CHOICE verdict
Samsung positions its latest AI Home Side-By-Side fridge as a smart home controller. Thankfully it also performs well as a fridge. The embedded 9-inch tablet display allows various smart control tasks to be carried out, but is also very useful as an interface for the operation of the fridge. There is no camera so it won’t capture your groceries as they go into the fridge, but it will collect details on items you enter manually and help you create your next shopping list. It will also tell you when food inside is due to expire and help you with creative menus using the food you have to avoid throwing anything out. Is it a smart fridge that delivers the futuristic kitchen solution we may have expected in 2025? Probably not, but it doesn’t cost any more than the equivalent Samsung ‘non-smart’ model and it is a good fridge with enough smarts to help you keep control of your grocery inventory, monitor your other smart devices and watch the morning news.
Price: $2999
Contact: samsung.com/au/refrigerators/side-by-side/
How does the Samsung AI Home fridge perform in our tests?
CHOICE experts carried out a full test of Samsung's latest smart fridge, the 615-litre AI Home (model number SRS6500BA), in our accredited labs. Regardless of how smart this fridge is (or isn't), how it performs as a fridge is obviously a significant part of the decision as to whether you put it in your kitchen.
The AI Home fridge is a side-by-side model with a plumbed water/ice dispenser (which means you need a tap nearby). The fridge volume is around 400 litres and Freezer around 215 litres, which would be considered suitable for a family.
Our expert tester David Hill ran the fridge through the full CHOICE fridge test in a large thermal room at 10 degrees and 40 degrees to see how well it handled variations in ambient temperature.
Performance in warmer ambient temperatures over 30 degrees was very good with low temperature fluctuations, which means your fruit and veg is more likely to stay fresher for longer.
Overall, the fridge performed well, particularly for a side by side fridge which can be difficult to keep uniformly consistent due to the large areas of air flow that need to be kept at a consistent temperature throughout the various shelves.
A touch-to-open sensor, where a light tap on the side of the door opens it automatically, can be handy when carrying a full load of groceries.
The smart display provides effective controls for the fridge as well as your other smart home devices, but it's not so large as to look overly geeky.
How smart is the AI Home fridge?
So, the fridge is perfectly acceptable as a fridge, but how smart is it and will it control everything in your home?
Firstly, unlike most fridges which use a simple set of basic temperature controls for the fridge and freezer area, the Samsung AI Home is controlled by a 9-inch tablet touch display embedded in the right-side door.
For those worried about more pointless tech being introduced to add extra complexity the operation of a fridge, you can rest easy.
Our tester David found the interface for operating the primary fridge control functions incredibly easy,both with and without any Wi-Fi or smart connectivity.
Simply navigate to the 'Fridge Manager' on the control panel to change the fridge settings or control the ice maker as well as get instant feedback on current temperatures for the fridge and freezer section.
While it is smart, importantly the AI Home is a large side-by-side fridge that performs well with enough freezer and fridge space for a small to medium-sized family.
It's also a simple process to do things like change the water filter or monitor energy usage from month to month.
Once you integrate the fridge into your home network through a wireless connection (2.4 or 5GHz), you can operate many functions as you would when using a standard smart tablet device.
Our tech expert Elias Plastiras examined the smart credentials and found a lot to like. Downloading Samsung's SmartThings app and creating an account is essential to making the most of this fridge but you don't need to be using a Samsung smartphone – a standard Android or Apple iPhone will deliver a similar experience.
The ability to control the fridge functions either from the SmartThings app on your smartphone or the tablet display on the fridge can be surprisingly useful.
The default display for the fridge display can be just a clock, artwork or a carousel of information such as your calendar, recipes, the weather or ongoing energy consumption. You can also log into a Google Calendar and view upcoming appointments or reminders on the screen.
While there are a variety of aspects to the AI Home fridge in controlling your smart home, the interface also allows you to easily change fridge settings such as temperature (fridge and freezer), internal light settings, enable or disable the ice maker, reset the water filter, view current energy consumption and compare to previous periods.
You can also turn on 'holiday mode', which keeps the freezer running normally while raising the fridge temp to a higher level (around 15 degrees) to save energy when you're away for an extended period. This is only suitable of course if you've emptied out the contents of the fridge section so there is nothing in there that will spoil at the higher temperature.
The various Android apps allow you to check your calendar, create a memo or shopping list and even stream the morning news.
Smart features: recipes, shopping lists, grocery tracking, speakers and more
One of the more useful smart app recipe features can help you decide what to cook using the food that's in your fridge and/or about to expire.
Unfortunately, this information isn't magically collected by the fridge as you need to log your food in manually as you put it in the fridge.
This process can be tiresome but there is a menu selection for various fruit, veg and other common items such as milk and yogurt so if you are diligent, the result could be a much better awareness of what you have and what you need to use before it spoils.
The recipe feature is very useful when you are feeling uninspired and lets you browse various recipes to be followed in a step-by-step process.
Simply swipe the screen for the next step and you can add ingredients for a recipe to your shopping list, which will then be accessible through the SmartThings app when you're out shopping.
Need inspiration? The recipe app can provide some meal options to work with the food that's in your fridge or can also pop missing ingredients onto the shopping list and sent to your mobile.
If you want to cook multiple recipes and send the ingredients to your shopping list, then you'll need to sort the list by recipe to make it easier to buy the necessary ingredients.
If you enter an expiry date for a food item, then the tablet can let you know when something needs to be used and suggest recipes for it (though you may need other ingredients for it).
Apart from that, it's nice to be able to control the fridge functions from the screen or the SmartThings app on a phone, and the tablet displaying a clock or calendar information on the fridge can be useful.
There is no central security for the tablet, but you can add a PIN to the apps individually. The recipes seem to always be accessible without a PIN, as they are not personal info.
While the fridge includes speakers so you can interact online or listen to music, don't expect a great audio experience as the speaker is at the bottom of the door and sounds distant and muffled.
Looking for a new fridge?
If you're not wowed by fancy features associated with smart fridges, the good news is you don't have to spend several thousands of dollars to buy a top-performing fridge.
Our expert testers rate and compare more than 80 fridges from leading brands at different price points so you can find the best model for your kitchen. View CHOICE's latest fridge reviews.
We're on your side
For more than 60 years, we've been making a difference for Australian consumers. In that time, we've never taken ads or sponsorship.
Instead we're funded by members who value expert reviews and independent product testing.
With no self-interest behind our advice, you don't just buy smarter, you get the answers that you need.
You know without hesitation what's safe for you and your family. And our recent sunscreens test showed just how important it is to keep business claims in check.
So you'll never be alone when something goes wrong or a business treats you unfairly.
Learn more about CHOICE membership today
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
