Those of us who use small kitchens know the importance of storage space, especially when it comes to the refrigerator. So, staying on top of what food is expired is key. Produce gets smelly and leaks, leftovers just take up entire shelves and clearing out the food that’s gone bad feels like a day’s task. In the UK, 5.8 million tons of avoidable food waste is garnered each year, which can be traced all the way back to a simple problem: frustrating refrigerator design. Thalis Nicolaou brings us his solution: PRESENTA, a modular refrigerator design.
Most of today’s refrigerators are like deep bookshelves that come with air conditioning. They store a lot and keep our food items fresh, but as they fill, older food items just pile up and rot, so cleaning out your refrigerator ends up being more laborious of a task than it should be. In order to combat this, Nicolaou created PRESENTA, a new fridge design that keeps the storage capacity of the typical refrigerator but ditches the unfriendly depths. Three modular, three-tier shelving units comprise PRESENTA and thankfully they make both storage organization and inevitable clean up much more approachable. Detachable, plastic shelves line the swing-out design of this refrigerator and they can be swapped out and reorganized in order to optimize storage and cleanability. When the user opens the refrigerator, each of the inside contents is immediately made both visible and accessible. The refrigerator’s slide and swing door allow for the interior shelving units to expand outside the refrigerator, making the contents inside of PRESENTA apparent within a matter of seconds. Below the main door is a deep, pull-out drawer that extends to the refrigerator’s full-depth in order to store bulkier items. Nicolaou also integrated a color-coded signal that alerts PRESENTA users when the contents haven’t been checked for more than 24 hours – an orange, LED light indicator lets users know to check on their food items.
The modular design of this refrigerator is impressive because, in a market full of technologically smart, but massive refrigerators, PRESENTA finds a solution in constructive simplicity. In this simplicity rests accessibility since Nicolaou addresses the need for active and collective food waste reduction measures by creating a tangible solution that doesn’t require costly changes to your lifestyle or diet. So, say goodbye to those days filled with procrastination before a big fridge-cleanup because PRESENTA makes it as manageable as it always should have been.
Designer: Thalis Nicolaou
