Why are fridges still so dumb?

[Caiti19]

Why are they still cupboards when we know drawers you can pull out are so much better? Why can't they suggest recipes based on contents, and issue alerts about expiring food. Food is essential to life. Why has how we store it not caught up technically?

Mine has an app that I can add the food and expiry
that Sounds ridiculously time consuming? Mine has 3 drawers and stupidly shallow shelves.
It beeps if the door is open too long and that's enough for me. I annoyed the designer when we had our new kitchen put in as he was trying to get me to upgrade this and that. I told him I wanted the basic, un-smart version of everything as it would be less likely to malfunction and be easier to replace if necessary!

I have these wonderful things called eyes and a brain. I use them to look at the items in my fridge and check dates, the condition, see what there is etc. On the remote chance I want to make something new, I could Google my ingredients to see what I can make. This is unlikely though as I’m a fussy eater.

I’m quite happy with the format of shelves and either 1 or 2 drawers depending on the model. We have things that lie on the shelves past the end of the shelf but the door still closes - I’d be annoyed if I had a drawer that I could no longer fit things in the way I want them to.

I have a smart fridge, if you want it to it can give you recipe ideas. It has a camera so I can see inside from the app. Handy in the supermarket
It has a screen on the front that can show record, internet, weather etc. We use it as a digital photo frame showing all the family pictures.

A fridge is a chilled cupboard, which is all most people need it to be. However, you can buy fridges that do lots of other things if you really want to complicate life by outsourcing your thinking to a large kitchen appliance.

I follow an account that finds old technology and spruces it up. There was a 1960s fridge on there (still working) that had carousels on the shelves so you could easily get to what was in the back of it. Now THAT I would buy.

I have resisted a smart washing machine, a smart doorbell, a smart dishwasher, a smart watch.

AND I DON’T WANT A SMART METER, no matter how much the government tries to sell me one; and I am certain that the government is behind the nudge for smart meters.

Which make/model is this? Thanks in advance!

This is definitely all in the near future. I look forward to the day a robot cooks a lovely evening meal for me every evening after work! In the meantime, it's called a slow cooker.

The trouble with draws is they take up space and restrict the size of things you can put in. The drawers in the freezer annoy me, constantly getting jammed as something gets pushed down so the drawer shuts and then pops up again stopping the drawer opening, and I've had to take some out to get more headroom for bigger items and just give more overall space.

How is the fridge meant to know when your food goes out of date? Although lots of things are fine after the expiry date anyway.

I'm not sure of the exact model but it's a Samsung family hub

We've got smart washer, dryer, dishwasher and fridge and a robot vac and mop. I wouldn't be without any of them 😂

Hokey moley, I’m expecting my fridge to pack in at any moment so keeping a passive eye out for a new one, I vehemently do not want a smart one. I love the challenge of playing Ready Steady Cook some evenings and keep a shopping note pad on the fridge door. It’s going to be fascinating seeing the impact of AI on dementia - it’s so important for our brains to continue to make decisions for example.

Also, fewer features means fewer things to go wrong. I don’t think the air can as easily circulate in drawers as it can with shelves I presume.

@EverythingIsComputer smart appliances are not just about the cameras, recipes etc but they are generally more economical. Our fridge adjusts the internal temperature to ensure it's stable, so if the fridge door is opened the closed it adjusts itself. The washing machine adjusts the cycle length and amount of water depending on the weight of the load and I can set it to come on when electricity is at its cheapest point in the day. And do this via the app which is so convenient. Dishwasher is the same and we get alerts of they need a clean or more salt etc. I love them.

Drawers are bloody annoying. I definitely don't want more of them in any of my fridges or freezers.

@Keepoffmyartichokesglad that your appliances work for you, sounds like you really make the most of all the features. I’m not a technophobe but it has to have the right balance for me, for example I have Hive and Hue and have been let down a few times with things going wrong but do benefit from being able to modify the hearing & lights remotely when needed.

Same with ‘non smart’ items with software becoming obsolete so the appliances becomes next to useless…I’m looking at you Bose.

I thought this was going to be about the annoyances about fridges and I wanted to chime in with the dumb that comes from the back freezing everything but then not being cold enough when you turn it to a level down… not about it having to think for you 😂

I don't need a smart fridge as I'm smart enough to deal with use by dates and recipes. Others may need a smart fridge because they are...

I’m just happy that ours keeps the same temperature (5 degrees) Summer and Winter so I don’t have to dial it up or down.

Theoretically, in times of need like Christmas it could be used as all fridge instead of fridge freezer but I’ve never needed that.

My new American fridge freezer, dishwasher, tumble dryer & washing machine all have wifi connections, I haven't even bothered linking them up. The Samsung American fridge freezer with the screen on can monitor what is inside it but they are around £2k.