3 Best Smart Refrigerators You Can Buy Right Now

Smart homes continue to make our lives easier. Whether it's helping you with the burden of looking after your pet or providing you with a way to shut your garage door from the other side of the city, we can now automate our homes in ways that weren't possible just five years ago.

One part of the home where the smart revolution is really gathering pace is in the kitchen. There are now countless "intelligent" kitchen appliances, all of which aim to streamline your life and make food preparation a less burdensome process.

Smart fridges are just one part of that streamlining. There is currently a set of new fridge models, as manufacturers attempt to give their first generation of products a new appeal. There are some great products on the market.

In this article, we'll take a look at three of the best products, delving into both their features and what consumers are saying about them.

Samsung French Door RF28HMELBSR [No Longer Available]

Price: $3,599.00

Four doors, a 28-cubic feet capacity, and a 36-inch depth make this one of the sleekest and most spacious smart fridges on the market today. The Samsung website claims their product can hold a mammoth 28 bags of groceries.

From a refrigeration standpoint, it's packed with some of the best technology available. It includes a "Twin Cooling Plus" feature which reduces in-fridge humidity and thus keeps your fruit and vegetables fresh for longer, and a "FlexZone drawer" which allows you to keep different parts of the fridge running at different temperatures.

From a "smart" standpoint, there is an 8-inch Wi-Fi-enabled LCD touchscreen. Aside from Internet connectivity and downloadable apps (think news, weather, recipes etc.), it will also let owners of Samsung Galaxy devices, Samsung Note devices, and televisions transmit their displays straight onto the screen.

Here's what current users had to say about it:

"I really love my new fridge. I get so many compliments. All the apps works perfectly with the Samsung phone and TV. When I'm cleaning the house, I turn on Pandora. The speakers are great as well."

"Great product! The TV works great and the shelving setup is perfect!"

"Love the drawer, it keeps drinks very cold. Love the LCD screen, my fiancé and I leave messages for each other, we listen to Pandora, we let the photos scroll through, overall very happy."

LG Smart ThinQ LFX31995ST [Broken URL Removed]

Price: $3499.99

This product is two years old, but is still one of the best models on the market. It comes in US$100 cheaper than its rival from Samsung, but still competes with its opponent in all areas.

For example, like the Samsung, it can have different temperatures in different drawers thanks to its "Glide and Serve" technology. It's also slightly larger than the Samsung offering, with 31-cubic feet of capacity (21 in the fridge and 10 in the freezer).

The final technical aspect to consider is space management. Even though the fridge is already very large, LG have consciously tried to make as much of the space as usable as possible. It means they've relocated the ice maker into the door rather than on the top shelf, then introduced small shelves around it in a bid to maximize storage.

Most importantly, it has an 8-inch LCD screen. The screen has a dual purpose – it will act as a control center from the fridge itself, but also works a family organizational hub.

That means that in addition to providing feedback about the unit's cooling performance and energy usage, you can also monitor your household's water intake, sync it with all your family's Google Calendars, and use it as a notice board.

Finally, you can use it to keep an inventory of the items in your fridge, along with their expiration dates. As soon as you run out or you food goes bad, your fridge will automatically update a shopping list on your phone.

Owners are predictably impressed:

"I told myself I would never own a Wi-Fi and LCD screen equipped refrigerator, but then the LFX31995ST came out.

The refrigerator features are great, plenty of space with adjustable drawers, French doors, bottom freezer, etc. The ice machine keeps up with my 5 family members without any problems."

"The technology works well and is fun to use. The phone application interface works very well to transfer photos to the fridge or recipes to my phone's grocery list. I have only had it for a few days and there are still lots of features I need to learn to use."

Bud-E Linq IQ

Price $600

Set to be released later this year, the Bud-E fridge is a break from the more traditional smart refrigerators we're used to seeing. The name "Bud-E" is derived from Bud Light beer, with the product's entire premise based around keeping your bottles nicely chilled.

Features include sliding magnetic rollers that will count the number of beers you have in it, an accompanying smartphone app that will connect to the fridge via your Wi-Fi network and let you manage temperature settings, and a "Cold Countdown" that'll let you know when your beers are cool enough to drink.

It's also a great fridge for sports lovers – it'll track your favorite NFL and NHL teams, remind you about kick-off times, and play your team's song when they score.

Lastly, you can record audio messages that will play through the fridge's speakers when someone opens the door.

Although no one owns one yet, the public's reaction to the news was mixed:

"I'll tell you a little about MY beer fridge. It's about 10 years old, and white. Used to be in my kitchen, now it's in the garage. I open it up, and put beer in. Beer gets cold. I open it up again, and take beer out, and drink it. When I see I only have a few beers left, I go buy more beer. Simple, effective, and works every time. Even has a freezer for food. Awesome."