Concept refrigerator chills based on content

Impress aims to alter the way we think about refrigeration.

(Credit: Screenshot by Christopher MacManus/CNET )

Over the last few decades, refrigerators haven't changed all that much in one key area -- shape. Sure, the hulking mass of steel keeps our perishables fresh while boasting improved efficiency and other bells and whistles, but it's still just a big block that takes up a considerable amount of space in the kitchen.

Concept products such as the Impress refrigerator by Massey University industrial design student Ben de la Roche of New Zealand could influence the way future iceboxes keep food and drinks cool.

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Instead of the conventional cooling cube, Impress adapts its refrigeration to the content within. A honeycomb layout of sliding pins allows the user to insert food, containers, and drinks into the futuristic refrigerator individually. This in turn gives a massive boost to efficiency, as Impress only chills the items that occupy the pins. In theory, aside from using less electricity, Impress would also use less harmful gases (CFCs) to chill items.

de la Roche submitted the idea to the 2012 Electrolux Design Lab competition and qualified as a finalist, beating out more than 1,200 submissions from aspiring designers. He presents the idea to a panel of Electrolux judges in Milan, Italy, on October 25.

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Count on fun with refrigerator door LED Digit Magnets

The fun set of refrigerator magnets can be used in a million different ways. (But who's counting?)

(Credit: ThinkGeek)

Refrigerators have always been the hub of the kitchen. Considering that is where all the food lives, it only makes sense. However, there is another aspect of the big appliance that draws constant attention, and that would be the refrigerator door. Sure, the door is where all the fun easy-access items such as condiments reside, but there is another side to the story: the outside.

As a wide-open plain, the outside of the refrigerator door is a perfect area for personalization. Long the center for communication, refrigerators have more recently upped the ante by including Wi-Fi-enabled touch screens (such as in the new Samsung line). However, sometimes all that is needed is a low-tech solution.

Reminiscent of old-timey calculator or clock displays, the ThinkGeek LED Digit Magnets are a refrigerator door's best friend no matter when it was made. The fun fridge magnets come in a set of 566 pieces, allowing for plenty of custom combinations of letters and numbers that can spell out messages of any kind. And don't forget, they are magnetic; they might not hold a tablet in place, but they would make a mighty nice neon green frame for the kids' artwork.

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