How we compare products

We gather the data

We compile specifications from manufacturers' own spec sheets and from the Australian Government's energy and water registers. We don't take manufacturer figures at face value: energy and water figures are checked against the registers rather than the brochure, and where two government sources cover the same model we check them against each other. Prices, where we have them, come from manufacturer listings and from Appliances Online.

We translate the jargon

Every manufacturer uses different names for the same technologies - we translate them into one standardised, comparable spec. Take a drawer you can switch between fridge and freezer: it ships as “MyZone”, “SwitchZone”, “FlexiFreeze”, “FRESHConverter”, “Variable Temperature Zone” and ten more besides. Our dictionary records all fifteen against one field. The harder half of the job is what we rule out: “VarioZone” is removable shelving and a separate thermostat is just a thermostat, so neither counts as a convertible zone - and a spec sheet that lists them alongside the real thing is exactly what makes comparison impossible. This is the core of what we do, and it's painstaking manual work.

We match you to your needs

When you take our quiz, we weight your answers against our database using a two-tier system. Hard requirements - the space you have, the type you need, a budget ceiling where you set one - eliminate products that won't work for you. Soft preferences - energy and water rating targets, capacity, the features you'd like - shape the ranking within the qualifying pool rather than ruling anything out. The result is your personalised top 5: products that match your household's situation, not the most popular models. Within that ranking, we cap results at two per brand, so your top 5 isn't five variants of one product line.