Recent years saw resurgent interest in refrigerants that were previously written off as impractical, such as CO2 and isobutane (R-600a). New engineering effort is going into old technologies, and these revived systems may soon find new applications. For the most part, however, innovation is still focused on improving efficiency using more common refrigeration system technologies in standard-sized cabinets.

Bottom freezer fridges have been a growing segment. GE Appliances quotes statistics from the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) that show 1.67 million bottom freezer refrigerators were sold in 2008, making for almost five-fold growth in this subcategory since 2000. Dollar sales were US$2.46 billion in 2008, more than seven times higher than in 2000. Bottom freezer models accounted for 27% of the dollars spent on refrigerators in 2008.

Designers of appliances have developed configurations that make access easier, and consumers have been particularly drawn to French door models, with a 2-door refrigeration section up top and a freezer below. GE took the idea further with its Armoire styling, with two freezer drawers designed to make food organizing easier. A top-drawer freezer compartment is for everyday use and items that are accessed more often. A deeper bottom drawer stores larger items, and is big enough for a frozen turkey.

Tools for Entertainment

Refrigerators with built-in DVD players, internet access, and digital photo frames have come and, for the most part, gone. Refrigerators do offer the best existing hardware platform for bringing consumer electronics capabilities in the kitchen, but only if enough buyers can be persuaded that they might actually make use of it.

OEMs’ attentions are now on maximizing the core fridge/freezer capabilities—which incude maximizing their value to households that host big gatherings.

Samsung Electronics America Inc., has been increasing its refrigerator lineup in the United States and added the first refrigerator in the industry with two icemakers. When the second icemaker is turned on for a party or family get-together, ice production is 1.5 times as much as current models. An external filtered water and ice dispenser is located in the refrigerator and the second icemaker is in the freezer.

Samsung reduced the space taken up by the insulation to create more usable room inside the fridge, resulting in a design with 3 more cubic feet than many other French door fridges. At 28.5 cu ft, the RFG298 is designed for the largest storage capacity in a French door refrigerator with a standard footprint.