Big thumbs down from consumer group for 'abysmal' Ikea refrigerator

Ikea, one of the biggest homewares companies in the world, sells pretty much everything you could want in your home.

And that includes refrigerators, one of which you will probably want to avoid.

The Ikea Nedkyld fridge has been slammed as “abysmal” by consumer advocacy group Choice. The group has given the fridge a Shonky Award for 2019.

Choice Lab spokesperson Ash Iredale said he would rather trust his lunch with penguins that have it stored in the Ikea Nedkyld.

“No, it didn’t come flat-packed, but it did leave us feeling flat,” he said. “The Ikea Nedkyld is one of the worst fridges we’ve seen in our labs. We gave it an appalling score of 39 per cent. The Nedkyld only got 35 per cent for its food freshness score.”

Iredale said the Choice labs test the temperature stability, evenness and response to outside temperature of each fridge. “Basically we see if your food will last for very long. Don’t expect your leftovers to last in this Ikea fridge.

“We also compared the Nedkyld’s energy use against the star rating score they claimed it got – it completely failed.”

Choice lists the good points and bad points of every product tested. Under “good points” the chart simply says: “None to mention”.

“Bad points”, however, are numerous: “Failed energy check, no chiller, no humidity control on crisper, very poor response to changes in room, especially if room gets cold, poor keeping-food-fresher-for-longer score, recommended setting doesn’t give good food storage temperatures in the fresh food compartment.”

Choice CEO Alan Kirkland said, “Not only is it terrible at keeping your food cold, when Choice tested the Nedkyld’s energy use against its star rating, it failed the test. It’s hard to understand how this fridge is still on sale in Ikea stores, especially with a misleading energy label.

“Some retailers just don’t learn.”

This article originally appeared on stuff.co.nz