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A trio of smart refrigerators takes center stage at CES (pictures)

Will 2016 be the year the smart fridge strikes back? Three major manufacturers are hoping that the answer is yes.

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Ry Crist
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1 of 15 Sarah Tew/CNET

The smart fridges of CES

A new crop of smart fridges made their debut here at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Click through to see how they stack up against each other.

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Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator

First up: the Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator. In a week filled with gadgets and gizmos, it's arguably been one of the most high-profile pieces of tech that we've seen.

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Gigantic touchscreen

A lot of the interest in the Samsung Family Hub stems from the enormous, 21.5-inch touchscreen (about 55cm) on the right refrigerator door. On it, you'll find a variety of apps for things like streaming music, managing your family's calendars and ordering groceries for delivery.

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More modest on the left

The left door is a bit less interesting -- it just holds the ice maker.

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Open wide

Inside, you'll find a total of 28 cubic feet of storage space between the freezer and the fridge. If you need more fridge space, you can switch the right half of the freezer into fridge mode.

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Built-in cameras

Check out the inner frame of the Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator's door.

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Grocery monitoring

Yep, those are cameras, and they snap a picture of your food every time the door closes. If you're at the grocery store and you can't remember whether you need more milk, you can pull out your phone and check.

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Whirlpool Smart French Door Refrigerator

Next up, the Whirlpool Smart French Door Refrigerator. No giant touchscreen here, but it does boast Wi-Fi connectivity that allows it to send you alerts when the power goes out or when the filter needs to be replaced. You can also sync it up with the Nest Learning Thermostat.

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Roomy interior

The fridge boasts a total of 32 cubic feet of storage space.

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Infinity Shelves

The gliding "Infinity Shelves" slide out of the way to make room for taller items placed below.

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LG Signature Refrigerator

Finally, there's the LG Signature Refrigerator. Like the Samsung Family Hub fridge, it's a four-door model with some clever tricks.

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Knock knock

The main attraction is, again, on that upper right door. Instead of a touchscreen, LG went with a special panel that goes transparent when you knock on it. That'll let you see your groceries without needing to open the door.

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Door-in-door

This is also a Door-in-Door model -- you can open that front panel without opening the entire door, letting you access the in-door shelves.

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Auto open doors

The fridge also includes special sensors that can detect when you're walking up to it with arms full of groceries. When they see you coming, the door will open automatically.

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Slim ice maker

The ice maker is the same slim design that we've seen in other LG models. It leaves more room for tall items in the in-door shelves than other ice makers that bulge outward.

See all CNET's coverage from CES 2016 here.

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