Smart Refrigerator Benefits And Features (Are They Worth It?)

These products are starting to appear more frequently in stores. But before you go out and have a salesman try and convince you to buy one, here is more about a smart refrigerator and its features.

After reading this article, you will hopefully make a better decision about whether it’s worth a product. So let’s go through what makes this product worthwhile to consider buying.

I will mention that one of these is slightly more expensive. If you aren’t in a financial situation to afford one of these products, rather stick to a normal refrigerator for now.

Firstly, let’s look at what it is, then we will move on to how these refrigerators can improve our lives.

What is a smart refrigerator?

It’s a refrigerator, but it comes with more than that. Firstly, you can expect a large touchscreen built into the door.

It also connects to your Wi-Fi and the internet. This allows you to access features with your smartphone or voice assistants like Amazon Alexa or Google Home.

A smart fridge can have computing power like a laptop or small computer. So the possibilities of what you can do from the touchscreen are incredibly powerful.

So it could be comparable to a small computer with a large screen in your fridge.

Speakers are also mounted inside, but the audio quality is not yet up to stereo quality standards.

List of common benefits and features

• Wi-Fi Connectivity: Connects to your Wi-Fi network for interactive data and integration with other smart devices.
• Keep track of expiry dates: Now, you can view the inside of your fridge. You can label them to associate data elements like expiry dates and reminders.
• Shopping list: Easily add items to your shopping list by voice command or from the built-in touchscreen.
• See what’s inside: Keep track of what you need by viewing inside your fridge from your smartphone, even when you aren’t home.
• Browse the internet: A built-in browser allows you to use the fridge like your table or phone for browsing.
• Recipes: Store your recipes or view a video on how to make the item you want.
• Whiteboard: With the whiteboard feature, you can keep handwritten notes using the touchscreen that can be easily edited anytime.
• Stream music: Play your favorite music on demand from your phone anytime.
• Shop online: Shop for your food directly from your fridge. This creates an experience where you deal with all your grocery needs in one place.
• Create family schedules: Organise your schedule on a calendar using the convenient touch screen.
• Control other devices: Set up other smart devices with your smart fridge so you can control them using a simple voice command.
• Smartphone mirroring: Mirror your smartphone’s screen onto the refrigerator’s display at any time to share media with your family or to enjoy TV shows or other videos.
• Voice control: You can control or activate features as you wish by saying them out loud. These smart refrigerators are capable of being personal assistants too.

Your Ring doorbell can also be connected to your smart touchscreen refrigerator. You can then see who’s at your door and answer it from your display. This is one of the benefits of a video doorbell and connecting it up to it.

It’s also now possible to sync up your phone or television to your refrigerator’s screen to see that same mirror image in real-time.

As you can see, these features can be very useful. The feature that I think is helpful is the internal cameras that allow you to see if you need more milk or something else at the store.

How they contribute to better health

A smart fridge can help you keep your health in check in a few ways. Let’s go over a few ways it can do this.

Firstly, I think having a way to keep an eye on expired products is great. This way, you can ensure that anything that has passed its expiry period is removed as soon as possible. A good health safety feature in my book.

This helps you avoid cleaning up the extra mess on your refrigerator. Also, in this case, a good clean must be done to avoid contaminants staining the internal plastics.

The other way it can help with your health is by keeping a closer eye on the nutrient contents of your food.

Knowing what a food item will cost you in calories will be a useful complement to your diet. If you watch calories or your macros, this will be a quick way to stay on top.

Using your recipes with them

Having your favorite recipes in the refrigerator allows easy access while cooking or baking.

There are several ways you can access recipes.

One way is to enter them manually. A better way is to scan your recipe book recipes with your phone. Simply using a scanning app with your phone’s camera creates great convenience in the long run.

Downloading recipe E-books and displaying them as you need them is great. You can go through them on the touchscreen and even have a text-to-speech app read them.

Having video recipes is the best. I find it to be one of the best abilities for smart refrigerators.

It’s amazing when I can cook in the kitchen and watch how it gets done as I’m doing it. There’s no need for a tablet or laptop to take up bench space.

I can even ask Alexa to pause it when I need to catch up with the process demonstrated for the recipe.

Music and video

Smart refrigerators do a very nice job when I want to browse through the music I want to play. Sometimes it’s not easy asking Alexa the right questions to get to the music, I feel like.

On the touchscreen, you can browse through music or search to find something to do with music that you forgot the name of.

You could also have your favorite radio station playing in the background. No need for any other devices to take up extra space in your kitchen to deliver the same result.

Having a Netflix film or another kind of video that I find entertaining helps get me through the boring chores in the kitchen.

There’s a lot to be said about having lots of entertainment media at your fingertips on a large screen while you are busy in the kitchen.

In the mornings, having the family at the breakfast bar becomes more entertaining with some entertaining videos to get everybody’s day started on a lighter note.

This is one of the benefits that may not be essential for everyone. Depending, of course, on the way you access our media already.

Access to information

Another benefit is a browser is built into the apps. This is great for searching for anything you need to know right on your refrigerator.

Use maps to find locations or to look up local businesses and see them on the map. It’s even easier than using your phone, as the screen is far larger. You will also see the opening and closing times in this information area.

Having access to information on certain ingredients is handy. Sometimes in a recipe book, a native herb or ingredient has a different name from the commonly known name.

Maybe you need to know how long an ingredient lasts. Avoid keeping it for too long.

How much do they cost?

As I mentioned at the beginning of the article, these products aren’t the cheapest appliance you can acquire for your kitchen.

You can pay anything from around $2500 to $6000 for a smart fridge.

For this specific appliance, I won’t be listing any examples. Some of the cheaper models haven’t good buyer feedback.

I wouldn’t even mention a model of something that could cost you a few thousand dollars of disappointment.

Conclusion

While smart refrigerators are still relatively costly appliances, their features and benefits make them desirable.

There are more features to have a look at. Especially if you look at the trend each year. The feature list keeps growing in large strides.

It’s still a relatively young mainstream product. I’m guessing prices will decrease in the next few years, and features will slow down.

It may be worth waiting for this item to settle in the market. On the other hand, no one knows how things will turn out.

All I know is that if I had the cash to buy one for each one of my family members, I would most certainly do it.