We Have The Affordable Green Energy Efficient Prefab. Where Are The Affordable Energy Efficient Appliances? Part 1

Honeychile, this is not about Energy Star.

Remember the super, practical cube freezer I found that has drawers I could then convert into a fridge? The rectangular shape allows the cook to quickly scan and withdraw items, the drawers open at the top to keep the cold air from falling out like it does in conventional refridgerators and freezers.
Eureka!
I would simply convert it into a super energy-efficient fridge like this guy did! And you would be able to do it too, yet still look sleek and mod for not too much money!

...Except they don't make this affordable, practical, dual temperature freezer anymore.
Oh no, they don't.

Dag!
So I started researching.  And researching.

Here's what I learned about this industry:

• Lower price points only offer the door-on-the-side, not the more effective door on the top
• The average price for a smaller, traditional door-on-the-side under the counter fridge at the big box stores is $89 - $200
• I discovered drawer refrigerators - utilizing the same efficient design concept, with the opening on the top
• Drawer fridges and freezers are a "luxe" item (who knew practical was so luxurious)- so you can only afford one if you're willing to shell out $1,000 - $2,500 for the same cubic feet!
• Yes. $1,000. Yes, $2,500. Yes, the same amount of cubic space.
  
• Really. Yes, really. This is where this industry is today.
  

So, like much architecture / available housing, consumers are restricted to poorly designed, inefficient fridges unless they can afford a price point that is beyond most people's reach.

I mean, Tree Hugger's Lloyd Alter and we can't be the only ones that have embraced the efficient top opening, smaller refrigerators!  There have to be plenty of energy efficient, affordable, top opening drawer freezers and fridges out there... right?
[Right?]

Now here's some affordable evaporative coolers Mr. Alter mentions... affordable, sure, but swamp coolers and anything with high, constant humidity is not practical indoors... hello, mold.

Our prefab house kits are made with SIPs (structural insulated panels) that make the house incredibly tight, therefore energy efficient. Even with air exchangers that are a must for any tight, well insulated home, I still don't want to have a huge pot o' water sloshing around emitting water vapor all day and night...

• Here's an interesting ice box post... on many levels...
• I'm avoiding propane as an off grid solution because the refridgerators seem to not work well unless you want to use a lot of propane. I don't.
• Backwoods Home Magazine has a good overview of energy efficient refrigerators and freezers but they lack the top-opening design I seek.   

Again, it's like the prefab house kits: Once you understand how a design element makes something function better, more efficiently, why would you ever go back?  Sometimes I speak with enthusiasts about our passive solar house kits and they say, "Well, the view of the lake is to the north, so can we just switch the house to face that way?" I explain how passive solar works, how it helps the prefab house to function. Even if you don't want our prefab house kit, why would you build a Florida Room or glass-filled entrance to the north, knowing you'd be literally watching your hard-earned dollars float out the window?

So, now I know how efficient and better-designed a top-opening refrigerator is, how it keeps the cold air in instead of spilling out like your traditional side door, and... and I just can't spend money on something conventionally designed, knowing there's a better way.

What I find amazing is that the big box stores will offer wine cellars and drink coolers (kind of a frivolous niche...) yet none of them offer top-opening affordable compact fridges (kinda practical?).

Now I might be able to snag some amazing crafty deal where *I* get what I want for a good price, but that's not going to help YOU any, no?

So... stay tuned. 
It might take awhile, but I'll be back with an affordable, practical answer for all of you.

(And more prefab modern house kit pictures and video coming next week...)

 

Prefab Net Zero Off Grid Thoughts: Kitchen

Oh how prefab-ulous: We are ALL sick.
It is raining.
Coughing, sneezing, low grade fevers... we will not visit the net zero off grid prefab this weekend.
Yet inside, we're bustling about in our pj's and woolen socks, ill but happily busy, and I am researching:
Kitchen Appliances For The Net Zero Off Grid Prefab Modern House!


I have been toying over thoughts on the kitchen island and appliances for months.
General thoughts:

• Kitchen island should face the chaos, so that I can happily participate as I cook
  
• Upper part: contains juice and wine glasses so I can throw them at thirsty clamoring mutinous guests
• Smaller fridge reflects our locally eating, buying fresh food, often, lifestyle
• Composting bin
• Smaller trash can because we compost our food waste, feed scraps to chickens, avoid packaging
• and a recycling bin, of course

But something in the functionality I drew out earlier didn't sit right... I was still working on it...
The big barrier to energy efficient off grid appliances is that, frankly, they often cost a heckuva lot more.

