We just moved into an apartment that has been renovated and everything is new. We have a new Siemens refrigerator that has a control of 2 - 8 Celsius. I was told by a friend that "8" is the coldest setting, but it is not very cold.

Does anyone else have a refrigerator like this? Is 8 really the coldest setting? Does it get nice and cold at 8? Maybe there is something wrong with our fridge.

Just to clarify, the fridge keeps things cool, but I would think at the highest setting, things would be cold.... not just cool.

We had a similar problem a couple of months ago.

Put a thermometer in it.
If it cannot do 5 Celcius, then it is probably defect.
You can call your landlord and ask to have it repaired/replaced.

Maybe 1 is the lowest/coolest setting ? Maybe 2-8 means Celsius ?

In general the minus setting is for a freezer and the fridge should be above 0. i think we keep our freezer at about -2/-3 and our fridge at about +4/+5. what does the instruction book say (if you got one) or if not download one.

What he said about the fridge - most fridges should be around 4°C.

Freezers, however, should be -18°C (at least the last two we had have this as their default).

8 Celsius is warmer than 2 Celsius. Your Siemens (as you actually stated in your post!) runs in Celsius not nominal figures. Your friend is wrong. Set it to 2 or 3, but if 2 then things at the very back might freeze.

Nah, at -18c my tongue sticks to the ice cream box

Here is a picture of the control panel if it helps.

I will buy a thermometer today.

put it on the lowest setting

Here's a tip... when you put a "2" next to "°C", what does that usually signify?

No need to rush out and buy a thermometer! Economisto's right: your fridge is marked in degrees Celsius, which means a higher setting is warmer, not colder.

Turn it down to 2 or 3 degrees Celsius (=35-37 degrees Fahrenheit) and see what that's like.

I had it at 2 when we first moved in. Then my husbands boss got a drink out of the fridge that wasn't very cold (we had just moved in) and told me I needed to set it to 8. He is born and raised Swiss guy, so I believed him. I'll change it back to 2 now.

It's possible it is still broken. I'd get the thermometer anyway, just to make sure that it is as cold as it should be.

We all know that Swiss husbands, or anyone else Swiss for that matter, don't understand these complicated electrical gadgets. Ask on EF and you'll get the right answer.

One thing I've learnt in life is 90% of what other people tell you is utter nonsense.

Well, different brands of fridges have different controls. On some of them higher numbers probably are colder. The giveaway with yours is that the settings are marked as "degrees Celsius", not just arbitrary numbers. Higher degrees = warmer fridge.

(Had you just moved in, as in that afternoon? If so it doesn't surprise me that drinks wouldn't be completely cold yet. My trick is to pop them in the freezer for 20-30 minutes.)

Try it at 2 degrees, see how it goes. You'll need to leave it for a few hours before you can really tell - check again tomorrow. Meanwhile if you have yogurt, cheese etc. in there I'd move them away from the very back of the fridge as you don't want them to freeze.

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Set it to 2, then ask for a promotion from your husband's boss. I hope he's an artist or in marketing and nothing too technical. Also Siemens is German, not Swiss.

And get made fun of at the same time!

I think for most of us, this is sympathetic laughing, having done much the same thing at some point in our lives too. Those who haven't - ah well, your memory is failing.