Haier’s touchscreen fridge can see your food, recommend a recipe

Haier’s Link Cook Series refrigerators are one step closer to answering the question, “What’s for dinner?” Haier has equipped four-door refrigerators with built-in cameras that let you see your food, and software that will let the refrigerators suggest recipes based on its contents, Haier says. The company announced the new refrigerators at the IFA trade show in Berlin on Thursday.

The internet-connected Link Cook refrigerators also include an interactive touchscreen on the top-right door that’s reminiscent of the Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator, with apps that let you access information including weather and emails. One of the Link Cook refrigerators has a door-in-door alongside the touchscreen, which lets you open a panel on the front of the fridge to get access items on the in-door shelves without opening the entire refrigerator door. 

The refrigerators are a part of Haier’s U+ Smart Home Platform, which connects the Link Cook Series to a Haier oven and range hood. According to Haier, you’ll be able to select a recipe on the refrigerator, automatically send the heating instructions to the oven and view the recipe on a small screen on the range hood.

Details are slim about Haier’s refrigerators. There’s no word yet on when the refrigerator will be available, how much it will cost or the countries in which it will be sold. And the company hasn’t yet explained how cameras and software will work together to identify your food and give you meal suggestions. But it’s clear that Haier, like other appliance manufacturers, are believers in the idea that the refrigerator is the center of the smart home.

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Check out the future of appliances and smart tech at IFA 2017

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