You can complain about the quality of the coffee they produce all you want, but now that those pod-based Keurig hot beverage machines come built right in to GE's new Café French Door refrigerator, they aren't going to disappear anytime soon. And if you think the Keurig machine is the greatest thing since sliced bread, you can now reclaim some valuable counter space the next time you upgrade your fridge.
GE's Café Series fridges were originally introduced back in 2013 and were one of the first to feature a programmable hot water dispenser built right into the unit's side-by-side french doors. And because at its core a Keurig is essentially just a hot water dispenser (it's the K-Cups that really do all of the 'brewing') it was a logical next step to integrate the machine right into GE's new Café French Door fridge.
From a distance it's actually hard to tell the new version of the fridge apart from the existing models because the Keurig brewer is just a small plastic accessory that opens to accept a pod, and then snaps into the front of the Café French Door fridge's water dispenser. As a result, the addition of the Keurig functionality doesn't change the fridge's dimensions or diminish its capacity in any way.
Where you will see a difference is with the Café French Door's user-interface on its built-in LCD display. Once the Keurig accessory has been snapped into place with a pod inside, the fridge will provide the same beverage size options that you're presented with on a dedicated Keurig machine. So to brew up a mug of coffee or tea you just select small, medium, or large, and then use a dedicated dial to start the hot water flowing as an added safety precaution.
Available sometime closer to the fall of this year for $3,300, GE's Café French Door fridge actually sounds like it will be one of the most advanced Keurig machines you can buy—not surprisingly. The water it uses is purified before it's dispensed, which will certainly help improve the taste of your hot beverages. And the fridge can even be remotely controlled from an app, letting users schedule times for when the water is pre-heated so it's immediately ready to dispense when you roll out of bed in the morning and need every bit of assistance you can get to face the day. [GE]