A counter-depth refrigerator is a full-size model with or without a freezer compartment. This style of refrigerator has become quite popular but there are pros and cons to consider before shopping for one, as you'll read below.The term counter-depth, though widely used amongst retailers, can be misleading because the actual measurement can vary somewhat from the standard counter depth of 25". Especially in a large kitchen, it's not unusual to find bottom cabinets that are much deeper than the standard 24" depth and the counter will protrude further, usually by an inch. So counter-depth can be deeper than the average, ranging from 25" to 30". Hence the importance of taking careful, precise measurements of the allowable space, when shopping for appliances. Do not assume that all counter-depth refrigerators are the same size; they can vary in depth by several inches.When it comes to compact, under-counter refrigerators, coolers and freezers, these are usually referred to as cabinet-depth and though these can vary from the standard, most will be 24" so that they will be flush with the cabinetry once installed, much the same as a built-in dishwasher.
And since most freestanding wine coolers are counter-depth, that leaves a counter-depth versus standard depth decision mostly applicable to freestanding refrigerators, freezers, and beverage coolers.Most upright freezers are standard depth, but freezers that are designed to be custom installed as a companion to a refrigerator are often counter depth for a more integrated style. Since pros and cons will be similar for these appliances, this article will focus more on refrigerators.Is a counter-depth refrigerator best for you? The idea when choosing a counter-depth refrigerator is to have a more streamlined look - that in itself is very pleasing to the eye. This design style is available with all types of refrigerators - all refrigerator, bottom or top freezer, side-by-side and French door models. They are sometimes higher and usually wider than traditional depth models of the same capacity and this may be something you'll want to consider when installing a new refrigerator. Though the counter-depth design is a very popular choice and since this is a long-term appliance investment, you'll want to consider the benefits as well as the constraints, to this refrigerator model.
Also note that the door of a counter-depth fridge will protrude slightly from the edge of the counter and the same goes for the handle, so depth may not include these in the measurements. This just emphasizes the importance of measuring your space before ordering. With today's custom kitchen designs, there's more risk of deviating from what some might call standard. And read full appliance specs, the term counter-depth may not be included in the model title. At one time, market availability was limited for a counter-depth refrigerator, but this popular model is now much easier to find.Read More About Refrigerators:Refrigerator Styles - Which is best for your kitchen?What is a Right Hand Refrigerator?Refrigerator Buying TipsSeasonal Fridge Overload SolutionsI must have been six or seven when I lived in Lebanon. The country was ravaged by war at the time, and murders were common and frequent. I remember during a particularly vicious era, when the bombings rarely stopped, I would stay at home sitting in front of my television watching a very, very strange show.
It was a kids' show that lasted about 30 minutes and contained strange and sinister images. To this day I believe it was a thinly veiled attempt on the part of the media to use scare tactics to keep kids in place, because the moral of every episode revolved around very uptight ideologies: stuff like, “bad kids stay up late,” “bad kids have their hands under the covers when they sleep,” and “bad kids steal food from the fridge at night.” It was very weird, and in Arabic to top it off. I didn't understand much of it, but for the most part the images were very graphic and comprehensive. The thing that stuck with me the most, however, was the closing scene. It remained much the same in every episode. The camera would zoom in on an old, rusted, closed door. As it got closer to the door, strange and sometimes even agonizing screams would become more audible. It was extremely frightening, especially for children's programming. Then a text would appear on the screen in Arabic reading: “That's where bad kids go.”
Eventually both the image and the sound would fade out, and that would be the end of the episode. About 15 or 16 years later I became a journalistic photographer. That show had been in my mind all my life, popping up in my thoughts sporadically. Eventually I'd had enough, and decided to do some research. I finally managed to uncover the location of the studio where much of that channel's programming had been recorded. Upon further research and eventually traveling on site, I found out it was now desolate and had been abandoned after the big war ended. I entered the building with my camera. It was burnt out from the inside. Either a fire had broken out or someone had wanted to incinerate all of the wooden furniture. After a few hours of cautiously making my way into the studio and snapping pictures, I found an isolated out-of-the-way room. After having to break through a few old locks and managing to break the heavy door open, I remained frozen in the doorway for several long minutes.
Traces of blood, feces, and tiny bone fragments lay scattered across the floor. It was a small room, and an extremely morbid scene. What truly frightened me, though, what made me turn away and never want to come back, was the bolted, caged microphone hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room...Edit ArticleHow to Arrange Refrigerator Shelves Three Parts:Organizing the ShelvesKeeping the Refrigerator CleanArranging the FreezerCommunity Q&A Do you have a habit of filling up your refrigerator a little haphazardly after getting home from the grocery store, just sticking everything where you can squeeze it in? Organizing your refrigerator shelves will help you remember what items you have on hand and what's running low. Your food will also last longer if you store everything in the proper place, so you want have to throw away wasted food as often. You'll save money and time when you find the right place for your meat, produce, dairy products and condiments, using clever ideas to keep everything organized and fresh.
Put your fruit in the low humidity drawer. Fruit keeps best when it isn't exposed to too much moisture. Most refrigerators have a special drawer that has the lower humidity than the other shelves and drawers. Sometimes it's labeled "low humidity," and other times it's labeled "crisper." This is where you should store your fruit, from apples to bananas to grapes. If you're planning on eating fruit quickly, however, you may want to store it on the top shelf. Fresh berries, for example, will go bad faster than apples, so you might not want to store them in the crisper. Store the carton on the middle or top shelf, where you'll see it and reach for it before they start to shrivel. Produce stored in the crisper may be stored either loose or in open plastic bags. Don't store fruit in tightly-sealed plastic bags, since this can cause many types of fruit to rot more quickly. Keep your vegetables in the high humidity drawer. Most vegetables benefit from a little extra moisture - hence the sprinklers you see wetting down the produce section in the grocery store.
