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The Internet of Things has been incorporated into pretty much every household appliance at this point, from smart lights to robot vacuums. By connecting to the internet, and usually pairing with a smartphone app, you can have an unprecedented amount of control over the items in your home.
This can be especially useful in the kitchen, whether you’re meal prepping, brewing coffee, or looking for a quick bite to eat. There are plenty of smart devices that can improve your kitchen, but smart refrigerators are some of the priciest. Refrigerators, whether they are connected to the internet or not, are some of the most expensive appliances you can have in your kitchen.
Typically, the most high-tech ones are even more expensive, sometimes by a lot. Unlike some other niche smart products, though, you usually use your refrigerator at least once a day — and often many more times than that — so it could be a useful investment.
There are pros and cons to buying a smart fridge, but if you’re into smart gadgets and like to micromanage everything in your life — including the temperature of your condiments — a smart fridge may be the right product for you. Based on hands-on reviews from reputable publications, these are some high tech refrigerators that are expensive, but worth the price.
LG Smart InstaView Counter-Depth MAX French Door Refrigerator
The coolest feature of the LG Smart InstaView Counter-Depth MAX French Door Refrigerator is right in its name: InstaView. It’s a nifty feature that allows you to see what’s inside the fridge without opening the door, saving money on your energy bill.
Good Housekeeping notes how convenient it is to activate, simply by knocking on the screen. It’s not actually a window, but a large touchscreen display that’s powered by Windows. You’ll be able to use the display as you would a mounted tablet for all sorts of applications.
Reviews like those from Good Housekeeping point out some of the unit’s best features, but it’s the ThinQ app that pairs with the fridge that really makes it smart. With the app, you can check on and control the interior temperature, and be alerted when your water filter needs changing, or if the door has been left open.
The craft ice maker is also advanced, able to produce and hold up to 25 ice balls for fancier cold drinks. Despite being labeled as a counter-depth refrigerator, the unit has a depth of nearly 32 inches, and sticks out more when you open the freezer drawer. If you’re looking for a fridge that aligns with your counters, or your kitchen isn’t that large, you may want to opt for something smaller.
At an MSRP of $3,499, you can purchase the LG Smart InstaView Counter-Depth MAX French Door refrigerator from Home Depot or from Amazon.
Samsung Large Capacity 3-Door French Door Refrigerator with Family Hub
A massive HD touchscreen control panel is the centerpiece of the Samsung Large Capacity 3-Door French Door Refrigerator with Family Hub.
The “Family Hub” moniker is appropriate, because it can serve as a digital whiteboard for household members to share notes with each other, whether it’s to pick up milk at the store, or non-food-related reminders using a calendar app. The appliance also has Alexa built in for voice control, making it easier to set timers while cooking. You can even integrate the screen with a smart doorbell and see who’s at the front door from the display on your fridge.
Another great feature is an interior camera that you can access with the paired smartphone app. If you’re at the supermarket and can’t remember if you’re out of eggs, you can simply peek into your fridge right there from the store. The high capacity and amount of storage shelves is another perk of Samsung’s smart fridge. Each compartment of the refrigerator is big and can store a lot of perishables.
Even the ice maker is large capacity, able to hold over four pounds of ice. However, if you don’t need that much ice at any given time, Good Housekeeping warns that you might get annoyed at the ice maker taking up so much space alongside its awkward positioning in the freezer. The Samsung Large Capacity 3-Door French Door Refrigerator with Family Hub is available from Home Depot for $3,399. You can also find it for a little less on Amazon, at $3,055.
GE Profile Smart Fingerprint Resistant 4-Door French-Door Refrigerator
The GE Profile Smart Fingerprint Resistant 4-Door French-Door Refrigerator is a spacious, 27.9 cubic-foot unit with two temperature-controlled bottom drawers, and removable bins and dividers to make even more room for larger items. A hands-on review from Good Housekeeping praises the fridge’s customizable space, as well as its door-in-door feature, which allows you to quickly grab items from the door without opening the entire fridge.
For us, it’s the smart features that really make GE’s appliance shine, though. The fridge has Alexa and Google Assistant compatibility, and works with IFTTT (If This, Then That) home automation, so you can create custom routines — like turning on your kitchen lights when the refrigerator doors open.
Even the water dispenser is smart, able to sense your glass and automatically fill it without overflowing while you do something else. While the French doors are functional, Good Housekeeping notes that the design of the unit is fairly conventional. Considering it doesn’t look as high-tech as it is — especially since it lacks a touchscreen display — its high cost might not seem worth it compared to other similarly-priced options.
The GE Profile Smart Fingerprint Resistant 4-Door French-Door Refrigerator has a list price of $4,199, though you can currently find it on Amazon for $2,777, as well as $3,198 from Home Depot.
Bosch 800 Series French Door Bottom Mount Refrigerator
If you’re looking for a smart fridge that has reliably precise temperatures, the Bosch 800 Series French Door Bottom Mount Refrigerator is a good choice. For us, compatibility is an important feature for any smart technology, and Bosch’s proprietary Home Connect delivers.
Home Connect can be used with other appliances by the manufacturer — like dishwashers, ovens, and washing machines. That means, if you equip your house with other Bosch smart products, you could control a large portion of your home with just one app. The Home Connect app can provide diagnostics and door ajar alerts, control the fridge’s temperature and interior lighting, let you know if the ice bin is full, and even order replacement water filters on Amazon. It’s compatible with Alexa and Google Home, as well as less-conventional devices like Fitbits and certain Tesla models.
A stand-out advantage is the unit’s ability to keep cold, consistent temperatures throughout both the fridge and freezer sections. However, USA Today’s review also notes the unit’s small freezer, despite the refrigerator section being pretty big. That said, if you don’t need a ton of freezer space and appreciate a solid, unified smart ecosystem with other Bosch products, this fridge might be up your alley.
The Bosch 800 Series French Door Bottom Mount Refrigerator is available from Home Depot for $3,499 — currently on sale for $3,148.
Café Smart Quad-Door Refrigerator
The Café Smart Quad-Door Refrigerator is a smart fridge, but perhaps its greatest feature for us is the fridge’s four separate and distinct compartments. Nearly every full-sized refrigerator offers a cool fridge and cold freezer section, but with four different zones, you can entirely customize and micromanage the temperature of your refrigerator.
This is useful if you’ve got certain foods or drinks you want cooler or warmer than others, or if you need to use a compartment temporarily to chill rice or a freshly-baked dessert, for example. Each section even has its own evaporators to control moisture as well.
PC Guide notes that, when it comes to smart features, the appliance has less bells and whistles than some other high-tech fridges, so you might want to look elsewhere if you’re looking for a super-advanced refrigerator. However, its app will give you an alert if the temperature starts rising within the unit, which can be very useful. Its filtered water dispenser also has a hands-free “AutoFill” function that delivers on the convenience that an expensive smart fridge should offer.
You can find the 27.4 cubic-foot Café Smart Quad-Door Refrigerator on Amazon for $4,300 and from Home Depot for $4,409.
