What should your refrigerator temperature be set at

We respect your privacy. All email addresses you provide will be used just for sending this story. By Daniel Wroclawski. Published November 11, Updated September 13, Photo: Getty Images. More on Refrigerators. Best Refrigerators of Most and Least Reliable Refrigerator Brands. The presence of many items in the fridge may also reduce the airflow, meaning even less air is exchanged each time the door is opened and then closed. Relax and be free from anxiety Take back good sleep and help alleviate pain.

Another risk: jamming too much in the fridge can block air vents, leading to a host of temperature and moisture issues, and potentially causing some foods to spoil more quickly. To expand upon that last point: Air needs to pass unimpeded between the freezer and refrigerator in order to keep the temperature steady.

You should be able to find a guide for your particular refrigerator model online. The back because the cooling element is there, and the bottom because warm air rises. Some foods also deteriorate quickly when they get below certain temperatures.

This often occurs when the food freezes. Other foods undergo subtler changes when they get too cold, such as some tropical fruits and vegetables. Maintaining this temperature is very difficult without a wine fridge, and perhaps equally as importantly, wine fridges keep this temperature consistently. It's also worth noting that cellaring and serving temperatures are not the same.

Variations in temperature can affect the subtle flavours, so you'll probably need to let your reds warm up a little and your whites chill before you pour. Red wine doesn't need to be room temperature to taste its best, however, and your kitchen fridge is a bit too cold to do justice to a quality white wine.

Freezing foods is a handy option for longer-term storage, but even if a food remains frozen, fluctuations in temperature can be very detrimental.

The ingredients separate and crystals from, spoiling the texture and taste. Another example is frozen peas which can lose moisture. You'll see this as loose ice crystals that form within the packet. You may find your freezer gets warmer — not colder as you might expect — during the winter months.

We've tested these before in , and out of 24 tested, all of them passed with flying colours. Freezer burn occurs when water moves out of the surface of a frozen food. When air reaches the frozen food, it causes dehydration and oxidation. It's generally caused by non-airtight packaging, and it happens more when temperature fluctuations are high. When the food thaws you'll see the texture has spoiled. Fatty foods tend to have a shorter storage life in the freezer as the fats become rancid faster than some of the other ageing effects.