# Why are refrigerator freezers on the bottom these days? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 6, 2016, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-refrigerator-freezers-on-the-bottom-these-days/742282 "2016-01-06T00:58:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-refrigerator-freezers-on-the-bottom-these-days/742282/21 "2016-01-07T22:04:53Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > A one year warranty is the industry standard and pretty much all of them are terrible at helping beyond the warranty date. You sure? My understanding is that the sealed refrigeration components are usually 3-5 years so when your compressor goes after 32 months it is still covered. Plus with Samsung it was a known fault that caused overheating in the case that could injure someone and they STILL built it with that component. It wasn’t quite a 2nd degree burn with me but close. Slightly different than “my plastic drawer rail broke” ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-refrigerator-freezers-on-the-bottom-these-days/742282/22 "2016-01-07T22:50:50Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > You sure? My understanding is that the sealed refrigeration components are usually 3-5 years so when your compressor goes after 32 months it is still covered. Plus with Samsung it was a known fault that caused overheating in the case that could injure someone and they STILL built it with that component. It wasn’t quite a 2nd degree burn with me but close. Slightly different than “my plastic drawer rail broke” The compressors carry a much longer warranty. 5-10 years typically. Samsung’s compressors are highly rated and carry a 10 year warranty. I think that part of the warranty is actually kinda useless, the compressors don’t tend to fail, the controllers for the compressors on the other hand do fail and they are only covered by the one year warranty. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-refrigerator-freezers-on-the-bottom-these-days/742282/23 "2016-01-08T03:21:36Z")
Our Ice Box was a refrigerator without a freezer. The Ice went at the top, and cooled the cabinet below it. I think it would have been natural to make an electric refrigerator on the same plan: cabient at cabinet level, cooling thing above it. The old electric refrigerators I knew, the “icebox” (Aus name for the freezer section) wasn’t out of reach. The whole thing was smaller, and the icebox eas at or below eye level. Given the Ice box / Ice box terminaology, I wonder if people used to freeze items by setting them on top of the block of ice in the cooler? ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-refrigerator-freezers-on-the-bottom-these-days/742282/24 "2016-01-08T17:26:04Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > That looks really nice! A bit pricey for me, but probably worth it. I like the pull-out freezer. Not all bottom freezers are pull-out, and I like the idea that you can rummage around in there without all the cold spilling out, plus having the regular part of the fridge higher up. Unfortunately, at least on mine the freezer is just a plastic drawer that pulls out. The only insulated section that comes out with it is the front. It’s not like you’re pulling out a fully insulated drawer. So the cold does spill out. Other models might be different, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-refrigerator-freezers-on-the-bottom-these-days/742282.md?page=1)