Today I stumbled onto this: A green fridge that uses almost no electricity, made out of a freezer!

Freezers and fridges that open from the top make sense. Think about it: hot air rises, cold air falls. When you open a traditional fridge or freezer, the air literally falls out of the compartment as you consider, "Hmmmmm... what shall I have for lunch today?"

With the door on the top, you can keep the cold air contained within much more efficiently.
I again researched energy efficient appliances... then stumbled across what seems like a good solution:

A freezer with TWO access drawers and temperature zones! So the top could be for food kept cool... and the bottom, remain a freezer! (IF we even need to use a small freezer. More on those thoughts for you on that in another post...)

The Haier freezer I selected was rectangular, not square, because it makes sense that when you open it, with a more rectangular shape you can quickly scan the inventory vs. dig through layers trying to find something in a square space. I researched and researched, and found one for $329, not the least expensive, but with free shipping (shipping averaged $100 so in the end, it was a good deal).

Now I am going to play with crayons to show you my kitchen area idea:

(The reality will be much more sleek and modern, longer in width, much more stylish; I'm trying to explain the functionality. Dudes, I'm drawing with CRAYONS.)

• Countertop:
  
  
  
  • Range
  • Cutting board area also doubles as where to put the dish rack when drying dishes, water can run off to be recycled with a surrounding groove into a container right in front of the compost top?
    
  • Drawer top to hold compost bin to the right of work area (doesn't need to be too big as we discard scraps at least twice a day - you can see the bin top to the left of the stove, it would be built in- metal container, flush with the countertop) - if I were left-handed it would go on the left...
    
  • Sink: shallow but wide enough for rinsing, washing dishes
    
  • Glass storage: facing me, sliding glass provides access to glasses
    
    
    
    
    This reflects the natural progression in how I cook:
    By putting the workstation between the range and sink, I can rinse & cut, add scraps to compost, then add the cut items to the pan all without moving the cutting board.
    
    
    
    
    
  
  
• Underneath:
  
  
  
  • Pull out shelf (not drawer) reveals freezer-converted-into-fridge, yet allows access to bottom drawer of fridge (after I drew this I realized it should be under the sink, as I'm right handed and thus making it more accessible as I prepared / cooked)
    
  • Two drawers under sink for pots and pans
    
  
  
  
  
• Side where the stools will be:
  
  
  
  • Sliding glass: provides access to glasses (the nonbreakable pewter cups of which we Virginians seem to acquire so many...)
  • Legroom under the glasses area for swinging, restless children's legs
  • Access to pipes if you need it by making that side face a latched door, able to swing open
    
  • Handsome Husband pointed out we could take that latched door just mentioned (that opens to the pipes, systems where the stools are) and instead have it lift up, not open sideways, and could then create a "insta-table" for extra guests.
    
  
  
  
  
• Behind me, flush and built into the wall:
  
  
  
  •  Two shelves that open for more storage of plates, glasses, utencils, cloth napkins
  • Underneath: a pull out drawer separated into
    
    
    
    1. trash (as in, non food anything): which we have *very little* of...
       
    2. recycling (um... we have more of that. Hello, beer cans...)
    
    
  
  

Here is another crayon rough version of what it might look like...

Picture this room with the grey polished concrete floor, a built in bookshelf, smooth plywood finishes mixed with the recycled VMI basketball court on the walls and in the kitchen island.

Now I need to keep an eye out for cool, modern (hopefully reused, as I try to recycle, even better: vintage) bar stools, and juice and wine glasses.  I'm also looking for a marine stove...

After a split-second of thought, I decided I do not need an oven.  I use our solar cooker for fun, why not make it integral for our bread baking, etc. *every* time? Granted, that rules out a Thanksgiving turkey, but there are other, more creative ways to approach that dilemma. The reality is that I only use our oven a few times a year, and many of those times can certainly be replaced with the slow cooker, solar cooker, and other methods.

So there ya have my prefab house kit thoughts on the kitchen area!
All certainly to be refined, revised before you see photographs of the finished area...
But what else was I supposed to do on a sick, rainy day? : )