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There are two main types of kitchen innovations that catch our attention when walking around Speech at CES. One type is those characterized by impressive geometry – for example, A Travel mug It grinds and prepares cold coffee in the same bowl. The other is less mind-blowing but driven by pure function and ease of use, solving an age-old problem or everyday annoyance.
GE Profile’s new smart refrigerator, which has a built-in grocery barcode scanner, falls squarely in the latter category. While the technology isn’t a feature that makes us wonder how they did it, it does make us wonder why it took so long for someone to implement it.
I got to play with the smart refrigerator at a special press preview in Las Vegas. What stood out was how easy it is to use the barcode scanner and how useful it is for tracking weekly groceries and simplifying the list-making and grocery shopping experience.
How it works
The scanner system recognizes more than 4 million grocery and household products.
A simple barcode scanner is mounted near the water dispenser in the refrigerator’s small pivot display, where it can recognize more than 4 million common grocery and household products. When you run out of your favorite brand of coffee beans, trash bags, or 2% milk, simply scan the barcode, and the item is then added to your weekly shopping list, which can be accessed through the mobile app, of course.
Even foods that don’t have a barcode can be added using a voice command. Simply turn on the refrigerator and say something like “Add Granny Smith apples to grocery list.” Boom, it’s there.
I’ve tried it. Even in the noisy and crowded showroom, the refrigerator heard me and behaved faithfully.
You can scan and order groceries directly from your refrigerator
Scanned items go directly to your grocery list, accessible from your phone or tablet.
To take things a step further, GE Profile has partnered with Instacart. If you’re shopping online, you can either make an individual purchase or order the entire menu directly from the fridge or via your mobile device.
The barcode scanner is universally applicable, even if you don’t use Instacart. The scanning process takes literally seconds, which is much quicker and faster than creating a manual list. The brand currently works with a few national retailers through Instacart. The refrigerator scans more than 4 million household products — not just groceries — with more being added in system updates.
A well-rounded smart refrigerator with a lot of features
The scanner function is what caught my attention, but GE Profile’s new refrigerator has other impressive innovative features, including a top-down camera that allows you to view and inventory your produce drawers from anywhere. This is a useful feature to be sure but it is one We have seen In refrigerators before.
A top-down camera shows you what’s in your product in real time. A useful feature, but by no means industry first.
Another new addition is a recipe generator that suggests ideas based on the food you have in your fridge. Snap a photo of the contents, and the center screen will populate with lunch or dinner recipe ideas. You can instantly add missing ingredients for a particular recipe to your grocery list.
To facilitate the humidification process, the refrigerator operates hands-free automatic filling. Using the sensors in the refrigerator’s dispenser, it dispenses the exact amount of filtered water to the specified container and then stops. You are free to walk away while your glass or bottle fills.
Pricing and availability
The smart refrigerator will be available starting April.
The Smart 4-Door French Door Refrigerator with Kitchen Assistant will be available in both standard depth and counter-depth models starting April 2026, with a suggested MSRP of $4,899.