Americans love their refrigerators. So much so that they aren’t just used for their intended purpose of keeping food cold, but are also quickly becoming the media centers of the kitchen. New fridges have televisions, touch screens, Wi-Fi, and cameras that allow you to spy on your food from your smartphone to see if you need a gallon of milk or carton of eggs. Heck, a lead-lined refrigerator even saved the life of America’s favorite fictional archeologist/adventurer, Indiana Jones.
As CNN Money reports, refrigerators are the most common appliances in the American home as almost 100 percent have one. That is more than microwaves (96 percent), stoves (90 percent), and a washing machine (82 percent). However, there is another number that is even more interesting: 23 percent.
No, it isn’t the share of people that wonder why fridge is spelled with a ‘D’ while refrigerator isn’t, it isn’t the amount of people who have watched TV on their fridge in the last year either, and it isn’t the amount of people who actually enjoyed the fridge scene in Indiana Jones. It is the share of Americans who have at least two refrigerators.
Retailers have caught on to the love affair between Americans and their refrigerators as evidenced by HHGregg, an electronics and appliance store that has an entire webpage devoted to reasons why you should buy a second fridge. Reasons that are on the list are if you entertain often, cook meals ahead of time, buy groceries in bulk, or if you have a garden and need a place to store all of your freshly grown fruits and vegetables.
The typical American fridge is already much larger than what is common across Europe or Japan. Almost all U.S. fridges have two doors and only 5 percent are defined as being small (under 14 cubic feet). So, not only are the refrigerators in the common American home larger than the rest of the world, but Americans are more likely to have more of them, as well.