this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2025
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Why. Why would anyone buy a fridge with a screen. We have lots of screens. A fridge does not need a screen. It is a fridge.
As a Home Assistant geek, I would love to have a tablet built into the fridge door that I could 100% hack to display useful information and such. Currently I have an Android tablet on the wall that does this, but one on the door could be cool, especially if you could setup a place for virtual sticky notes that you could leave reminders and such for family members.
It’s not worth it for ad space though and I wouldn’t want it to be required for the fridge to operate either!
So a whiteboard with dry erase markers?
And a clock, and a weather forecast, and a picture frame...
A screen has a lot of potential. But not if it works against your interests
So for a clock and picture frame you’re not gunna believe this but…
And for a weather forecast I mean just make a widget on your phone’s home screen, it’ll be fine. The techification of every damn fucking thing we have is ridiculous and we so happily dive into filling our lives with nonsense just to have a theoretical 1% improvement in efficiency that we don’t even need.
I’m not saying we need to throw out all technology but we also don’t need to jam modern tech into every single aspect of our lives.
My household has a shared calendar we use to plan events. I've thought about a project before just to put a big view version of that up somewhere for people to reference, but I've been hesitant because it's a large household and having to play tech support every time it goes wrong isn't something i can do.
If i could get a reliable screen on the fridge that could display that, along with maybe a Reminders List and your sticky note idea, that would be perfect. With ads though that's a big nope from me.
Even excluding my stance on not wanting ads, that's how you find out the 5 year old accidentally bought something, or that something was leaked in a big data leak. That's just something i don't want in my home
The issue isn't that the fridge has a screen. The issue is that the screen real-estate is owned by the manufacturer, not you.
Good luck when they all have screens :(
Screens would get in the way of my many magnets with notes. Not only does it not "need" one, I'm actively anti screen in this case.
I wouldn’t mind one for playing Jellyfin videos while I’m cooking, having a dedicated screen for the Mealie recipe I’m currently making, looking at a digital family calendar, adding items to the grocery list, etc. A kitchen kiosk with a larger screen that is easy to clean and doesn’t need a login does have some practical uses for self-hosted apps, but…checks list…nope, ads to make some corpo’s number go up didn’t quite make it into my wishlist.
There are tablets with docks available. E.g. I could use Pixel tablet with the hub for that, even with privacy-supporting GrapheneOS.
I was about to say… I have a laptop that can go anywhere in the house, including the kitchen. It’s not tethered to any one location and can do all the things that fridge screen can do, and much more. Laptops also have ad blockers freely available.
True, although the actual big display on the Samsung fridge powered by the fridge itself showing various widgets is pretty nice. The fridge is also a good location for it, and you’d have to otherwise run a wire across your fridge to power your own tablet. The main problem is that your hardware and your data belong to Samsung after you buy it. Other problem is it seems to also be overpriced. 🤷♂️
What? How is the fridge possibly a good location for it? In what world could that ever be true? And do you not have wall outlets in your kitchen? Put your device on the counter!
I mean... what?
In my case at least, every other part of my kitchen has counters or cabinets, and there isn’t really an empty space on a wall to hang a tablet. The fridge would be a good place for a screen, except if it’s not built-in, there would be a wire. I can see someone with a different layout not following my logic, though.
Probably too unsightly for many, but I use gooseneck arms from snakeclamp.com. I use them for many things, like making helping hands for soldering, bike maintenance, and mounting monitors. You need to get one rated for the intended load. There are a ton of mounting base options and plenty of attachments, including one for holding tablets.
Sounds like it'd not be you ideal solution but thought I'd mention it on behalf of others.
Ok, so let's say you're making dinner and you want to watch something at the same time. Perhaps you're chopping vegetables on the counter. Do you really want to be looking at the front of the fridge while you do that? If the fridge is against the same wall as the counter you need to crane your head back to see anything, and if it's on a different wall you need to turn your head a totally different direction. Why not use one of those tablet cases with a kick stand and then put the tablet right in front of you, on the counter? Like right in front of the the cutting board you're using.
I don't know, I think if you do anything other than putting it right in front of you, you're gonna and up losing some fingers instead of chopping veggies.
The fridge is a very inconvenient location though.
My tablet sits on the counter where I am prepping food when using mealie, or where I am standing to cook when I am talking with someone over Jitsi.
Tablet batteries last far longer than any session I am at in the kitchen so after words it just goes to the charger for tomorrow.
No need for wires during use, and its charging station is where ALL my devices chargers are.
You do need to have a display to show you what's in there /s Yes, that's an actual selling argument (slap my forehead real hard)