long. I only found out as I was taking photos for this post, hahaha.
- the bins on the door and the glass shelves are moveable, so you can customize your fridge depending on what you have!
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
I’ve mentioned that the doors are harder to open when you’ve just closed them, which I think is one way to keep the temperature stable and more efficient.
Well, happy to report that our electric bill came, and given our unit is way bigger than our previous one plus we used our new (inverter) washer twice more than our previous one, and it was still lower than our previous bills!
So yes, I believe inverters really save electricity, most especially appliances that run the whole day like refrigerators!
Physically, I love how you can also adjust the temperature according to how cold you want it. The technician’s tip to me was to put in on high setting only when it’s full (like if we have a party, or have a lot of leftovers). Otherwise, we just keep it in the middle, or even less cold. And even with the just the middle setting, I swear it’s cold! It’s much colder at middle setting than our previous fridge, haha!
THE NUTRIFRESH FILTERS
Our refrigerator comes with two filters. The first one is the tasteguard filter which eliminates 99.8% of bacteria, so it keeps the food fresh and free from unwanted odor.
So far, it seems true to its claim — even with many leftovers in our fridge + Daday and our cat’s fish, it has no smell!
And the second filter is the Nutriplus filter which is placed in the fruits and vegetables bin!
Before I explain that, let me just say I also love how deep the bin is for fruits and vegetables! This is also one reason we chose it — we needed more fruits and vegetables space than freezer because we’re vegetarians! Okay, so moving on, what I love about the nutriplus filter is that it keeps our fruits and vegetables stay fresh longer! That partnered with the Tastelock Crisper (the blue rubber on top) keeps the humidity sealed – so our vegetables stay fresh longer.
The nutriplus filter + the tastelock crisper (that blue rubber on top)
creates a sealed, humid environment to lock in nutrients for longer,
keeping your fruit and vegetables fresh. Also, notice our organizers
on top of each other? I love how I can organize our items here!
Since Daday is the one who cooks at home, I asked for her observations on the fridge as well, most especially the fruit and vegetable bin — and without telling her anything, she told me she noticed that her sitaw (stringbean) has been there for 2 weeks and it’s still crispy! And she was surprised that her onion was growing roots! Haha. I asked her if that’s a good thing. “Yes!”, she said. Because that means the root crops will stay fresh longer. She also shared that even the fruits we leave on the regular bins last longer — she was quite amazed that the lemons she already cut now has a longer shelf life than when she did the same process in our previous fridge. Awesome!
Here’s a quick rundown of how we organize it.
can you spot how many brackets there are so you can fully customize the shelves according to the food and items you have?
Overall, we are loving this refrigerator. It’s spacious, it’s well-lit, it’s efficient. Also, while I do know the value of having stainless doors (our previous one had a stainless door), let me just share how happy I am that we can now place magnets on our fridge! My son enjoys curating our art print magnets and turning them into different things – mostly vehicles at this stage!
WHERE TO BUY: You can find Electrolux in many appliance stores. It’s also available in Lazada.
