Frigidaire's new fridge makes its glass door clear when you step near
Frigidaire's latest refrigerator renders its glass door transparent when it senses your presence.
In fancy fridge design, windows and smart extras are all the rage. Frigidaire plans to get in on the action with its new Professional Glass Door Refrigerator, an appliance equipped with a large transparent panel.
Frigidaire and its parent company Electrolux showed off the new Professional Glass Door Refrigerator at KBIS 2017. A smoky glass pane covers the fridge's main compartment and remains ordinarily opaque much the time. Movement near the fridge door, however, will trigger interior lights that activate making the window transparent. The idea here is to see what's in the refrigerator without cracking its door open and wastefully venting cold air outside.
The Frigidaire Professional Glass Door Refrigerator.
Of course the see-through fridge isn't new. The first appliance like this we first spotted was a motion-sensing model from Haier at IFA 2015. The "InstaView" fridges from LG are also built to perform a similar trick.
Trigger motion sensors with your foot to make the opaque window transparent.
Granted these LG models are exorbitantly priced and will currently set you back anywhere from $4,600 to a whopping $8,500 for an elite Signature model. While the Frigidaire Professional Glass Door isn't cheap by any means, the appliance's expected retail price of $2,699 is a heck of a lot less. It's also of a wide-body body design that mimics restaurant kitchens.
That said, LG announced it will offer updated InstaView refrigerators in 2017 with lower price tags. These appliances should start at a more reasonable $2,199 and reach $4,399 for top-tier models.
Install a matching freezer to expand this restaurant-style fridge.
As part of the deal though you get Frigidaire's latest exterior surfacing, called black stainless steel, which it says can resist smudges and greasy fingerprints. Look for the Professional Glass to arrive in stores by April 2017.