LG Smart Fridge
The LG smart fridge certainly gives us food for thought on the future of kitchen tech LG

Ever looked at your fridge and thought that it could do with a big touchscreen, computer, camera, barcode reader, internet connection and the ability to talk to your oven?

We have, and thankfully at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas LG has come to our culinary aide with a 'smart fridge' that knows what's inside it, orders more supplies when food runs out and can even provide cooking instructions on its touchscreen.

Dr Scott On of LG said: "This transforms the appliance into a food management system," but such a system is expected to cost around £2000 and will probably boss us around if we fail to stick to our "special dietary requirements."

LG hopes that the smart fridge will link up with online food stores like Ocado and then order food when stock is running low. It knows what's already in stock thanks to a barcode reader, which can either scan individual items or a whole shopping receipt at once.

Items can also be added to the fridge's memory by saying the names of products out loud, although we advise against talking to your fridge when in the company of others.

Blurring the lines between common-or-garden white goods and personal computers, the fridge can store multiple user accounts for each member of the family and recommend recipes according to their dietary requirements, age, gender and BMI.

Once a meal is chosen, the fridge can turn on the oven - over Wi-Fi, naturally - and provide cooking instructions on the large built-in touchscreen.

A camera mounted inside the fridge can be accessed from a mobile phone via the internet, letting shoppers see what they have in stock and the sell-by dates of anything that needs replacing.

Finally, the smart fridge by LG has a "blast-chiller" drawer that can chill a bottle of wine in eight minutes and a can of beer in five.

CES 2012 was the year of 'Smart' for LG, which also introduced a new range of smart TVs that can connect to the internet and be controlled by gestures and voice commands.