This smart refrigerator designed with a built-in food preparation space promotes mindful eating

The Fresh Fridge is a type of smart refrigerator system with an integrated digital interface that teaches users about mindful eating habits and new cooking recipes.

Diets and eating habits do not come in one size that fits all. We each have our own unique and intuitive approach to eating food in the kitchen. Considering the ways our individual bodies take in and absorb nutrients is the most important step towards a healthful and mindful lifestyle.

While new trendy diets make their way across social media platforms and health food stores, no single diet will fit everyone’s needs. Ditching trendy diets for mindful eating, the Fresh Fridge designed by Tati Feruccio is paired with an array of technical features that encourage a health-conscious lifestyle.

The Fresh Fridge is a sort of smart refrigerator that analyzes each user’s distinct eating and health habits to portion out nutritious meals throughout the day. The main technical detail that stands out is the Fresh Fridge’s digital interface that’s located just above the small refrigerator.

Broadcasting mindful facts and cooking recipes from its screen, the digital interface is like your own personal cooking show for various meals throughout the day. Just below the interface, allocated space for meal preparation feels intuitive and makes following along with recipes while chopping up produce items easier than ever before.

Modular glass food containers can be swapped in and out of different shelves inside the refrigerator so that when you finish meal prepping for the week ahead, you can store each container in its designated spot and easily bring the plexiglass box with you to work or school. Bringing sustainability into the realm of kitchen appliances, Feruccio constructed the Fresh Fridge, each of its interior shelves, and containers from recycled plastic and wooden elements.

Each Fresh Fridge comes with three storage basins, the topmost refrigerated area stores food in low temperatures for produce like leafy greens and berries to remain crisp and cool. Then, just below that shelf, fruits and snacks are stored at slightly higher temperatures, while a flexible zone at the bottom of the refrigerator stores bulkier items like watermelons and spaghetti squash.

Designer: Tati Feruccio

The Fresh Fridge comes with an array of technical features that promote mindful eating habits. 

A glass door shows users exactly what’s inside their refrigerator. 

This portable fridge is the perfect companion to Netflix and chill with!

Product designs have three basic categories from a user’s point of view – the purely functional design with an almost brutish exterior that we love for the solution they provide, the pro aesthetic designs that take a conventional product and revise it to a new level to trigger an emotional response in us (after all humans are visual creatures) and the rare unicorn – that merges functionality and aesthetics seamlessly to create the best design. The Baseus Personal Refridgerator concept by Jiujiu Hu certainly falls in the aesthetic category but that doesn’t stop us from loving it any lesser!

With a form factor that merges an almost android design with that of a retro TV, this portable personal refrigerator is here to serve us, literally. The heat of summer is upon us, anything that is cold or chilled is in demand. This cute robot-like design with its shiny reflective surface (truly it only needs big eyes to make us fall in love even more) and its leather strap is a way cooler alternative to the old-school icebox or coolers we lug around everywhere (can you imagine how much cooler Netflix and chill would be with this by your side?). The anthropomorphic form comes with a shelf inside, allowing you to store your items in 2 layers – a tall shelf for the drinks or even a cooling facial mist and a smaller space to store flat objects. Social distancing will be a breeze with our own portable personal fridge holding our drinks means no reason to visit the crowded shops at the local park. And for those of us in quarantine, this fridge can serve as the Wilson (Tom Hank’s friend in Cast Away) to our isolated homes.

The refrigerator gets its materials right – wood, a matte plastic exterior, leather, and glass – balancing all these traditional elements with just the right ratio. With the emotional connection that this personal refrigerator brings to the table, one thing is sure, you will not end up forgetting it anywhere you go!

Designer: Jiujiu Hu

This R2-D2 like personal refrigerator can stock 60 soda cans!

If you live with roommates or siblings then at some point you will really appreciate having a personal refrigerator during this lockdown and it doesn’t hurt if the appliance looks like a modern version of R2-D2. Silo is a personal refrigerator that solves two of its predecessor’s biggest issues – either they take too much ‘personal space’ or they can’t hold enough of your stuff and this is no time to be judged on your snack stock.

This personal fridge is both, beauty and brains if I have to put it in the simplest terms. Even if you find a good enough mini-fridge, it will not look as cool as Silo with its sleek curves and minimal design. For its size, you will be surprised how much it can store in its 3 Lazy Susan shelves – 2 tubs of ice-cream on the first level, 36 soda cans on the second level and 15 wine bottles on the third level. It also has an in-built ice-maker that empty’s into a stainless steel bucket that can be used to keep your drinks cool when we are allowed to have gatherings like summer barbeque parties again! Silo gives us something to look forward to while making our time indoors equally happy.

Silo’s physical form radiates a joyful emotion about the product and makes you truly connect with it. The fridge itself is only 30 inches tall, which means it is tinier than R2-D2. The lights at the top and bottom diffuse effortlessly to add a touch of luxury to your surroundings. I am going to call this an essential appliance now. Silo’s cylindrical build optimizes space and storage for small living set-ups like New York apartments or college dorms. Silo fits seamlessly in any interior setting and probably even elevates it, it is a mini-fridge that you don’t have to hide but might want to if you have the best snacks.

Designer: Ken Kirtland IV