Before you get your hopes up, let me just say that most of these are prototypes. Still, it’s fun to see where the future of refrigeration could be heading—after all, pretty much everything in our kitchens starts out as a prototype before being put into production! Fingers crossed, we could be seeing some of these in our local appliance stores in the next several years….
1. Meneghini is the Lamborghini of refrigerators. These coolers are actually already available for purchase—if you’ve got 5 figures to spend on a fridge, that is. If not, check out their refrigerators anyway—it’s truly inspiring to see how beautiful a humble appliance can be.
2. The Flatshare Modular Fridge won Electrolux’s Design Lab Competition back in 2008. The idea is that it’s perfect for roommates sharing a kitchen. Imagine: no more “did someone drink my milk?”
3. I heart this SSamsung by GRO Design freestanding fridge prototype so much! Why aren’t more refrigerators designed to be cool pieces of furniture instead of being hidden behind cabinet panels?
4. The Celcius is another design competition winner, and like the Electrolux, it’s modular as well (I’m sensing a theme…). Besides being great for roommates, a modular fridge would be perfect for those who seek to purchase only the refrigeration they need—plus you could add on if your family grows!
5. The future is now! Ok, so there’s nothing new about the candy-coated Smeg refrigerator, but I love them and they continue to be a fun, modern, and small-space-friendly choice. Plus, you can actually purchase one (and still afford your mortgage)!
Would you buy a modular fridge if one actually came on the market?
Image Credits: Krunker, Robey’s UK, GRO Design, Elite Choice, SMEG USA
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Ooh... the Celcius could be the answer all my problems!!
Any chance they make a compact dishwasher module to put on the bottom... then fridge and freezer modules and I would finally have a functioning kitchen without a major remodel!!!
The thing that strikes me about the modular units is, don't you lose a lot of interior space when every unit has to be insulated separately? Seems like you get a bunch of really small cabinets when you're done.
The last time you mentioned SMEG here, there were a bunch of comments about horrible consumer ratings about how bad they are as actual refrigerators. For 2K, I want a fridge that looks cool AND works well. But damn, they sure are pretty.
the modular units look promising. Any word on how energy efficient they are?
Too bad the smeg has such bad reviews because its really narrow, perfect for a small kitchen. I wanted a retro looking fridge that was 30 inches or under, quite a few fridgedaire models available at lowes but these too also had horrible performance ratings, ended up with a 32 inch sam sung french door model.
#3 a short, wide refrigerator!? Somebody read my dream-list and granted me a wish
- wow! i predict greater days ahead, with such understanding and brainy furniture designers.. ..=)
I like #3 best (concept from 2001? Sadness!) The modular ones sound pretty cool, but if each partition were actually for an individual then none of the individuals could possibly be all that fond of cooking. Or they'd have to shop quite frequently. They all look great.
3 is pretty cool for a very small studio...nothing worse than a huge fridgy fridge next to your bed.
this one could have a flatscreen on top and you'd meet your basic needs in a tiny space.
My experience has been that cool and practicality have an inverse relationship.
I'll take the latter every time.
I would like to communicate to manufacturers that I am willing to pay for RELIABILITY both in the initial purchase price and the operating costs.
There is usually a work-around for appliances that die on the job - the fridge is the one that is the biggest pain when it fails. Anyone ever come home from three weeks away to a dead fridge full of rotten stuff?