Home » Product Reviews » Fridge Freezers » Amica FKR29653DEB/1 181cm 70/30 Fridge Freezer review
The Amica FKR29653DEB/1 is a 181cm tall, 70/30 freestanding fridge freezer with a distinctly retro look in duck egg blue. It aims to mix statement styling with sensible family storage, offering 244 litres of space in a slim 55cm-wide body.
Amica tends to sit in the affordable-to-mid-range bracket, and this model follows suit: you’re paying a bit extra for the design, but not into premium-brand territory. With a strong 4.7 out of 5 rating from hundreds of owners, it’s clearly hitting the mark for most households.
If you want your kitchen to have a bit of 50s diner charm without sacrificing everyday usability, this is the sort of fridge freezer that will appeal.
This Amica is well suited to small to medium households who want a stylish focal point rather than a plain white box. With 181 litres in the fridge and 63 litres in the freezer, it comfortably covers singles, couples and smaller families with a weekly shop of up to around 13 bags.
Its 70/30 split is ideal if you buy more fresh food than frozen – there’s generous fridge space, a dedicated salad crisper for fruit and veg, and decent door storage including bottle balconies. If your freezer habits are modest (a few batch-cooked meals, frozen veg and some ice cream), the bottom freezer will be enough.
At 55cm wide, it’s a good choice for narrower kitchens or galley layouts where every centimetre counts. The tall, slim design gives you height instead of width, so it’s also a smart pick for flats or smaller homes.
It isn’t packed with high-end tech or frost-free systems, so it’s best for buyers who prioritise looks and solid basics over the latest smart features. If you’re upgrading from an older or under-counter fridge, this will feel like a big step up in style and usable space without being intimidating.
The standout plus is the styling. The curved doors and duck egg blue finish give a genuine retro feel that can completely lift a kitchen, especially in more neutral schemes.
Storage is sensibly laid out. Adjustable glass shelves and three door balconies make it easy to rearrange the fridge for tall bottles, big leftovers or party platters, while the full-width salad crisper keeps fruit and veg together and easier to find.
Capacity is generous for the footprint. With 244 litres in a 55cm-wide appliance, you’re getting a good amount of usable space without needing a huge gap in your cabinetry. The four-star freezer rating and 15 hours of safe storage in a power cut add reassurance for frozen food.
Practical touches like LED interior lighting, adjustable feet and wheels for easy movement make everyday use and cleaning simpler. Owners also rate it highly overall, which suggests it performs reliably in real kitchens.
The main omission is the lack of NoFrost. You’ll need to manually defrost the freezer from time to time, which some rival models in this price band now avoid.
There’s no reversible door option, so the right-hand hinge position is fixed. If your kitchen layout needs the door to open the other way, this could be a deal-breaker.
With an E energy rating and annual consumption of around 202 kWh, efficiency is respectable but not class-leading. Over many years of use, a more efficient model could cost a little less to run.
Finally, the feature set is fairly straightforward: no digital display, no super-cool function, and no advanced airflow system. That won’t bother everyone, but if you want lots of smart cooling tech and fine-grained temperature controls, you may find this a bit basic.
Day to day, this Amica feels like a very straightforward appliance to live with. The tall fridge compartment opens to clear glass shelves and bright LED lighting, so it’s easy to see what’s lurking at the back and to keep everything tidy.
The adjustable shelves and trio of door balconies mean reorganising for a big shop or a special occasion is fairly painless. The salad crisper is a simple pull-out drawer, making it quick to grab ingredients and keep greens separate from the rest of your groceries.
At 40 dB, the noise level is moderate – not silent, but unlikely to be intrusive in a typical kitchen or open-plan space. The inclusion of wheels and adjustable feet makes positioning and levelling the appliance easier, and also helps when you want to pull it out to clean behind.
Controls and features are deliberately uncomplicated, with no digital display or complex modes to fiddle with. The trade-off is that you won’t get clever extras, but setup and everyday use are intuitive, even if this is your first tall fridge freezer.
With a total usable capacity of 244 litres, the FKR29653DEB/1 offers a sensible balance between fridge and freezer space. The 181-litre fridge will handle the bulk of a weekly shop, while the 63-litre freezer is best suited to lighter frozen storage rather than very large stockpiles.
Cooling performance is built around the essentials: a four-star freezer rating for safe long-term storage and a 70/30 split that prioritises fresh food. The climate class (N–ST) means it’s designed to work reliably in typical UK room temperatures, and the LED lighting ensures the whole interior is well lit.
Inside the fridge you get four shelves (three removable), a full-width salad crisper and three bottle/door balconies. Glass shelves help contain spills, and the egg tray is a small but welcome extra for keeping eggs corralled on the door.
On the features front it’s more classic than cutting-edge. There’s no Multi Airflow system, no super-cool function and no frost-free technology, so cold air distribution and defrosting are more traditional. You also miss out on a digital display or external controls, which some rivals now include.
That said, the appliance does include user-friendly touches such as adjustable feet, rear wheels for easier movement and a reasonably long 1.55m power cord. A two-year manufacturer’s warranty provides decent peace of mind for the price bracket.
This Amica sits in a competitive mid-range area of the fridge freezer market. You’re paying partly for the retro aesthetic and statement duck egg blue finish, which many buyers will see as worth the small premium over a basic white box.
In terms of specification, you’re getting good usable capacity in a slim footprint, solid build with metal bodywork and glass shelves, and all the core functions most households need. You’re not paying for lots of smart extras, so if you don’t care about apps and fancy modes, you aren’t wasting money on features you won’t use.
The E energy rating is adequate rather than outstanding, and the absence of NoFrost means a little more hands-on maintenance. However, the strong 4.7/5 owner rating and high number of reviews suggest that, overall, buyers feel they’ve had fair value and reliable performance.
If you’re drawn to the look and your freezer demands are modest, this represents good value. If you’d rather have the very latest cooling technology and fuss-free frost-free operation, it may be worth comparing with more advanced – and usually pricier – alternatives.
The Amica FKR29653DEB/1 is a charming, retro-styled fridge freezer that backs up its good looks with sensible, family-friendly storage. The tall, slim design, adjustable shelving and bright LED lighting make it easy to organise your weekly shop, while the 70/30 split suits households that lean heavily on fresh food.
It’s not the most feature-packed or energy-efficient model on the market, and the lack of NoFrost and reversible doors are the main compromises. But for many buyers, the combination of standout styling, straightforward operation and a strong track record with owners will matter more than the missing bells and whistles.
If you want a colourful statement piece that still works hard as an everyday fridge freezer – and you’re happy to defrost occasionally – this Amica is a very appealing option.