The Refrigerator

One of the weirdest things about living in Los Angeles is not that they say “dude” to both men and women, or their inclination toward plastic surgery, tanned bodies and blonde hair, or even The Bob Baker Marionette Theater (though it is pretty weird: http://www.bobbakermarionettes.com)… It’s the fact that Angelenos (Los Angeles residents) take their refrigerators with them wherever they go. I don’t mean to work, or grocery shopping or to the beach (that would be crazy)… I mean when they move house!

Most apartment and house rentals in Los Angeles do not include a refrigerator. Yes, they include stoves, dishwashers, clothes washers, dryers, microwaves, air conditioners, and sometimes furniture and linens – but not refrigerators! Apparently, landlords don’t want to be responsible for refrigerator repairs. Every other repair is fine (microwaves, for example) but they refuse to get involved with fridges.

I digress (as per usual).

When we moved from London, England to Los Angeles there were a few things we were really looking forward to doing (buying an espresso machine, driving a car, getting warm) but right at the top of the list was having a full-sized fridge.

You see, in England fridges are ridiculously, comically small. I have no idea why this is, but in all the places we lived (four total) we had a tiny fridge that fit under the counter. In our last home, the fridge was 4.3 cubic square feet. It could only hold four apples, a small selection of yogurt, a tub of butter, six eggs (not 12!), short jars of mustard, and 1-liter beverage containers (milk, orange juice) in the door.

Forget about frozen pizzas! Forget turkey for Canadian Thanksgiving! Forget about Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food ice cream pints because they didn’t fit in that little horizontal slot they call a freezer! Forget about eating cereal for breakfast because it takes too much milk, and then you have to go buy more milk (in a 1-liter container), and the circle will never end, so you may as well just get used to eating toast! And ice? Forget it! Forget about the life you once knew!

Before moving to England I never thought I’d get excited about an appliance. Like every other North American (with free access to health care and education), I took large household appliances for granted. I will never do that again!

In our current home we have a Whirlpool Gold Galaxy French-door refrigerator with Accu-Chill™ technology which keeps things ultra fresh, an interior water dispenser, a can caddy that dispenses a 12-pack beverage box, a drawer freezer, and 25 cubic square feet of storage!

It has changed our life (for the better)!

Less time grocery shopping means more time for kissing and canoodling. Buying 2-liter beverage containers means that the husband can go back to eating cereal on a regular basis, which means fewer toaster fires (which means less looking at handsome firefighters, which means less jealousy). More cubic square footage means more room for ice cube trays and limes, which means more wonderful G & Ts, which means more lively conversation, which means more canoodling.

This is literally the best thing that ever happened to our marriage…