By James Wells
SYDNEY: Fisher & Paykel has released four 519 litre bottom mount ice and water refrigerators with an internal ice dispenser and a hidden chilled water dispenser at the DesignEx interior design exhibition at Darling Harbour.
The four Active Smart refrigerators are available in either Iridium non-marking finish or the EZKleen brushed stainless steel finish with a choice of either the new designer series flat fronted or traditional icon curved door.
According to Fisher & Paykel product marketing manager – refrigeration, Scott Davies, water dispensers have normally featured within side by side fridge/freezers and have been unpopular in Australia because they have occupied a large proportion of the refrigerator’s internal volume.
The water dispenser in Fisher & Paykel’s large 519 litre upright refrigerator which occupies only 3.5 litres of the refrigerator’s total useable volume delivers touch-button chilled filtered water through the front door of the refrigerator.
The four refrigerators also contain an internal ice dispenser located in the freezer which drops ice cubes into a dedicated ice bin ensuring a constant and steady supply of ice.
“As is standard with ice and water making refrigerators, these fridges will need to be plumbed in, but for convenience we’ve built in an auto-water cut off mechanism to make filter cartridge replacement quick and easy, without requiring the water to be shut-off at the mains. This superior design gives us a competitive advantage over many other ice and water dispensing refrigerators available today. The filter also has a pressure reducer and a double flow back prevention feature for added safety,” Davies said.
Other key features include an automatic measure fill feature which has pre-set quantities of a cup (250ml), glass (300ml) or a jug (1000ml) measuring out an exact quantity of water which is ideal for consumers who do a lot of baking or cooking. These pre-set measurements can also be adjusted in 25ml increments to allow for recipes that call for a specific millimetre measure.
The Freezer Chill function is a premium feature which, when activated, sets the freezer to a minimum temperature for 12 hours to freeze room temperature food fast. This is useful if the freezer has been loaded with fresh meat or perishable items that need to be frozen quickly to maintain quality and guarantee safety.
The Bottle Chill feature activates low temperatures to make the freezer as cold as possible for a set period of time. Designed to chill a bottle or can, Bottle Chill can be set at 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 minute increments.