The keyword for Samsung home appliances right now is bespoke, with a range of customisable fridges and freezers rolling out globally, with other appliances to follow.
But what exactly does the company mean by bespoke? At its home appliances event this week, Samsung showed a video of artists and designers customising fridges to promote its bespoke products. The company has since released marketing shots of these same brand ambassadors standing by their brightly coloured designs – but for now at least, the reality is a little more prosaic.
In practical terms, if you buy from the bespoke range, you can create a fridge freezer out of modular units and then choose from a range of coloured panels for the doors.
UK customers can’t buy yet, but can register for email alerts from Samsung to find out when products become available.
However, the bespoke fridges are available for US customers to buy, with options being a one-door column refrigerator (from $1,169), a bottom mount freezer (from $1,619) and the four-door Flex refrigerator (from $3,099).
Feel free to have a lie-down after reading those prices.
These can then be customised in glass or steel finishes in a range of eight colours, although not all items are available in all colours. For example, if you want to buy the column refrigerator in the US right now, you have choose a navy, white or grey glass finish, which seems desperately unexciting.
In fact, I hope your idea of bespoke is tasteful blues, blushes, creams and greys because – otherwise – you’re totally out of luck. There are eight colours currently available in the US and a similar – albeit wider – palette of 14 colours is coming to Europe.
European buyers will have the option to customise a one-door fridge freezer, a slim one-door and two sizes of bottom mount freezers. So you could put a pair of appliances together, and give one a blue door and one a pink door which is – sort of bespoke, I guess?
There are no prices yet available for the UK market.
Maybe it’s understandable that, after a year stuck indoors, people want to express themselves via their choice of fridge doors. But, looking at Samsung’s options so far, it feels less bespoke than focused-grouped, a Pinterest mood board of inspirational kitchen colours for 2021. Let’s hope that better options are on the way.
