Let there be light

Written by Lou Lenzi, Director of Industrial Design for GE Appliances

French door refrigerators are the rage today. Everyone loves the experience of opening those double-doors and seeing a wide, unobstructed view of the contents of their fridge. Those panoramic views of your boxed wine and party trays are often enhanced by a collection of LED spot lights mounted in tiny “pucks” built into the side walls of the refrigerator case. So dramatic is the presentation, that we’ve actually witnessed homeowners hum a heavenly choral tune while opening their fridge doors.

We decided to take this experience to the next level with our new Monogram French Door Bottom Freezer Refrigerator by embedding a row of LED’s directly into each of the four adjustable glass shelves. This not only creates the visual drama worthy of a Paul Mottram movie soundtrack, it more effectively distributes lighting throughout the entire refrigerator space.

Wait a minute: there are LED lights embedded in adjustable glass shelves? So how do they plug in and yet remain adjustable up and down in the refrigerator?

Two of our industrial designers, Sally and Justin, got together in the Design Studio and figured it out. They created an electrical circuit that employs the metal bracket that holds the shelves as a low voltage “bus” and couple it with a tiny prong at the end of each of the 4 adjustable shelves.

Is your refrigerator illuminating your food in its best possible light? Are such gastronomical theatrics worth it? We’d like to know.