I'm Obsessed With This Water Dispenser (That I Didn't Know I Needed)

When I wrote about my egg bin, I mentioned there was another big change to my fridge setup that I was loving, and now it’s time for the big reveal!

Let’s be real: It’s not really “big reveal” worthy, but it’s a small change that has made a big difference, and that’s enough to celebrate! So here it is:

I tried to make my fridge look well-lit like some kind of influencer but I just think some secrets aren’t for me to know.

The Pur Ultimate 30 Cup Water Dispenser is not something I knew I needed, but now that I have it, truly how was I even living? A little backstory: For easily 10 years I used a 10 cup Brita water pitcher, you know that one. For awhile I needed to (I didn’t need to, but it was recommended to) filter my water, so I got a Brita pitcher, and then I just…. kept using it. Partly because it’s easy, and mostly because I prefer COLD water. Cold as in I keep my water in the fridge and I add ice to it. When I was thinking about rearranging my fridge, I realized that Brita pitcher takes up a LOT of space. Not only that, but I refill it multiple times a day! The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. What a high maintenance waste fo space! There had to be a better way. So I started researching.

Funnily enough, the big water filter containers hold more water but take up less space. Brita makes one, but I didn’t like the color and the spigot looked cheap. Wirecutter recommeded Pur water filters, both the pitcher and the dispenser, so I looked at their offerings. The classic dispenser is blue, which I didn’t like, I wanted something that just blended into my fridge, so I went for the Ultimate, which Wirecutter preferred to the Classic anyway.

BTW, I got my Pur Ultimate Water Dispenser at Target, and used the Target price matching trick I wrote about here to save $8. Always check the online price!

The dispenser takes up considerably less space in my fridge, and, as you can decipher from product listings, holds 3x the water. That is a maximum that is hard to actually accomplish, because the 30 cups is the main basin AND the reservoir on top, and because it’s a filter, you have to wait for the reservoir or empty into the main part, so you can’t just fill 30 cups in one go. Still, I refill this container FAR less than my old pitcher. I like to always have some water ready to go, so I refill it before it’s empty, sometimes just because I CAN, and I still go two days before topping it off. It is fairly heavy if you have it filled to max capacity, but I’d say it’s like 10 or maybe 15lbs? I have never felt like it was going to slosh over the top, or spill, or be hard to get back onto the shelf, but YMMV.

I was a little wary of the dispenser, but it is sturdy and fast. I did a little experiment with my 26oz Yeti, and it took about 6 seconds (using the one, one thousand, two… method) to fill the whole thing. And I’ve never had an issue with it dripping or being hard to shut off. I also really appreciate the design of this dispenser, which leaves a little ledge plus the dispenser, so you can fit many different sized vessels under it and not hit the shelf or miss the cup and avoid any other mishaps.

I did look into non-filtering water dispensers (like this), because my water straight from the tap is just fine, but after a LOT of research, all the dispensers of similar size to the Pur seemed prone to breaking and getting moldy. This also made me realize that I never once cleaned my Brita pitcher (gross… maybe?), but also never had any issues with mold, and I have no idea if that was becasue of the filter or my water or because I kept it in the fridge or something else entirely, but it made me convinced a filter system was the way to go.

I should mention…. my fridge has a water dispenser built in. It’s in a lot of these photos, but in case you didn’t notice:

It SUCKS. It is absolutely useless and I honestly forget it’s there. The button is horribly difficult to push, even if you don’t have arthritis, and the water comes out SO SLOWLY. It’s so slow, if any dads lived here they would ban its use, becasue you’d have to stand in front of the fridge with the door open for an eternity, and there’s nothing a dad hates more than the fridge being open for longer than 10 seconds…. or the door being open when the A/C or heat is on, or a light being left on in a room no one is in. Who knows why dads have a sixth sense for when the electric bill may go up by 40 cents, but they cannot stand it.

Anyway, I’m a water dispenser gal now, and it’s fantastic. I have SO much room on that shelf in my fridge, I don’t have to refill a pitcher twice a day, AND I still have cold water on demand.