At some time or another, you have probably experienced refrigerator wars. If you haven't, then you have either been living under a rock, or have never shared a living space with another human. Since few are born into a singular existence, I am going to guess that at least once you have rooted through the fridge for those delicious leftovers, only to later find that your roommate, spouse, sibling, or parent got to them first.
Most of us experience this sad loss when we first find ourselves living with roommates. Little did you know that while you were working hard, your good-for-nothing roommate was happily chowing down on your Chinese food leftovers. Only later do you find the evidence: dried up bits of kung pao chicken scattered about in your room, revealing that not only was the loser eating your food, he was going through your stuff, too.
Flatshare, the modular refrigerator, hopes to clean up some of those messy interapartment relations. It was created by Stefan Buchberger, a design student at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, as part of the Electrolux Design Lab 2008 contest. Borne out of necessity from living with a messy fridge in a shared flat, the Flatshare's modular design allows for the stacking of up to four modules.
While the Flatshare may be just a design for now, it is a concept whose time has come. Of course, the refrigerator can't help you out if your rotten roommate goes into your independent module. Maybe the next step would be to install locks on the individual doors...or find a new roommate.