LG's French-Door Fridge Keeps Food Cold, Beer Colder

LAS VEGAS -- A new wave of advanced home appliances are in no shortage at the Consumer Electronics Show, but for most consumers these days, the benefits of a quality refrigerator boil down to the basics: Keep my food cold, keep it fresh, and keep a lot of it. One forthcoming LG model appears to nail that trifecta through creative engineering.

[bug id="ces2012"]The LFX31935ST, which should hit retail some time this year, looks like most French door-style fridges, where the freezer compartment is tucked on the bottom third of the unit, leaving the upper regions for cold storage and other fundamental features, like moisture-controlled veggie drawers and ice dispensing.

However, the internal housing is climate-controlled by digital sensors that help tweak humidity levels on the fly, depending on how long the fridge door is kept open. That's key since you might have the door open for a while as you rummage through the 31 cubic feet of space, enough to hold 50 one-gallon containers of milk. The LED lighting, which gives off a bright and inviting feel, should help you see all your edibles at a passing glance, and the interior insulation panels are nearly 25 percent thinner than those used in similar LG models, providing a slimmer perimeter to the fridge's overall housing.

The brushed metal look of the exterior comes as clean and modern. The standard ice dispenser, which can accommodate bottles, pitchers, and glasses up to 13 inches high, resides on the inside of the left door. It's powered by a Slim SpacePlus system that conveniently swings out of the door, like the guts of a large, office-style printer. Also on the left door is a rundown of options and settings for the fridge's various features, as well as digital readings for freezer and refrigerator temperature.

Ultimately, the killer feature here is the blast chiller, which resides comfortably down in the lower right-hand corner. This space, normally reserved for a second drawer to keep your vegetables fresh, now houses a mini-compartment where you slide in your room-temperature canned beverage and it will be chilled to 42 degrees Fahrenheit in five minutes. You can even insert two cans or a bottle of wine and it will do the job in just eight minutes.

And though the blast chiller may grab and hold your attention at first glance, the layout of the bottom freezer provides more useful and practical everyday advantages. Built into a three-tiered storage space, there's a main bottom tub for large items, while a middle tray pulls out for flat items and a third section up top has drawers for smaller but bulkier items. Even little details like the handle, which has a Smart Pull feature where it gently gives upward as you pull on it, have been considered and improved upon, as compared to similar models.

Standing at a reasonable six feet high, the LFX31935ST won't be a major hinderance to most consumers, with a spacious, open interior and the uppermost shelf topping out at little more than five feet off the ground.

It's easy to see why the fridge was honored with a CES "Best of Innovations" Award at this year's conference. Pricing is yet to be determined, but similar models will run you about $2,500. Still, it's proof positive that you can jam myriad bells and whistles into a consumer-ready refrigerator, but if you do the basic stuff better than anyone else, like keeping food cold and fresh, you'll have a hot product.