Why don't they design a refrigerator that is cylindrical in shape?

Question

Most if not all refrigerators are cubical in shape, that is, height, width, depth. There are several trays provided to hold the food. However, in my experience and I suppose most of yours also, we tend to keep storing food from the front while pushing older food deeper and deeper in the compartment. The resulting effect is that older food end up spoiled and wasted because we don't see them unless, there are those who consciously check the contents of the frig. By having a cylindrical shape frig, the storage trays are circular and thus can be easily rotated like the "lazy susan". By turning the trays, one can easily see what's all in the frig resulting in less waste.

Answer 1

The reason you don't see round refridgerators is simple.  It isn't normal or status quo.  Although I have seen pie cases that are round, I've never seen them for sale to the public.  Perhaps this is an idea for submission to one of those commercials promoting new ideas.  If you are mechanically inclined, why don't you build one and put it out in the market.  That's how many new inventions or improvements on ideas have made millionaires.

Answer 2

cylindrical refrigerators would waste space in the room - a round peg in a square hole

Answer 3

I suspect the reason is that people won't buy a product as large as a refrigerator if it wastes space in their home.  You can put a round peg in a square hole but it wastes a lot of space.

Answer 4

I can think of two reasons:

A cylindrical refrigerator that is the same standard counter-sized depth as a regular rectangular refrigerator would have less cubic feet of storage space.

The coils on the back of a rectangular refrigerator take up nearly the entire surface area of the back side ...if you have to have the same amount of coils, you would have them coming around the sides of the cylindrical fridge and that would be aesthetically unpleasing. To me, at least.

Answer 5

I believe we don't have cylindrical shaped refrigerators for the same reasons that we don't live in geodesic domes.

At the same time I could see a cylindrical shaped refrigerator doing well in the high end market if it were sold as an under the counter corner unit.