Most refrigerators have a drawer that is labeled "high humidity," usually right next to the low humidity drawer. Store your whole vegetables there either loose or in open plastic bags to keep them fresh. If you're storing salad or cut vegetables, however, they'll go bad more quickly than vegetables that remain whole. For this reason, you should store them on the middle or top shelf and so you'll see them and use them quickly. To help vegetables keep longer, don't wash them before storage. Getting vegetables wet increases the chance that bacteria will grow and they'll begin to rot. Humidity is good, but you don't want the vegetables to be sitting in water. If you do need to wash them, dry them completely before storing. Store meat in the coldest part of the refrigerator. Whether you need to store chicken breasts, steak, sausage, or turkey, it should go in the coldest part of the refrigerator. In most cases, that's at the back of the bottom shelf, although some refrigerators have a designated meat drawer.
If you store meat on the top shelf, it's likely to go bad more quickly. Make sure your meat is kept separate from the rest of the items in your refrigerator. It should be wrapped in plastic and stored as low as possible, so that if any juices escape other items won't get dripped on and contaminated. Clean the area where you store meat more often than you clean the rest of the refrigerator. Keep milk and eggs on the coldest shelf, too. Many people store milk and eggs on the door of the refrigerator for easy access. However, the door is the warmest part of the refrigerator, so storing them there will cause them to lose freshness faster. Store your milk and eggs on the bottom shelf, or whichever shelf is coldest in your refrigerator. Unless you go through eggs quite quickly, it's better to store them in their original carton instead of transferring them to the egg containers on the inside of the door. Cream, buttermilk, yogurt, and similar products should also be kept on the cold shelf.
Store deli meats and cheeses in the shallow meat drawer. Put condiments and drinks on the door. Condiments usually contain a lot of salt, vinegar and other preservatives that prevent them from going bad quickly, so it's fine to store them in the warmest part of the refrigerator: the door. Drinks also tend to keep longer than food. Designate the bottom shelf for the larger, heavier items, like orange juice, beer or soda. Put sweet condiments like jams, jellies and syrups on another shelf, and save the savory condiments like mustard and soy sauce for the last shelf. Even though butter is a dairy product, it's fine to store it in the butter compartment on the door. Butter doesn't need to be kept as cold as milk. If you're a condiment lover, it can be easy to let your condiment area get pretty messy with expired food. Go through the area regularly and toss out anything that's expired or mostly used up. Store leftovers and ready-to-eat foods on the top and middle shelf.
Cooked food is fine to keep on the top or middle shelf. Use the the top and middle shelves to store any items that don't need to be kept especially cold: cooked baby food, pizza, dips and sauces, tortillas, and so on. The top or middle shelf might also be the right place to keep a pitcher of water, medicine you need to keep cold, and other items that need to be cool, but won't easily spoil. Try using refrigerator baskets. Using baskets to organize your food is a great way to keep everything separate and accessible. You can buy baskets to store on your shelves and designate each basket for a different type of food. Label the baskets so you know what goes there. For example, if you buy a lot of cheese, you could have a separate basket just for cheeses. Baskets sized especially to fit in the door shelves are also available. Using baskets is a helpful way to keep condiments from getting too messy. When something spills, you can just remove the basket and clean it out. Use a lazy Susan.
This trick is so useful, it's a wonder refrigerators don't come with lazy Susans already installed. Get a plastic lazy Susan (a circular spinning shelf) to put on the middle or top shelf of your refrigerator. Place items you're in danger of forgetting about, like leftovers, on the lazy Susan. This eliminates the common scenario of discovering months-old leftovers in the back of the fridge from time to time. It's also a good way to make sure you use up salad items, cut vegetables, fruit, and other items that tend to go bad quickly. Consider designating one lazy Susan for items you want to use right away. Consider lining the shelves for easy cleanup. Purge your refrigerator often. Don't let expired items or moldy leftovers hang around and clog up your fridge. You'll end up having to squeeze fresh items in wherever they'll fit, which is a recipe for forgetting what you have on hand. Every week or so, go through your refrigerator and get rid of anything you're not going to use.
Don't store shelf-stable items in the refrigerator. Label everything before storing. If you're one of those industrious people who make a big casserole or batch of soup in order to freeze portions for later meals, make sure you label everything with the name and date. That way your food won't end up as a nameless, freezer-burned bag that you can't remember putting there several months ago. Keeping your freezer organized with labeled items will help you actually use up all the items you store there. Put the items that store longest in the back. Make sure you know how long everything will keep in your freezer, then put the items that store longest in the back or bottom of your freezer. Items that need to be used more quickly should be kept toward the front, so you'll see them and use them. For example, frozen vegetables, fruit, meat and so on may keep for months or longer, so should be stored behind other items. This will prevent them from getting warmed up every time you open the freezer.
Ice cream, popsicles, ice cube trays, and other items that you use up more quickly should stay near the front of the freezer. Use proper storage methods to prevent freezer burn. Frozen items don't tend to spoil, but freezer burn can still ruin their taste and texture, rendering them inedible. In addition to organizing your freezer so that the items that keep the longest are in the back, you should also use good freezer storage methods to protect the food from exposure to air and moisture. Use air-tight freezer bags or bins to store all items. Double-bag items that need to stay in the freezer for more than a few weeks. Storing items in flimsy sandwich bags doesn't protect them from getting freezer burn. Use thick freezer-safe bags instead. Put the foods that are related together: meats, dairy, fruits, vegetables. Remember that most refrigerator shelves are both adjustable and removable. You can move or even remove shelves if you need a different configuration. Organize foods in a way that seems smartest;