The Future of Fridges: Tall, Narrow with Water Filter Built In
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 12.15.08
I often quote Architect Donald Chong's line "small fridges make good cities", where the kitchen responds to to the marketplace, the baker, vegetable store and neighbourhood vendor. In Europe, the fridge suppliers get this; they offer units like this 2 foot wide, 8.8 cubic foot Electrolux that has a smaller footprint, big vegetable drawers and a Brita water filter built into the door.
The regulators get this; their energy rating system isn't as dumb as America's, which will give an Energy Star rating to a forty cubic footer insulated with baby seal fur as long as it is 20% more efficient than the standard offerings. Their standard takes actual energy consumption, capacity and noise levels into account. This one gets an A rating.
We would have liked to see the freezer section be in drawers instead of doors, but otherwise like the features, which include a kiddie lock and the water filter:
Forget buying bottled water. The 60 cm wide Electrolux Brita fridge freezer not only preserves your food beautifully, it also offers an endless supply of delicious, chilled filtered tap water with no odours and unpleasant tastes. The easy availability and fun factor of dispensing a drink will also help encourage children to drink more water instead of sugary drinks. And there are environmental benefits too as it reduces wasteful use of glass and plastic. It is also far cheaper than bottled water.Appliancist
More on fridges in TreeHugger:
IDS07: Small Fridges Make Good Cities
GE Reinvents the Fridge
TreeHugger Tip: Tomm Stanley on Refrigerator Efficiency
Man Retrofits Freezer to Make an Ultra-Efficient Fridge
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Unfortunately in the UK there's a fashion for what are called 'American fridges' whether you need them or not.
Why the hell would I want to filter tap water? Why would I want a smaller freezer?
I would hope that the future of fridges is in shallow chest style units where the cold air can't "fall out".