- Samsung adds 9-inch screens to its side by side and four-door refrigerators
- Refrigerators can identify ingredients that are about to expire and suggest recipes
- Some also have AI-driven double cooling to keep temperatures consistent
Samsung has launched a new range of smart refrigerators designed to help reduce food waste in two ways: by keeping it colder with a system that provides extra cooling when needed, and an AI system that can identify foods that are expiring and suggesting recipes to use them up.
The new refrigerators debuted on CES 2025 and I got to see one in action for the first time at Samsung’s London KX showroom earlier this week. The technique is impressive and not just for show – it’s also convenient.
Other smart features include doors that can be opened with a wave of your hand or a voice command via an integrated Bixby Smart speaker (ideal when you have your hands full and need to put something big on a shelf).
A nodule on your refrigerator
The new set of refrigerators has a new 9-inch screen-very smaller than screens on most smart refrigerators. The display is located at eye level and although compact, it means you don’t need an extra screen that messed up in your kitchen. It makes a lot of sense; Devices on the kitchen table are a recipe for disaster when flour and sauces are involved.
The smaller screen can do pretty much everything one of the best smart screens can, including running apps, playing music and videos, showing recipes and using all smart home devices that are compatible with Samsung’s SmartThings platform (look at our Roundup of the best smart home devices for some options).
You will find 9-inch screen on certain four-door refrigerators and side by side, while others have an updated 35-inch family hub screen.
Whichever you choose, you get improved food identification that can monitor items when you put them in the refrigerator and pull from a large catalog of recipes to help you use what you already have. The system can even see foods that are by expiring and suggesting ways to use them.
At the KX Showroom demo I got to see how to use Bixby to search for recipes of both ingredients and kitchen. For example, you can use voice commands to look for Chinese recipes using tomatoes and the refrigerator shows instructions that you can follow.
Some of Samsung’s models also have a hybrid system that adapts to the go to increase cooling when needed, and uses less power at other times. The compressor at the bottom of the refrigerator is supplemented with a Peltier module (a thermoelectric heat pump) at the top that kicks in when extra cooling is needed (like when you have had the door open for a while to load your weekly groceries).
Together, it should help your food last longer and make it easier to use everything before it destroys – provided your budget can stand it. Prices start at £ 2,199 (approximately $ 2,800 / AU $ 4,500).
