Hotpoint Day 1 XUL8 T2Z XOV.1 fridge freezer review

Read our full review of the best fridge freezers.

Hotpoint comes in at a slightly higher price than some equivalent fridge brands, but this model offers additional features. We looked at the overall practicality of the appliance to find out whether both the basics and the bells and whistles were worth the extra money.

First impressions of the Hotpoint Day 1 XUL8 T2Z XOV.1 fridge freezer

The appliance has an eye-catching mirrored handle running the full height of the appliance with temperature readout and controls. Unfortunately, the handle had already attracted a few fingerprints on unpacking. Inside, the fridge and freezer spacing looked functional.

Is the Hotpoint Day 1 XUL8 T2Z XOV.1 fridge freezer easy to set up?

Like most fridge freezers this simply requires a period for the coolant to settle before plugging in and then a wait for the appliance to cool before adding food.

What is the overall quality like?

The main body of the fridge freezer is good quality, but we found the door shelves and fridge drawers to be a little flimsy.

Capacity vs usable space

The fridge holds 234 litres and the spacing of the shelving and drawers has rendered this very useable. The same goes for the 104-litre freezer, with three deep drawers in its sizeable capacity.

What's the handle like?

The handle is definitely a feature with its mirrored appearance and digital display. It's useful having it run from top to bottom – you can easily grab it at a height that suits you. It's not a particularly deep handle, so you do need to lay your thumb on the front for support when opening and this can leave prints.

What are the shelving options in the fridge?

There are three usable glass shelves; the fourth has one of the two drawers on top. The shelves are well spaced and there is some room for adjustment. There's also a wine rack with enough space around it to allow the shelf beneath to be very useable, which we found difficult in some models.

The door of this model, along with the Swan retro SR11020BN, has the most space in it of all the brands we tried. There's plenty of room for a two-litre bottle, plus there's a plastic divider to slot into the bottle shelf – this keeps bottles upright, so they don't rattle or fall over when you open the door. You can adjust the height on the door shelves too.

How are the fridge drawers?

There are two drawers and they're not particularly deep; you might struggle to fit a big chicken in the meat drawer and it could be a challenge to keep the weekly family shop of veg entirely in the veg drawer. It's quite difficult to remove the drawers, and the top one doesn't pull out fully for daily use. The meat drawer is called the '3-in-1 zone' and has various features – it's a section that's suitable for meat, fish and delicate food, but also offers rapid cooling of hot food from 70 to 3 degrees and lower temperature defrosting.

What benefits does the freezer offer?

The freezer has three drawers including a useful extra-large one for bigger items. There's a 'super freeze' option to quickly freeze fresh food, plus this appliance automatically defrosts.

How's the overall visibility?

This is good, although white plastic bases on the drawers in both the fridge and freezer do obscure their contents a little.

Is it easy to control and monitor temperature?

There's a control panel on the door handle which is very easy to use. Temperature can be adjusted by pressing '+' or '-', and there are various modes to choose from – including one for holidays, which turns the fridge off and runs the freezer on the minimum needed to keep food frozen. The only minus for the controls is that the power button is on the front, and could potentially be pressed by accident.

Is there a door alarm?

Yes. The light also flashes in the fridge and an alert shows up on the display panel too. No danger of leaving it open here!

What is its footprint?

The footprint is 189cm (H) x 60cm (W) x 72cm (D).

Is it easy to clean?

This is definitely an appliance you'd want to stay on top of cleaning-wise. The difficulty in removing the fridge drawers plus a few ridges and rims make cleaning tricky. The handle might also see a build up food debris in the recess, and it needs regular wipes to remove fingerprints.

Are there any accessories or additional features?

There's a removable egg cup holder, bottle rack and ice cube tray, plus the divider in the door for bottles. There's also an 'Active Oxygen' feature, which claims to eliminate odours and aid food preservation. We did not test this feature.

Are there any accessories available for purchase?

There aren't any additional accessories.

Overall star ratings for the Hotpoint Day 1 XUL8 T2Z XOV.1 fridge freezer

Quality 4.5/5
Practicality 4/5
Capacity vs usable space 4.5/5
Temperature control 5/5
Ease of cleaning 2.5/5
Value for money 4.5/5

Overall score: 4.2/5

Our conclusion

This appliance has a smart appearance, is easy to control and offers a variety of useful settings, all at a reasonable price. The big minus point for us was the difficulty we had in keeping the handle free of fingerprints.

Available from Homebase (£589)

Product specifications at a glance

Dimensions:
189cm (H) x 60cm (W) x 72cm (D)
Capacity:
Fridge 234 litres
Freezer 104 litres
Energy efficiency class: A ++
Annual energy consumption per year in kWh: 271
Fast freeze: Yes
Automatic defrost: Yes
Reversible door handle: Yes
Separate controls for fridge and freezer: Yes
Fridge can be switched off separately: Yes, there's a holiday mode which also reduces the power used in the freezer
Digital temperature display: Yes
No. of fridge shelves: 3, plus bottle rack
No. of fridge door shelves: 3
No. of fridge drawers: 2
No. of freezer drawers: 3

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This review was last updated in July 2020. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews or spot anything that has changed in price or availability please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk.