My trophy wife refrigerator
My fridge is trying to morph into my daughter's fridge.
It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? When we had our kitchen redone a couple of years ago, I went for style over substance. My new Jenn-Air refrigerator is so much more useless than our trusty old GE side-by-side that we had for 20 years.
I think of it as my trophy wife fridge.
Just to give you one example, the cold filtered water spout is inside the door so as not to spoil its beautiful lines. Anyone who uses it has to stand there with the door open. Very energy efficient.
But I digress. ...
I want to tell you about what's happened to my fridge since my daughter moved home temporarily. Faithful readers know that when the lease on her apartment in LA ran out at the end of March, Gailor decided that since she was heading east in the fall anyway for business school, she might as well pay us an extended visit. She can work from anywhere.
The three of us get along very well, but I am worried about my fridge. It seems to be getting anorexic. Gailor's modus operandi in LA was to work late, then go out to eat or pick up something on the way home. (In LA everyone lives this way, so there are many more wonderful, healthful and inexpensive pick-up places than we have here.)
That is a very tempting lifestyle, and I'm having a hard time resisting it.
The other night I felt like I had achieved a moral victory. I was the only one eating at home that evening, so I stopped by the store to buy myself a little treat (a lamb chop) to go with some cold asparagus that was miraculously in the beautiful but useless fridge. The moral victory came in forcing myself to buy some ingredients for a meal for three for the next night.
This is so completely different from how I used to be. I used to write out menus for the week on a four-by-six card and put it up on the refrigerator door. My new fridge is stainless steel and won't let me pin anything up on her. It might spoil her lines.
I didn't notice then how hard it is to cook for one semi-vegetarian (prime filet mignon and raw ahi tuna, for instance, are OK) and one sensible eater who believes a low-cholesterol diet is a good thing.
I can no longer get away very often with serving a simple meat and two veggies. Although everyone in my family is very polite about what I put in front of them, I hate to see that flicker of disappointment in their eyes. My daughter's favorite meal I make is a cheese souffle, something I no longer have the energy to whip up after work and yet another stop at the store.
Yes, I know about stir-fries; but even they seem like a lot of trouble when the three of us could just meet at some nice little bistro, have a glass of wine and chat about our day while other people do the cooking. Only we don't have the money or the time to do that every night.
I blame it on my fridge. She's been introduced to another lifestyle -- one where she's not stuffed with fresh vegetables, salad ingredients, eggs, meat, milk, and other good, healthy foods -- and she likes it.
Comments
Looks just like my fridge! ;->
And no, it doesn't hold as much as the ancient one it replaced, but I love that chilled water dispenser.
Posted by: Dahlink | April 25, 2008 6:35 AM
Ah, but it is beautiful. My 5-yr old GE side-by-side is just stainless on the front. The one side that shows holds by magnetic timer/probe and all my little notes. And the water & ice are where they should be - on the outside - without spoiling its lines.
I have to say though, that over the past years (decades) I've gone from traditional (freezer on top - frig on bottom) to side-by-side and back a few times.
Each time I've made the change, I'm reminded of the good aspects of the other format. I'm never satisfied, I guess.
I have to admit her sides are non-stainless steel, too. But she has people brush things off as they pass by when I post them there. EL
Posted by: Rosebud | April 25, 2008 7:20 AM
Any idea when the "stainless" craze will finally leave us?
Posted by: brian | April 25, 2008 8:08 AM
I think I had that exact same fridge. The bottom chest though is nice for holding large costco size boxes.
Posted by: Josh Hall (or jwiv) | April 25, 2008 8:11 AM
Un-named others may go all atwitter over Amanda, but, your frig is HOT.
Posted by: Book | April 25, 2008 8:19 AM
I just find a refrigerator that is not covered in expired coupons, kids' Christmas photos, ironic magnets, and yellowed comic strips rather depressing.
Posted by: Heather | April 25, 2008 10:05 AM
Oh Elizabeth, she is SOOOO beautiful--!'m filled with lust! My fridge is 70's gold and as old as the hills, but God bless her, she still runs great. I don't have the heart (or, frankly, the "long green") to replace her until her inevitable heart attack. Don't know what brand I'll buy, but it'll be fridge on top and freezer on bottom.
Posted by: Dottie | April 25, 2008 10:12 AM
Wanna trade fridges? Mine isn't a side-by-side, but it has plenty of room to post menus and magnets and the like.
Yours is so. pretty. It had me at the freezer at the bottom. Is the trophy fridge not magnetic or do you just feel bad posting stuff on there?
I can only post on her black sides if she lets me (and she'll only allow magnets from art museums). Magnets just slide off stainless steel. EL
Posted by: Maryann | April 25, 2008 11:06 AM
Ooooh, so pretty! I love appliances. I am still adjusting to life with refrigerator that has french doors (stainless bottom freezer Amana with handles that go with the rest of my GE profile appliances).
