[Cob] the cold box/fridge debate

[Tys Sniffen]

Hey folks,

 

As I'm building our cob house (still mortaring together stem wall over bond
beam) I'm planning out kitchen cabinets and stuff, and have been thinking
about food storage. 

 

One interesting thing I have planned is a trap door storage box in the
floor. Because we are doing a bit of berming in and are building on a slope,
we have to fill in under our floor with gravel to level things out before
the radiant tubes go in the earth floor.  Because of the slope, I've got
quite a bit of gravel going in right below the kitchen floor, and to save
money (buying gravel) and energy (hauling gravel) I came up with the idea of
a tiled box sunk into the gravel with a trap door on it for cool storage.  I
can send pictures as it develops.

 

We also intend to have a small 'cold box' in the wall above the countertop,
with the typical screen back, wooden door front for cool storage, and once
our solar system is in place, we'll get a chest freezer (and I'll probably
double insulate it and build a cob bank around it too). 

 

Currently in our yurt (where we've lived [in N. CA] for 17 months already!)
we have a propane under-the-counter fridge that I was planning on moving to
the 'big house'.

 

But now I'm thinking I don't want a fridge at all.  Having to vent the back
of this propane one, or getting some sort of very efficient electric one
(and having to vent that or plan for the heat escape as well) seems at the
least, inelegant and at worst, troublesome.  I'd love to be more independent
from the propane company.  Then again, I have this propane fridge, it's paid
for. 

 

The biggest hurdle is convincing my wife we'd be fine with a freezer and a
cold box.  Anyone out there living without a fridge?  Done any comparisons
with cold box vs fridge and food storage? 

 

Cheers,

Tys