2.28.2007

The Hazards of a Bottom-Mount Freezer

When we first realized we were going to be buying our house, and doing a massive renovation, we went appliance shopping in SoHo. Travis took me into a deluxe shop that featured European appliances. He marched right over to the smallest wall oven I’ve ever seen... literally, this thing was the size of a toaster oven. This was the oven he thought we should buy. I would have laughed, but this is Travis and I knew he was serious. I pointed out all the problems with buying such a small oven, and he quickly rebutted each one: My cookie sheets wouldn’t fit in it (I could buy new ones!), I couldn’t cook more than one thing at a time (we could get TWO of them!), it wouldn’t accommodate a frozen pizza (we’ll have our pizza delivered!), cooking a Thanksgiving dinner was out of the question (you’ve never cooked one anyway!). Besides, he pointed out, listen to how nicely it “thuds shut”. Definitely something I’m looking for in an oven.

After I had a meltdown, he agreed we could get a slightly larger version of the oven. The next problem was the refrigerator. The one Travis wanted was about 18” wide, again made by a German company and designed for small apartments. I couldn’t understand why we were moving to the suburbs so we could have smaller appliances. Travis and our architect convinced me that the small fridge was the EPITOME of our new kitchen layout, and simply must be used. I was promised I could have another, full sized fridge in the basement to hold juice and whatever wouldn’t fit in the upstairs fridge (basically anything bigger than a piece of string cheese), so I wouldn’t have to go to the store every day. Walking up and down the stairs 20x per day would be much better!

Imagine how thrilled I was when we realized that our architect’s marvelous plan, which involved moving the powder room halfway across the house, among other things, was way out of our price range. We quickly scaled back the renovation, and in our new design, I negotiated a full-sized fridge. (As it turns out, there is one rebuttal that trumps anything Travis can come up with... “Resale value!”)

We picked a great one; it’s a Jenn Air stainless steel cabinet-depth model, with the freezer on the bottom. My Nana used to have a bottom-mount freezer, and I’ve always thought they were cool. I just didn’t realize how accessible they made everything IN the freezer to kids.

For example, C has a friend J who comes over to our house frequently. It took J about 3 seconds to figure out that he could help himself to the contents of our freezer, which typically holds popsicles, ice cream, frozen Gogurt, and other treats within reach of small hands. On many occasions I’ve found the freezer left open by one of the kids, as they were browsing around and forgot to close it. My kids have pretty much learned and accepted that they must still have permission to eat the junk I keep in the freezer, but one day S and her friend E used up all the ice making packs for their animals, and there was water seeping out of plastic bags all over the house for days. Another hazard is that the kids use the handle on the freezer as a step stool to access things in the fridge. I’m pretty sure the designer of the Jenn Air fridge didn’t account for the weight of a 45 pound girl on the handle of the freezer. I’ve told them about a million times not to stand on the handle but conveniently, they keep forgetting.

The most recent event just happened the other night. Scout announced after dinner that she was going to make herself a milk shake, and since I was on my computer in the office, I told her to go for it and wished her luck. All seemed to be going well until I heard her exclaim, “Oh, no!” I yelled out, “What happened?” and she replied, “I think I used the wrong milk.” I assumed she had gotten my soy milk, and hoisted my giant body up and into the kitchen for further investigation. Turns out she had gotten the buttermilk by mistake, and after dousing her carefully scooped ice cream with it, had taken a big bite. Yuck.

13 comments:

em said...

The bottom-mount freezer at Nana's was the best! Do you remember the foil wrapped ding dongs? Man. I am so craving one now and starting tomorrow I am OFF SUGAR. I have never wanted it so much in all my life!
P.S. have the bottom mount myself and it proves to be somewhat challenging when the girls come around.

sara said...

um, how are you going to go off sugar this month? the month of CADBURY MINI AND CREAM EGGS. what on earth are you thinking?

i loved those frozen twinkies and hostess cupcakes. and the unlimited soda in the coal room was fantastic too...

ps: i still can't email you. what is going on with your hotmail account?

Tania said...

Jacob uses the freezer handle at our place to climb into the fridge too. Do you think the sub-zero warranty covers kids standing on it???

eryka said...

k - we live in Europe and probably have the exact tiny oven you saw and the very skinny fridge. It works great for our small kitchen but wow they really make things small. We also have the bottom freezer - the kids love it. Somehow the ice cream is always gone and for once it wasn't me.

em said...

Yeah. Bad month to pick no sugar, especially since with the stupid weather sugar is about the only thing that makes me smile outside of seeing someone slip and fall in the snow (as long as its not me). But this guy I work with decided the month of March is it and we're not only off "treats" but also doing 100 pushups and situps a day. Wanna do it w/ me? HA HA HA!!! xoxo Maybe Scout can be a stand in for the situps try not to cheat on the pushups...
Yeah - hotmail is killing me. I might bail.

sara said...

tania, i would say based on the TV experience, probably not! at least jacob weighs less than my kids. still, it's just a matter of time before the handle snaps off and i have to buy a whole new fridge.

eryka, travis would love all your mini-appliances! too bad we live here in AMERICA where things are big!

Gabrielle of Design Mom said...

Sara, you're such a great writer! I'm laughing so hard. Hooray for blogs!!

Kathryn said...

Love your entries. I like your fun and refreshing writing style!

Kathryn said...

Love your entries. I like your fun and refreshing writing style!

liz said...

SARA- I just got word Burger King has ICEES!!!!

there is one on the 22 on the right, you make a quick turn into it after a yoga sign. even better- they take debit card.

you KNOW you love the burbs, baby. ;-)

Mumsy said...

It's actually on Central Ave. And when I was pregnant, Liz would eat there will me all the time.

liz said...

omygosh lindsey thanks for the correction. how do i function each day without your help_ oh yea i end up in FREMONT instead of my home. hehehe

Anonymous said...

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