Fridgemaster MTL55242E Larder Fridge

Is the Fridgemaster MTL55242E Larder Fridge worth buying?

Yes, the Fridgemaster MTL55242E Larder Fridge is worth buying if you want a full 242 litres of fresh food for £229 and you do not mind clearing the ice yourself once or twice a year. It stands 143.4 cm tall in a 55 cm gap, which is the slot most kitchens already have, and 221 owners rate it 4.4. We score it 9.2 out of 10.

The case for it is simple: 242 litres with nothing carved out for a freezer, four toughened glass shelves, four door shelves and a salad crisper. That is enough for 13 bags of a weekly shop, which is where a family of four actually lives. Nothing here is electronic beyond the dial, and nothing here carries a premium for styling.

How much space does the Fridgemaster MTL55242E give per pound?

£229 divided by 242 litres comes to £0.95 per litre, and that is the figure to carry into any comparison. The HADEN 242L Tall Larder Fridge charges £269 for the same 242 litres, which is £1.11 per litre, so this one saves you £40 and 16 pence on every litre you fill. Only the COMFEE' 230L undercuts it, at £0.87 per litre.

In daily use that translates into 13 bags of shopping, with the milk and the large bottles standing in the door rather than taking a shelf. Toughened glass takes a casserole dish without bowing, which a thin wired shelf would not. The cabinet runs to 104 kWh a year, roughly 2 kWh a week.

What comes with the Fridgemaster MTL55242E and how does it fit into a kitchen?

The fridge arrives as a single 38.5 kg unit, so two people should take it through the door, and it wants a few hours standing upright before the first switch-on. It measures 54.2 cm deep, 55 cm wide and 143.4 cm tall, and it is freestanding, so it needs a gap with a little room behind it for air rather than a fitted housing. The lead ends in a standard three-pin plug and the fridge runs on 220 volts.

Inside the cabinet you get four toughened glass shelves, four door shelves, a salad crisper for fruit and vegetables and LED lighting so nothing is lost at the back. The door arrives hinged on the right but it is reversible, and the fittings to move it come with the appliance. Temperature is set on an adjustable dial, the compressor is a reciprocating unit, the refrigerant is R-600A and there is a key lock on the door.

Where does the Fridgemaster MTL55242E fall short?

Manual defrost is the first thing to accept. Damp air gets past the seal, condenses on the back wall and stays there as ice until you empty the fridge and clear it, and a centimetre of frost makes the compressor work harder for the same result. If that is the job you never get round to, the Cookology 362L Tall Larder Fridge is frost free.

There is no freezer compartment at all, so a bag of frozen peas has nowhere to go and this has to be a second appliance or a household that cooks fresh. The compressor is also a fixed-speed unit rather than an inverter type, which means it switches on and off instead of easing up and down. At 38.5 kg it is heavy enough that moving it across a kitchen on your own is a bad idea.

How does the Fridgemaster MTL55242E compare with other larder fridges?

The COMFEE' 230L Larder Fridge costs £199.99, which is £29.01 less than the Fridgemaster and gives 12 litres fewer. What separates them is evidence rather than space: 221 owners have rated the Fridgemaster 4.4 against 29 ratings at 4.0. Buy the COMFEE' for the cheapest litre on the page, buy the Fridgemaster if you want the model a bigger crowd has already lived with.

The Cookology 362L Tall Larder Fridge is the step up, at £399.99 and 185 cm tall, which is 120 litres more, 41.6 cm more height and frost-free cooling. Households that fill a fridge twice a week and hate defrosting should pay the £170.99. For a 55 cm gap and a weekly shop of 13 bags, the Fridgemaster MTL55242E covers it for £229.