Glass Door Refrigerators: the New Luxury Staple of the Status Kitchen

In May, Kris Jenner's refrigerator became a star.

Photographed for her daughter Kourtney Kardashian's lifestyle website Poosh, the 66-year-old matriarch's glass-front fridge — which cost about $15,000 — clearly showcases enough green vegetables to clean out a Whole Foods. Adding to the aesthetically pleasing vibes are crisp heads of Romaine standing tall in lucite bins alongside drawers full of plump loose grapes and rows of neatly arranged pears and green peppers.

In an era where every last detail of life is posted on social media, the fridge has evolved from a mere utilitarian appliance to a literal window into the aspirational health and wellness habits of celebrities and wealthy people.

Glass-door refrigerators have long played a crucial role in helping restaurant kitchens stay organized by making items visually accessible. But in the past decade, this hallmark of the service industry made the jump to the residential sphere, becoming a kitchen status item.

So why the turn to glass-door refrigerators? The obsession with presenting Instagram-ready interiors when everyone was stuck at home, for one. Jenner's friend and the mother of supermodels Bella and Gigi, Yolanda Hadid, hit the trend early, with a bespoke glass-door fridge with its own Instagram account. Meanwhile, television shows like "Get Organized With The Home Edit" and "Tidying Up With Marie Kondo" have elevated tidiness — a requisite attribute when last night's meal is on display — into a virtue.

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As people hunkered down earlier in the pandemic, they spent more on their homes. Sales of luxury major kitchen appliances, including refrigerators, cooktops, and ovens, increased 45% in the US year over year from January through September 2021, according to the global market-insights company the NPD Group. Bain and Co.'s 2021 report on luxury spending found that the high-end furniture-and-houseware market reached roughly $46 billion, up 13 to 15% from 2020, and even up 6 to 8% over the flush pre-pandemic year of 2019.

These appliances prioritize form, not function. Now pricey custom fridges are the sleeper hit of the status kitchen, giving one-percenters something to show off to their equally elite neighbors.

"It's mostly aesthetics, especially at the luxury price point," said Chelsea McClaran, the brand manager for True Residential, which made Jenner's fridge. "Most of our customers are not looking to keep up with the Joneses. They're looking to have something that nobody's ever seen before."

A big part of True Residential's business — 60% of full-size models, in fact — is its custom work, where buyers can choose to have their refrigerator powder-coated to any color imaginable, McClaran said. That adds between $2,000 and $3,500 to the already hefty price tag. True's glass-door refrigerators start at $12,500, and many cost much more.

But that's a drop in the bucket for the typical True Residential buyer. The brand, which started in the commercial-refrigeration industry and dove into residential in 2017, said it didn't keep specific stats on its buyers. But McClaran shared some observations on the demographic drawn to glass-front fridges.

"Incomewise, they're definitely within the top half-percent to top 1% of annual household income," she said. "You're talking about a $25,000 refrigerator."

The appliances often appeal to people who host big gatherings at their homes.

"It serves a really good purpose for people that entertain often," McClaran said, adding: "You're telling people to help themselves. People really take that to heart when it's a glass-door fridge. It's just inviting by nature."

The Newport Beach, California, interior designer Shannon McLaren owns a 36-inch column Sub-Zero glass-front refrigerator that starts at $9,250. For McLaren, its use is more about creating visual breaks in the room.

McLaren said she usually recommended glass-door refrigerators to clients of her design studio, Prairie Home Styling. While she said she received some pushback — it's a mess in there; everyone will judge me — the see-through models do win over customers about 70% of the time.

"What I love about the glass is that it kind of is a break in the cabinetry, even though it's a very tall, massive portion of a kitchen," McLaren said. "It's like how a window breaks up a wall."

When a West Village, Manhattan, townhouse owned by the oil heir Aileen Getty was gut-renovated in 2019, she installed a double Sub-Zero glass-front fridge in the kitchen alongside more traditional touches, like white subway tile and a farmhouse sink.

The townhouse is now on the market for $25 million.

The Compass real-estate agent Carl Gambino said that out of the handful of times he'd walked prospective buyers through the property, people commented on its massive refrigerators.

"I heard one person say it was exceptionally brilliant yet so simple," Gambino said.

Sub-Zero, which also makes the coveted Wolf Ranges and gleaming wine fridges, is used to catering to an elite clientele.

"The main driver for us — for our refrigerators — is that wow factor," Jeff Sweet, Sub-Zero's corporate manager of product marketing, said.

This story was originally published on July 30, 2022.