A fridge that checks expiry dates, places shopping orders and gives recipes? This is the principle behind smart fridges, which are becoming more and more sophisticated every year. They are still much more expensive than traditional fridges, but they do much more than keep food fresh.

How does a smart fridge work?

A smart fridge connects directly to the Wi-Fi in your home. It can access the Internet, send notifications to your smartphone or control the temperature remotely. Synchronisation with information-sharing tools is also an advantage for these refrigerators, which become multi-taskers.

Most smart fridges are designed along the lines of American fridges, with a large double door, a freezer section, and an unlimited water and ice circuit. A touch screen completes the second door, which is getting bigger as new models come out.

Why choose a smart fridge?

Many smart fridges are designed with energy saving in mind: they are split into several sections, accessible through several doors, so you don’t have to heat up the whole compartment every time you serve yourself. It is also possible to control and adjust the temperature remotely, although it must be said that there are few occasions when you will suddenly decide, from your desk, to lower the temperature inside your fridge by one degree Celsius!

Other functions complement these first features. For example, they offer the possibility of seeing the fridge inside without opening the door, thanks to a built-in camera. It either turns the touch screen into a digital window or takes pictures every time the door is closed. You can then check the contents of your fridge in real-time, even from a distance.

It also keeps track of the expiry dates of foodstuffs: stickers are placed on each foodstuff and send you alerts when it is time to eat it. However, this function is the one that is currently the least successful.

The smart fridge takes care of your shopping lists: it can save your favourite products, integrate them into a list, and even make it easier for you to order from certain merchants with just one click.

It accompanies you in the kitchen by displaying recipes, filmed or not. This avoids the need to place a shelf on the work surface while cooking. Some fridges even suggest recipes based on their content.

The smart fridge offers the possibility of sharing notes between the different members of the household. It goes further by offering the possibility of adding drawings, sound or video.

Finally, it is a real multimedia tool: listening to music or watching films for appliances with a loudspeaker, taking the place of a diary by indicating forthcoming appointments, and allowing you to surf the Internet from the kitchen.

Good to know: voice commands are part of the programme for the new generations of smart fridges to allow placing your shopping order while having your hands in the cake batter.

Choosing your smart fridge

While the list of functions offered is often the first thing people look at when choosing a smart fridge, there are other points to consider. Energy consumption and capacity are crucial to long-term satisfaction.

For those who just want to test connectivity in the kitchen without necessarily investing too much, there are smaller models (most smart fridges are family-size) that do not lack functions. Be careful not to confuse the models!

Buying a smart fridge

There are more and more models of intelligent fridges, but this product is still far from being democratized. The most innovative household appliance brands present their latest annual results in this field. Their products are generally put on sale in the United States before being offered in Europe.

A state-of-the-art smart refrigerator will cost several thousand dollars and may need to be ordered. Indeed, these products remain relatively rare and are not always in stock everywhere. This situation could change in the years to come if their price becomes more affordable.