The Freezer Fiasco

Well, you saw from an earlier post that our freezer was full of milk.  And I kept increasing the stock-pile by pumping in the night, so the dilimna of storage was getting worse and worse.  Compile that with some odd noises coming from our fridge, the fact that we spent over $800 last year fixing the fridge because of various things that broke, and we got our tax return back.  So, do you see where this is going?

Yes.  I wanted a new fridge/freezer.  So I went looking...online.  After weeks of reading reviews, looking at ratings, etc., etc., etc., I decided the only brands for us to look at were GE and KitchenAid.  Our old fridge was GE.  Based on online pictures, it looks like all the layout internally was the same.  There were things that I didn't like about the GE fridge's layout.  (You wouldn't think layout would be that important, but it kinda is!)

I knew that we lost a bunch of space in the freezer because of the icemaker unit.  All freezers do, but it seems placement of the unit could make or break your freezer space.  In the fridge portion, GE had this weird dip that went through the ceiling, making the top shelf an odd place for some items.  (Shorter items had to go in the middle where the dip was, where taller items could go on either side.)  They also had this "feature" of a "Custom Cool" drawer, which could either cool things down really quickly for you, or defrost things really quickly for you.  Personally, I took the special shelf out because I wanted to use it as a drawer, but it was a horrible drawer because it didn't slide in and out very nicely.

Ok.  So there was GE.  I looked at the insides of the KitchenAid.  For the freezer, the icemaker was in the door, which meant the shelf space was not taken.  That seemed like a good idea.  In the fridge, there was no hump down the ceiling, and no "special drawer" in the bottom.  So those seemed like good ideas.  The KitchenAid data showed their fridge that would fit our opening had more freezer room, but less fridge room (cubic feet).  We hemmed and hawed over this, and finally decided that we needed more freezer space than fridge anyway, even after the milk storage.

So KitchenAid won.  And we got our new fridge.  So, now that we have it, wanna hear our evaluation of KitchenAid?  :)  We found that we have as much room, if not more, in the fridge, even though the cubic feet is smaller.  I have no clue why.  It must be the layout.  The freezer is WAY bigger.  I have room for another month's supply of milk to store!  Woo hoo!!  But here are some catches...  The icemaker is in the door.  This is great for storage but...  When the ice falls, I can hear it back in our bedroom!!! And every now and then, it falls so hard it actually goes through the door and onto our floor (only a cube or two once in a while, but still!)   hahaha  In general, the fridge is a little louder.  And, for whatever reason, it sits crooked in our opening.  I'm sure our GE did as well, but because it was taller, we couldn't tell.  This one, you can tell.  We tried to level it, but once it looked level, it shook like crazy when you opened the doors.  So, back to unlevel.  Thanks saltillo tile!!!  Note to self:  Don't use saltillo tile under appliances!

But I have to include a picture of our awesome milk storage now.  Yes, we are using boxes since we had to pack up all the milk to switch fridges, and this wound up working well for stacking.

I still have room for more milk, but I'm not pumping in the night anymore, so I shouldn't be stockpiling as quickly.  Natalie is drinking less and I am working on producing less because of it.  I do NOT miss middle-of-the-night pumping and dishes!