High-end refrigerators have featured ice-makers and cold water taps for years. But GE thinks what's missing from your fridge is hot coffee.
The $3,300 GE Café series refrigerator features a Keurig (GMCR) K-Cup brewer that uses the fridge's filtered water to make a single cup of joe.
To make a cup of coffee, you snap the brewer out of the fridge's water tap, put in a K-Cup coffee pod and slide the brewer back into the water dispenser. The fridge will ask you what size you want. After the fridge heats up the water, you push a safety knob to the left (so you don't accidentally scald yourself), and your fridge will brew the coffee.
General Electric (GE) had already brought hot water dispensers to some of its refrigerators over the past couple years -- also a first for the industry.
Dan Goldstein, GE's refrigeration marketing manager, said the company surveyed customers who had bought the hot water dispensing fridges, and asked them what they'd like to see next.
"They asked us, 'When can we have a refrigerator that dispenses coffee or tea?'" Goldstein said. "In fact, two-thirds said they'd be interested in a single-serve hot beverage dispenser."
The fridge will be available in the fall. In the meantime, you'll have to reserve a place on your counter for coffee brewing.
