Internet, prepare to eat your hearts out. But, maybe check your fridge first.

In today’s hyper-niche debate between Japanese electronics makers: Should the crisper be in the middle or bottom of the refrigerator?

These two factions continue to trade dominance in a seemingly pointless war that stretches nearly three decades long. Arguments cover everything from back pain to environmental friendliness in determining the best spot for the compartment designed to keep produce fresh and, well, crisp.

Presently, many companies’ flagship models have the crisper at the very bottom, a shift from the former central placement.

Bottom backers include Panasonic Corp., Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. who all bumped their freezers to the middle of the fridge during the changeover.

Toshiba Corp., on the other hand, has been a stalwart fan of pitching refrigerators with middle crispers since 1997; this is essentially a constant across its models.

“The aim is to lessen the burden on consumers’ lower backs as they put in and take out heavy vegetables and bottles,” explained a Toshiba public relations representative.

Both schools do share common ground—the compartment for storing frequently used items should be at the center for easy access.

Historically speaking, it was Hitachi and not Toshiba that let loose the first refrigerator with a central crisper on the Japanese market. The original series, “Yasai Chushingura,” rolled out in 1996.

This seemingly banal design choice was influenced by a Hitachi survey that revealed people opened their produce drawer more often than their freezer.

Toshiba, Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic followed suit in 1997, 1998 and 2000, respectively.

After that, however, fewer and fewer middle-crisper models were released as the necessity of the freezer grew significantly during the mid-2000s.

A surge in frozen food consumption had more people reaching for the freezer as an ampler lineup of microwavable fare became commercially available.

Microwavable frozen food was abundantly easier to prepare than other frozen options that needed to be deep-fried in oil. An increase in people living on their own boosted demand even more.

Another major factor was a government incentive system introduced in 2009 that awarded points to consumers who bought eco-friendly products.

Residents have since sought out fridges with an improved energy performance.

This bode ill for fridges with central produce drawers as they were sandwiched between the sub-zero ice compartment and the freezer—an unappetizing recipe for poorer cooling efficiency and higher energy consumption.  

Because these models required extra insulation to prevent the freezer’s wintry temperature from affecting vegetables in the crisper, manufacturers had no choice but to reduce their fridges’ capacity.

Given those disadvantages, home appliance makers, except Toshiba, transitioned to relegating produce drawers to the base of the fridge.

Panasonic completed the swap in 2007, while Mitsubishi Electric gave up on the configuration in 2009.

Meanwhile, Toshiba had good reason to stay its course.  

“The layout of Toshiba products creates a difference,” said an industry insider from another electronics maker, a trade secret of sorts.

The source was referring to Toshiba’s outlying placement of the ice compartment across its models.

Compared to other companies that opt for designs that place it higher up, Toshiba’s refrigerators stack so the main cooling space dominates the top and descends with the produce compartment, ice drawer and freezer following in that order.

“The ice drawer and the freezer are positioned close to each other in order to form an integrated freezing zone, ensuring a certain level of energy efficiency,” said the electronics insider.

COMEBACKS AND TRENDS

Toshiba may appear to be the only maker striving to push refrigerators with central produce drawers, but this once unpopular model is making a comeback.

Data from home appliance enterprises shows the ratio of fridges with central produce drawers climbed from 20 percent in 2017 to around 40 to 50 percent at present.

The comeback is attributed to people looking to replace their old fridge with a newer model that has a layout they are familiar with.

Seeing this, Mitsubishi Electric re-introduced its line with crispers bumped to the middle of its refrigerators in 2018. Panasonic did the same in 2020.

“Technological advances in insulation and sensors have made it possible for us to meet customers’ energy-saving expectations even with central crisper models,” said Ikuo Fukushima, a Panasonic representative in charge of fridge marketing.

Still, Fukushima envisions that the bottom-crisper layout will soon regain lost ground.

“Those with models where the produce compartment is at the bottom and the freezer is in the middle will, in turn, begin replacing their fridges en masse from now,” said Fukushima.

Growing demand for large-capacity freezers stemming from pandemic-related restrictions is expected to further buoy this predicted revival.

Yasushi Anzo, a home electronics journalist, offered long-term speculation of the produce drawer war.

“Which should be dominant—central crisper models or those that have them at the bottom? This will constantly change from here on out,” he said.

DOUBLE-EDGED 'OBSESSION'

The domestic fridge market is dominated by five leading Japanese makers—Sharp Corp., Panasonic, Hitachi, Toshiba and Mitsubishi Electric.

However, Chinese and South Korean manufacturers are overshadowing them abroad.

Anzo pointed out that the excellent but impractical specifications of Japan-made appliances are hindering it in the larger battle to regain popularity worldwide.

“Makers’ excessive quality control and obsession with details spawn unnecessary production processes,” he argued. “Japanese companies will never become winners in the global market unless they are flexible about slashing costs.”

The battle over the crisper’s placement may be another symbolic example of the “Galapagos syndrome,” a term coined in Japan on how some Japanese products that are successful domestically fail to sell well abroad. 

Despite manufacturers’ continual tinkering that does see results at home, many international customers just want to make sure their food stays cold.