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Why does it seem like appliances always break in groups? One minute everything is fine, and the next your dishwasher starts acting up, your fridge is making a noise it definitely didn’t make before, and suddenly you’re Googling “is my oven supposed to smell like that?” When it rains, it pours — and replacing major appliances can get expensive fast. The good news is that this weekend is a genuinely great time to jump on deals for big upgrades and big savings. We found a ton of amazing discounts on ovens, fridges, dishwashers, and more, all happening at AJ Madison for Black Friday. Scroll down to shop our recommendations.
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
When you go grocery shopping, you’re usually looking for items to put in your refrigerator. It’s hard to imagine a kitchen without one, which means it’s easy to forget that those chilly chambers had to come from somewhere. But sometimes life gives you a clear reminder — maybe your fridge breaks, or starts to feel far too small for your family. Or maybe you move somewhere with a garage and can finally get a second fridge just like your grandparents always had. Whatever the circumstances, sometimes you just need to upgrade your fridge, and this cool (sorry, I had to) new Costco convertible freezer may be just what you’re looking for.
What Is the Costco HiSense Frost Free Convertible Upright Freezer?
Available now at Costco, the HiSense Frost Free Convertible Upright Freezer is a slender, tall appliance that can function as either a refrigerator or a freezer. It retails for $549.99 online (and $429.99 in-store, according to the Instagram account @costco.twins) and measures approximately 22 inches wide, 25 inches deep, and 68 inches tall.
It’s Energy Star-certified, has “no-frost technology,” and contains three shelves and three drawers, all of equal size. It’s also “garage ready,” which essentially means it can operate safely in a wide range of outside temperatures — 0 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, to be specific. The fridge door is reversible, so you can open it to the left or to the right, depending on your preference. This may seem like a small thing, but it could also be the customization you didn’t know you needed in your life.
On the Costco website, reviews are generally positive: “I am so happy with this freezer,” one customer wrote this week. “It is tall and thin and industrial looking … I am happy with all the drawers to departmentalize my food plus enough shelves too. Perfect in every way for me!”
An Alternative to Shop if You Don’t Have a Costco Membership
Costco is popular, but not everyone lives near one or has a membership. If you’re one of these people, that’s OK, because you can still get your hands on a slim, cool, freezer-fridge. Over at The Home Depot, the stainless steel Vissani Convertible Upright Freezer checks a lot of the same boxes. It’s about the same size, garage-ready, and can be either a fridge or freezer. Online it retails for $649, but is currently 26% off, which brings the price down to a comparable $479.
Today I am sharing with you my Vortex Air Purifier Review. As you know, heating our homes and workspaces has become a major preoccupation for us this winter as energy prices have soared. The tough economic climate has seen people turning down their thermostats in an attempt to save money, looking at more energy-efficient appliances and seeking alternative ways to keep warm and cosy.
I own and run a coworking space for female entrepreneurs in Totnes, Devon. It’s in a really old building and there is no central heating so keeping it warm is a real challenge. I currently use two electric heaters but it can take hours to heat up after the long weekend. During the last cold snap, I really noticed how cold it was on a Monday morning. The heating had been completely off over the weekend as it just didn’t make sense to heat an empty space.
I’d started to get a few subtle complaints about how long it was taking to heat the room up as it could take until midday to get warm. So when Hotsnap contacted me and asked me to write a Vortex Air Purifier review I was immediately interested to test it out to see if their claims that it could heat a room in minutes were in fact true.
As the name implies, this model not only has the cool and hot air fan function, but it also has an integrated air purifier.
Size and Weight
As I took the product out of the box and stood it on the floor I noticed how sturdy it is. It felt good quality and really robust. It also wasn’t overly heavy at 5kg so it was easy to carry around. The unit is a reasonable size at 26.42cm x 16cm x 85.6cm so it really doesn’t take up much floor space at all. This makes it easy to move around the building and for use in different rooms depending on where you need it.
Remote Control
I was glad to see that it came fully assembled so there was literally nothing for me to do except plug it in. It comes with a small remote control which is very straightforward to use. There are minimal buttons and it is quite obvious what all the buttons do. I really don’t like tech that is too complicated so the simplicity of the Vortex Air Cleanse Bladeless Air Purifier was very pleasing.
Digital Display
The display on the base of the actual unit is also super simple and very streamlined. From left to right the buttons are: on/off, speed control, sway, and hot & cold mode. So there really is no room for confusion. No matter how techy or not techy you are, the Vortex Air Cleanse Bladeless Air Purifier is super easy to understand and use.
The digital LED display on the unit also shows the temperature and the timer functions. It illuminates when you switch the unit on and it will automatically switch off after 60 seconds. It will come back on again as soon as you press any key on the remote control.
Energy Use
The unit uses 1900W of energy and has an energy efficiency rating of A+ which is extremely important now that energy prices are through the roof. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you how much this costs to run as I do not have a smart meter in the office.
Control
The Vortex Air Purifier has a 120c oscillation function meaning it will swivel around projecting air right out into the room in various directions.
The unit has 10-speed settings which really surprised me. I was expecting maybe three or four. As can be expected, the noise levels got increasingly higher as the fan speed increased. By the time the fan was on setting 10, it was quite loud but I personally did not find this offputting at all. In fact, it was a small trade-off for heating the room so quickly. I found it no problem to have it on the noisiest setting for a few minutes to get the room up to temperature. Once it had reached the desired temperature I simply turned the fan speed down to a lower and quieter setting. It is a very small price to pay to get the room heated in minutes. So the claims really are true.
The unit features an intelligent thermostat that senses the temperature in a room. It ranges right up to 35c and once it senses that the room has reached 35c it will stop temporarily until the temperature in the room falls back below 27c.
The Vortex Air Cleanse Bladeless Air Purifier boasts a timer function that can be programmed to turn off at set intervals. It allows you to set it to heat or cool for between one and nine hours. This means you can have nine hours of continuous use if necessary.
So far, since I have been using the Vortex Air Cleanse Bladeless Air Purifier, I haven’t needed it to be on for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. I’ve mostly been using it for a quick blast to heat up the room quickly.
Hot Mode
As I said, the reason I wanted to do the Vortex Air Purifier Review was to try out the heating functionality. To get this function working, you simply have to switch the unit on and press the hot/cool mode button. I was honestly shocked at how quickly the hot air was dispersed into the room. Initially, I used the heater function on setting 3 and I could feel the benefit almost immediately. It only took 10 mins to noticeably take the chill off the room and bring it up to a comfortable standard.
The unit produces a high-velocity airflow that is projected smoothly into the room. Because the unit can be set to swivel, the heat can be nicely dispersed around the entire room and not just in one direction.
Cool Mode
Now as it is still winter and really rather cold, I haven’t tested cool mode as well as I could have. I have tried it out though briefly and it was equally as impressive as the hot mode. I can imagine that this will provide a welcome relief in the hotter summer months.
Air Purifier Mode
The air purifier function is a really nice added touch on this multi-functional unit. The Vortex Air Cleanse Bladeless Air Purifier cleans the air inside your home with its high-intensity medical-grade HEPA 13 filter. This apparently allows it to capture 99.97% of airborne particles such as dust, allergens, bacteria, and viruses as well as remove allergens, odours, smoke, and pet dander from the air.
According to the instruction manual, the filter can be used for 6 months or 4300 hours before it will need to be replaced. The cost of replacing the filter is only £14.99 which I think is very reasonable indeed. It is very easy to access the filter so I have no worries about changing this when the time comes. But obviously, I have only had this unit for a few weeks so I haven’t needed to actually change the filter yet.
Overall I was really pleasantly surprised with just how well the Vortex Air Cleanse Bladeless Air Purifier performed. The unit is high quality, sturdy and robust. It feels incredibly safe as there are no fast-spinning blades, no exposed heating elements and it will automatically cut out should it for some reason topple over.
I was shocked at just how quickly it could heat the room and it now gives me peace of mind that a quick burst of heat can bring my office up to temperature within minutes rather than hours. And I am looking forward to seeing how well it will work in cool mode this summer.
I hope that you have found this Vortex Air Purifier Review useful and that it has given you a good idea of what to expect if you buy this product. If you own it yourself, please leave your own personal opinion of the product in the comments. We’d love to hear your view too.
Kelly Dawson is a media consultant based in Los Angeles. She is a prolific writer for notable publications including Cup of Jo, Vox, AFAR, Dwell, Martha Stewart Living, McSweeney’s and Architectural Digest. Kelly is the three-time guest editor for Refinery29’s “Voices of Disability” series, two-time guest host of “Call Your Girlfriend,” and deputy editor at Apartment Therapy.
From the garden to the kitchen to the bedroom, Amy can’t stop herself from constantly switching up the style in her living space. When she’s not working as a writer and editor, you can (try to) find her traveling the world, hibernating with a great book, and swimming with sea turtles.