Posted by: azgal | April 25, 2008 11:36 AM
The 'stainless' craze will go out when avocado and coppertone roll back in. Stop that churtelling, it will happen.
Posted by: Robert (the Single One) | April 25, 2008 2:21 PM
Isn't a hot refrigerator an oxymoron?
The reason your magnets won't stick to the front is because they're weak, like most 'artsy' refrigerator magnets. Get some industrial strength magnets and you'll never be able to get 'em off.
I have a magnetic coat hook stuck under my stove's hood to hold my whisks and pot strainer. Just having the top third on metal is enough to hold four whisks, one set of tongs, and a plastic pot strainer. Plunk that thing down on a metal surface and you have to work to get it off.
I don't think she'll like that. EL
Posted by: Mr. Old Fart | April 25, 2008 2:36 PM
I can only post on her black sides if she lets me (and she'll only allow magnets from art museums). Magnets just slide off stainless steel. EL
I don't recall having that problem with the Sub-Zero that came with our last house. It, too, was a bottom freezer model [sans French doors since this was 30 years ago]. We loved it but couldn't afford to replace it in kind when both compressors failed.
Posted by: bra1nchild | April 25, 2008 2:45 PM
Of course, the obvious question to ask...
How do you know that your refrigerator is a "she?"
When I was a kid, I named my car (Lola), beanbag (Tina), and air conditioner (Olga). But I must confess, I never named the refrigerator!
I haven't yet either. Give me a while to come up with the right one. EL
Posted by: Zevonista | April 25, 2008 3:05 PM
Okay, please stop referring to the placement of magnets on the black sides of my one true love. Both times I have missed that pesky little 'l' and I'm feeling like one of my cousins from that shop on Baltimore Street.
Posted by: Book | April 25, 2008 3:14 PM
Call her Pandora.
Mine is full of evil things - olives, cherries, limes, wine (boxed - not to start that thread again), ice cubes, etc. LOL
Excellent idea. Pandora it is. EL
Posted by: Kitkat | April 25, 2008 3:18 PM
Kitkat--brilliant!!!
Posted by: Dahlink | April 25, 2008 4:38 PM
When I first moved to Wales, we had a small European style fridge. Then with two young boys, we needed a larger one, so bought an "american-style" stainless one. Within a week, it looked like hell with zillions of small and large fingerprints all over it. Unfortunately, it didn't come with ICE TRAYS!!! I had to call my mother in B-more and have her send me some. What in god's name do these people think I am going to chill my G&T with?
I can't believe that I forgot the worst thing about a stainless steel fridge: You can't touch it, and if you do you have to clean it off with a special cleaner that costs a billion dollars a can. Thank you for reminding me. EL
Posted by: fairfax | April 25, 2008 5:06 PM
EL wrote regarding naming her refrigerator: I haven't yet either. Give me a while to come up with the right one.
Patty.
That's the name of Chilly Willy's girlfriend in the comics.
Posted by: Mr. Old Fart | April 25, 2008 5:45 PM
EL--a simple sponge works just fine--you don't need that pricey stainless cleaner--really! Just follow the sponge with a dry paper towel and you're done.
I've been thinking--if your fridge is your trophy wife fridge, and I have the same fridge, then I must be a trophy wife! Who knew?
Posted by: Dahlink | April 25, 2008 7:17 PM
I've been thinking--if your fridge is your trophy wife fridge, and I have the same fridge, then I must be a trophy wife!
No, you parsed that incorrectly. The fridge is the trophy wife.
Posted by: Hal Laurent, VoR | April 25, 2008 8:22 PM
Better than sponges, get a micro fiber cloth (Target or W*M auto departments have them cheap) will clean Pandora and keep her beautiful and HOT. Micro fiber clothes and water (tap, no less) clean mirrors better than the blue stuff. You can use them on porcelain, too. I remember reading something about a Canadian university study (they cleaned male dormitory porcelain fixtures) and found the clothes and water disinfected as well as commercial disinfecting products.
See what reading can do for you. Thus sayest Book.
Posted by: Book | April 25, 2008 8:30 PM
As a lazy "housekeeper", I love the wipes in a can for stainless steel that I picked up at Bray and Scarff where we bought our dishwasher & fridge. It's the only thing that keeps the stainless surfaces looking nice.
Posted by: Rosebud | April 27, 2008 9:33 AM
Thanks so much for the tip, dear Book. It sounds to be a lot less expensive, too.
Posted by: Rosebud | April 27, 2008 8:18 PM
Rosebud, I hope you got better service from B&S than we did when we bought all our appliances from them when we redid our kitchen ...
Posted by: Dahlink | April 27, 2008 8:47 PM