Maximizing your space is great, especially if you own a premium little kitchen, you might want to be creative in terms of kitchen organization. However, storing stuff on top of your fridge is one option to not consider.
Yes, all that stuff might be begging you to put them on the top to save and create some space but learn from home-safety experts and firefighters- doing that is highly not advisable. Let’s understand why.
Why Storing Stuff on Top of Your Fridge is Not a Great Idea?
It’s the airflow, folks. If you put things on top of your fridge, they can affect your refrigerator’s ventilation. As you may have noticed, your fridge is continuously releasing heat in order to cool and freeze your food, and that heat should be going somewhere.
Note that fridges have condensers located on the top, side or back, depending on the model, created to dissipate the heat. Crowding the top of your fridge with a bunch of stuff will impact your fridge’s capability of keeping your food cold.
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In short, the heat coming out from the condensers doesn’t get carried away as efficiently as it should, whereas, excess heat buildup might result in reduced appliance life at best which might also lead to a potential fire hazard.
Things to Not Store on Top of your Fridge
1. Bread
Fridge’s ventilation is crucial so blocking it with a loaf of bread will not work well for both. Remember that the airflow is warm, therefore, any food on top will dry them out and make them stale. In the instance of plastic-bagged bread, it will make them susceptible to mold.
2. Cookbooks
Cookbooks on top of your fridge are a fire hazard. Paper and any flammable items such as recipe cards and magazine tear-outs, should not be stored on an appliance that is working hard. They might fall behind the fridge and can possibly block the ventilation.
3. Small Appliances
Be it rice cooker, air fryer, coffee maker, toaster or any small appliances, they should not be put on top of your fridge- even if it’s crying out convenience. These might move every time you open the fridge inching closer to the edge, potentially causing unexpected injury especially if there are kids at home.
4. Medicine
You have probably read prescriptions on medicine that says “Store in a cool, dry place.” Always store medicine in the medicine cabinet to ensure the efficacy of the medicines themselves.
5. Cereal
Lightweight and unstable, cereal boxes are prone to hazard trifecta. They are flammable, they block ventilation, and they can either fall on you or behind the fridge. Hence, if it was left open, cereal stales easily, possibly attracting pests that could become a household and food safety hazard.
6. Fresh Produce
Putting a fruit basket or bin on top of you fridge may look tempting but doing that will only speed their deterioration, making that basket of farmers-market goods a feast for pests like fruit flies.
7. Glass Bowls and Jars
Glass bowls and jars are a falling hazard. Plus, the nooks and crannies of bowls and glass kitchenware accumulate grease and dust which may possibly be a pest and fire hazards.
8. Wine
No matter what type of wine, it is not ideal to put them on top of your fridge. The ideal temperature for wine storage is 55 degrees Fahrenheit which is about triple times chillier than at the top of you refrigerator. Hence, anything beyond the recommended wine storage temperature can do major damage to wine’s aroma, flavor and color.
9. Spices
Spices need proper storage to maintain peak freshness and flavor, too. They are not like wine that get better with age. At the maximum, you get about one to four years to use them while some begin to lose potency even sooner.
There you go! If you have been putting these items on top of your fridge, then might as well allocate a kitchen cabinet that will store these stuff.
However, if you don’t have the luxury or option to do so, make sure that the item you are going to put up there are not flammable, cannot fall off and don’t restrict airflow.
