Choice names $4000 retro-style fridge as worst ever

He said test results were “even more appalling when you consider that it costs a whopping $3990”.

Smeg Australia has been contacted for comment.

Mr Iredale said the 510-litre fridge, which is two metres tall, scored zero out of 100 for temperature stability.

“One of its biggest problems with it was its appalling temperature fluctuations. We saw a variation of more than 5 degrees in the fresh food compartment and a staggering 11 degrees in the freezer,” he said.

“What this means is the temperature is going to go up and down, and up and down, and it’s really not going to provide a very safe place for you to keep your food – certainly for long-term storage.”

That meant fresh food would likely perish much sooner than it would in a fridge with stable temperatures, Mr Iredale said.

“We also found the fridge responds really badly in terms of response to changes in the outside temperature. As the mercury drops overnight, you’ll find that the temperature in the freezer in particular will change drastically.

“This is a problem because if it gets much colder you’re going to be using a lot more energy than you need to use, and if it gets much warmer, then it’s not going to be safe for long-term food storage.”

This also meant owners would need to adjust the temperature of the fridge and freezer when seasons changed, or in response to any major day-to-day temperature fluctuations, in order to maintain the best temperature.

Loading

Mr Iredale said the appliance’s temperature controller “didn’t respond very well to changes in settings” and the fridge had “a terrible range of temperatures, we couldn’t achieve the full range of temperatures we’d like to see”.

Choice found the fridge was expensive to run. It estimated the fridge would cost about $1700 in electricity over its 10-year lifetime – on top of the purchase price and ongoing costs to replace food that perished prematurely.

The watchdog said that, in comparison, similar-sized fridges from other brands it tested had cost between $1074 and $1431 to run for the same length of time.

“This fridge … is something of an art piece, but, like many pieces of art, it’s probably not the best place to keep your ham sandwich,” Mr Iredale said.