apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Seems like a fantastic idea! How often is my fridge running with nothing substantial in it... but you can't just switch it off because you're away for a couple of days without a meltdown.

Not so sure about having everything on display though!

I want one NOW.

I would buy one of these today!

I'd set up one shallow drawer for red wines and another for champagnes, a deeper freezer drawer and another for condiments and leftovers - another for veggies and a final one for meats & dairy.
...and I'd set them up in short towers so that they're both under a counter like the dishwasher - unless they're fairly slim in which case I'd mount a couple on the wall the way one might install a microwave below an upper cabinet.

Love the concept. I wonder though, how quickly those modular units warm up. If you're cooking a big dinner, or Thanksgiving, or something, you're constantly in the fridge shuffling items around so that larger items will fit in. So I wonder how quickly those drawers heat up/cool off.

Along those lines, as you have more of them running (or open), you also have more motors spinning to keep more drawers cool. Is that more efficient than one central motor cooling the entire fridge.

Then, instead of one giant fridge, you have 6 modular pieces, that's 6 times as many parts that can break, but I like that the redundancy (and the unlikelihood of 6 seals breaking at the same time) should help keep all your food fresh.

It's about time someone rethinks the usual fridge design. Modular units that can spread out all over a kitchen makes a lot more sense than the usual huge white bricks most of us have.

ErikTheRed --

If you read the info in the link, you'd see that there's only one compressor - the chilled air is linked to the separate modules by an insulated tube system with independent baffles that control the flow of chilled air to each module.

That said, this would be more efficient for probably over 75% of typical usage. Not everything needs to be at the same temperature: Drinks, dairy and meats could be kept in colder compartments but veggies could be kept in other compartments that don't require such low temperatures.
In addition, you'd only need to open one or two modules to get your beer or salami, cheese and mayo for a sandwich rather than your current fridge where you open one large door and the entire thing has to be chilled again after you get just one beer.

i would need the extra large one to fit all the booze :/

I'm vegan, so I think about the stupidity of my refrigerator's design every time I try to stuff a week's worth of produce into two tiny little crisper drawers. This seems like a much better idea.

genius. Let's produce more of this here in the us - hoping that it would bail us from the pit we are in

I love it. It makes so much sense. Right now I have only a 4 cubic foot fridge. It makes me think about my food before I buy it, and also reduces wasted food because I have to eat what's in there before I can shove it full of new goodies.
But...
I would much prefer (like forked) if most of that space were designed specifically for the veggies. I would also be crazy thrilled to have a freezer that was larger than a bread box. I may not be vegetarian, but I practically live off of Quorn fake chicken patties. When those babies go on sale my freezer is overflowing with orange boxes!
The idea seems long overdue. I just hope the idea sticks hard enough that someone like me (a youngish, working class, firsthomeowning, semi-struggling music playing individual) can afford to buy one. We'll see...

It occurred to me that for people who live alone, or who don't stock up for winter, a couple of counter height refrigerators paired with a counter height freezer is the way to go. You could shut off one of the refrigerators when you don't have much to store, saving a ton on electricity. When a party or holiday roll around, you just switch it back on and double your refrigerator storage space on an as-needed basis.

Flexible capacity should be the standard kitchen model for small apartments. I hate that I have to pay the 24/7 electricity bill on an old, inefficient, noisy refrigerator that stands half empty...

RichardinLA - oh man that is a fantastic idea, totally something I'd love to do... maybe I could even do that someday, it'd free up so much more counterspace in my little kitchen.

I always wished the fridge and freezer spaces were swapped in my fridge, I freeze lots of leftovers and I love ice cream, but it's always stuffed full. I always have to make sure I have room for ice trays to lie flat. Annoying! It just takes too much planning for me to figure out what I can eat before it goes bad in the fridge, I'm just not that organized. My ideal situation would definitely be two counter height freezers and one fridge...

It's a great concept, but I'm not crazy about the look. I like that you can customize temp and size to what you use.

I love that idea. Like some of the others, I am always fighting to fit more produce into my fridge.

absolutely genius!

That is the greatest idea! Depending on affordability I would buy those in a heartbeat!

Love and adore! I use a quarter of the space that my 2/3rds fridge gives me, so it would be nice to have a small fridge compartment and a large or multiple freezer compartments.

I think it's a bit gimmicky. I don't want to be fussing with inserts and doodads all the time. And where do you store the unused sections when you're not using them?

The little sections also look harder to clean than a traditional fridge.