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My house is very marmite, if it isn’t still under construction, I’ve painted it a eye-searing colour or littered it with kitsch tat. However, every time someone comes to my kitchen for the first time they say I love your fridge. Yes, I am a smug Smeg owner, just like Wallace (and Gromit).
How much was my Smeg?
Yes, Smeg fridges are stupidly expensive. It’s not even my fault we now own one. My boyfriend and I were looking at fridges on the Currys site and I said “Do you want a white one, a black one or stainless steel?” and he replied “Can’t we get one that’s a nice colour?” and so, I bought a Smeg. Yes, you’re just paying for the name, Smeg fridges don’t do anything special, they aren’t particularly energy-efficient, they don’t make ice or talk to you. Most Smeg fridge freezers are over £1,500, that’s more than twice what you’d pay for any other brand. Mine was £1,049.97. I got it from Appliances Direct, but I found this extra-low price on Idealo.
You can buy Smeg fridges second hand at a deep discount, but you may not find your perfect appliance on sale.
Which model of Smeg should you buy?
It’s really easy to choose which Smeg to buy. There are only four things you need to ask yourself:
- Do I want a freezer?
- If yes, how much stuff do I want to put in my freezer?
- Which side do I want the door to open?
- What colour?
There are pretty much only three types of pretty, full-size Smeg fridges. I’m not counting integrated or mini Smegs, because… why?
Smeg fridges
If you just want a fridge, go for the FAB28 model, it’s the cutest, most instagrammable iteration of Smeg in my opinion.
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Literally, HOW ADORABLE IS THAT?! Unfortunately, I need a freezer, for ice cream and frozen mash.
Smeg fridge freezers
The other option is the FAB30, which is 70% fridge, 30% freezer. I didn’t get this for two reasons, mainly because I need a bigger freezer, but also because I read that you have to duck to get into your fridge. Weird. It is really pretty though!
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I have a FAB32 Smeg, it’s 60% fridge, 40% freezer.
The top part is the fridge, and I think it’s a good size for a small family. There isn’t much to say about any special features in a Smeg fridge, but I’ve shown you what it looks like inside with a week’s worth of food in it. The only thing that makes it not a straight-up featureless fridge is that it’ll beep at you if you leave it open too long.
This feels like MTV cribs, showing you my fridge. But instead of bottles of Cristal, I’ve got too many jars of my boyfriend’s homemade pickles, chutneys and yeast for beer (???), and a bonus half-completed trifle.
That tiny shelf under the milk fits absolutely nothing in it, except those slim tins of cocktails or any particularly skinny bottles of salad dressing.
The side your door opens is more important than you think. Unlike a normal fridge, you can’t swap the hinges over because of those beautiful handles, and the doors are thicc. This fridge opens a different way to the old fridge. If I’d kept it the same side, I wouldn’t be able to open the door all the way without it hitting the edge of the working surface.
One irritating thing about the set up of this fridge is this top shelf of the freezer. You probably can’t see it in the photo, but I dented the door with it about two weeks after I bought it. Be careful about making sure you have the shelf closed before you shut the freezer door.
Colours
Colour-wise, I’m sorry but there’s no point going for a black or white Smeg, every fridge comes in black or white. Buy something out there!
Cleaning your Smeg fridge
This is the whole reason for this post, tbh. When I bought my fridge, all the chrome detailing on the front was shiny and bright… six months later and the letters were now dull and dark, and the handles had spots on them that wouldn’t wipe off.
The advice online when you google it, says to use water and washing up liquid to clean your Smeg handles and letters. That does absolutely zilch.
I assumed like most shiny metal things in a kitchen, they were made of stainless steel. But stainless steel cleaner did nothing too, and if anything, just made it worse.
However, the metal parts on a Smeg are aluminium, and there’s only one thing that will clean them: car polish. This was a recommendation from the Facebook group Cleaning on a Budget. I bought my tube of Autosol in Wilko.
To clean it, use a cloth to lay a thick-ish layer of polish on the metal bits, leave it for a bit then rub it off with plenty of elbow grease. I just used kitchen roll, and it turns it black.
Shiny! Try not to get polish on the plastic part of the fridge, it can leave microscopic scratches on it. The rest of the fridge can be wiped down with normal cleaning fluids. Just don’t get anything acidic on the aluminium parts, because that’s what makes them react and tarnish in the air.
Magnets
I told you, I’m tacky! Only the sides of a Smeg fridge are magnetic, and I didn’t know that before I bought one. Admire my magnet collection. I have lots of fake food. I’m very inspired by this video of Amy Sedaris’ New York flat.
Final verdict
I love my Smeg! There’s nothing fun about 99% of kitchen appliances, so I think the extra expense is worth it to bring a splash of colour to my kitchen. I don’t miss having an ice or a cold water dispenser, I keep a carafe of water in the fridge and the world’s best ice cube tray in the freezer.
If you want one, and can budget for it, I say go for it!
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