Good news for anyone who a) can't function in the morning without caffeine and b) love their gadgets: GE just announced their newest kitchen appliance innovation, and it’s potentially game-changing. The GE Café French Door refrigerator has a Keurig coffee maker built right into its door, allowing it to dispense coffee at the push of a button. That’s right: If you own one of these suckers, you’ll be able to get your daily dose of java as easily as you can get a glass of refreshing, filtered water.
It’s not going to be cheap, of course; Gizmodo reports that it will likely debut sometime in the fall of 215 to the tune of $3,300. The addition of the Keurig won’t affect the functionality or dimensions of the rest of the fridge; it will, however, include an accessory that snaps into place with one of those wacky little coffee pods, as well as the ability to be scheduled for time-specific brewing. Basically, it sounds like a super high-tech Keurig that just happens to be attached to your fridge.
The one downside, I would argue, is that, by virtue of being a Keurig machine, the fridge relies on K-Cups to produce its elixir of life. I count it as a downside not because I’m a coffee snob who thinks K-Cups have killed the art of coffee brewing, but purely because the waste that K-Cups create is both detrimental to the environment and kind of unnecessary. It’s also not super cost effective — the average K-Cup 24-pack costs between $16 and $18, while a pound of decent but not incredibly fancy coffee beans (about 40 cups of joe) usually runs around $10. Those are the reasons I don’t own a Keurig myself, although I will admit that the few times I’ve used other people’s, it’s been both lightning fast and convenient. It’s up to you whether those pros are worth more than the cons.
But hey, even if the Café French Door fridge has its flaws, it’s still a pretty good idea; now we just need to perfect it. In the meantime, I can dream — not only about a coffee-dispensing fridge, but also about a fridge that dispenses these other things on cue, too:
1. Beer
But good beer. Preferably a deep, chocolate-y stout.
2. Smoothies
Milk shakes would also be acceptable — although I would imagine that in either case, the occasional and necessary cleaning of the machine’s innards would probably be a pretty terrifying endeavor. Shudder.
3. Candy
Oh wait! Someone already figured that one out!
4. Vodka
I’d probably make more cocktails at home if my fridge automatically dispensed vodka whenever I wanted it. Or hang on — on second thought, maybe we can just skip the vodka-only step and go straight to dispensing perfect martinis. Or Bloody Marys on days you're hungover.
5. Gazpacho
Who doesn’t love a good gazpacho?
6. Chocolate Mousse
Mostly because I get a kick out of imagining what’s essentially a whipped cream nozzle spitting chocolate mousse out in a bowl for me on command. But while we’re on the subject of chocolate…
7. Fudgy Ice Cream Toppings
If the fridge can heat up water for coffee, it can heat up fudge for ice cream sundaes, right? Magic shell or chocolate syrup would also do just fine, thank you very much.
8. Perfectly Chilled White Wine
This would be particularly useful for people who cook with wine almost as much as they drink it (that would be me).
Images: Giphy (9)
