The Development of the Fridge Freezer.
The emergence of fridge freezer can be considered one of the most revolutionary developments to affect the household kitchen. The principle was first pioneered in 1748 when William Cullen, a Glaswegian, worked on refrigeration using gases to control the temperature of food by evaporating liquid in a controlled environment. The Scot did not take the idea any further, but the foundations of the fridge freezer were firmly laid down. It was not until 1834 that any serious thought was given to the practical uses of refrigeration in the household; Oliver Evans, from the US, brought out the first fridge which was still operated by the use of gases.
As many of the gases were highly dangerous, there were many fatalities in the early days. Controlling toxic gases such as ammonia was much hit and miss. The early contraptions were anything but integrated, took up a great amount of space and only appeared in households that could afford them, and were willing to take the risks accompanied in using them.
The original purpose for refrigeration was put to controlling delicate medicines used in the treatment of yellow fever by John Gorre. This goes hand in hand with many other inventions that did not initially serve the purpose they eventually came to be used for.
In 1929 the first integrated fridge freezers went on sale. These combos were very popular as they had dual purpose use in the household kitchen- giving the added benefits of preserving fresh food and also the longer term storage options for freezing. Almost every house in the UK now recognises built -in integrated units as a must-buy item. They are on sale in all kinds of styles, retro, stand alone or specially built and designed to order. Retro styling has become very popular nowadays and people buy models that are on sale that can be built into the rest of the kitchen furniture. Many cheap bargains are now on sale at discount stores as modern technology and volume production have been able to bring prices down. It is almost impossible to imagine how we could live without our combination fridge freezer in this day and age.
