This smart refrigerator has a 9-inch screen with voice control and automatic doors, but that’s not even my favourite feature

Smart refrigerators are becoming more and more common, but the Samsung Family Hub remains one of the best options on the market. They provide far more than just a simple WiFi connection to control basic functions remotely. Through the touchscreen display, you can manage other smart devices, check the weather forecast or your calendar, play music, watch TV and much more.

I’ve been testing the Bespoke AI Side-By-Side Family Hub, 9-inch model. This is a 621-litre fridge-freezer, split virtually to allow for one-third freezer (220l) and two-thirds fridge (401l). It offers all-around cooling, with metal cooling plates to retain the temperature and offers a Power Cool and Power Freeze option to blast cold air through either side to quickly drop the temperature.

I was excited to use the Family Hub, as my home is not short on connected devices and having a central hub in the kitchen could be a great way to manage them. However, after more than a month of using this smart fridge, it’s not the display that excites me most.

Price and availability

Released in 2025, the Samsung Bespoke AI Side-By-Side Refrigerator Family Hub 9" was originally priced at £2499 in the UK, which is around $3330 in the UK and A$4794 in Australia. However, it’s now reduced by £500, making it as low as £1999 in some places. Models in the US and Australia differ slightly.

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My one true crush

Now, I know a water dispenser is nothing new. I remember having one growing up that you could even fill with squash and dispense it inside the door with a push-up, optic-like nozzle. However, the water dispenser on the Samsung Family Hub fridge is next level.

It offers a plumbed water and ice dispenser in the freezer door, which allows it to dispense water or ice on demand without having to refill it. A water purification canister sits between the fridge and the water supply, so both ice and water are purified. This can be easily swapped out when it’s time, with a reminder from the display to do so.

The large compartment in the back of the freezer door holds plenty of ice ready for dispensing, and will keep making more as needed (or stop overnight, so as not to disturb). There are three settings on the dispenser: a water setting, an ice cube setting, and a third for crushed ice.

Now, if you’re a fan of cocktails, having instant access to crushed ice is a game changer. From margaritas and mojitos to daiquiris, Moscow mules, and watermelon smashes, these drinks level up when you use crushed ice rather than your standard ice cubes.

With the Samsung Family Hub fridge, you simply select the crushed ice option and push your glass against the rear panel under the nozzle to let the crushed ice fill your cup. No more separate ice crushers or a tea towel and mallet.

Even if cocktails aren’t your thing, having the two ice options on demand here means that you can always make a cold drink without having to worry about filling ice trays or buying those shop packs of ice.

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Family Hub display

Now, for most people, I know the Family Hub display is the main reason for buying this fridge – it was certainly the first thing I looked at – so let me go into a little more detail on what it offers.

The 9-inch horizontal display was a change for the 2025 edition of Samsung’s range, as a more subtle alternative to the 21.5-inch model. Both options were designed to offer deeper integration into the smart home ecosystem through Samsung’s SmartThings. Its usage is divided into four main areas: food, home, family communication and entertainment.

The main dashboard provides a mix of functions, including the change to add products inside your refrigerator and browse recipes with full cooking guidance. A fridge manager feature lets you control the temperatures and modes for your fridge freezer, while the SmartThings option lets you control other devices.

By swiping up from the bottom, you can access the app dock for the most used apps, as well as the full list of apps. These include a web browser, YouTube, Spotify and Ring, along with meal planner, memos, shopping liars, calendar, weather, timer, Map View, SmartThings and Bixby.

Bixby is Samsung’s virtual assistant, used across all its smart devices. From the Family Hub, you can access Bixby via the dedicated app or by voice, using the “Hey Bixby” wake word. While Samsung Galaxy devices can now also use the Google Gemini assistant, there isn’t that option on the Family Hub fridge.

This model doesn’t have the AI Vision Inside function, which uses an internal camera to recognise the food, so items have to be added to your contents list individually. So while it’s a lovely idea to keep track of every item’s best-before dates and use them to create recipes, the process of adding takes far too long.

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Open sesame, I mean, Bixby!

The other great feature of this fridge is the auto-open door feature. Touch sensors on both the fridge and freezer doors can be lightly tapped to engage the function, which then fully opens the door. Opening fridge doors often takes a bit of a pull, due to the suction of the seal keeping the cold air inside, so this makes it so much easier.

It’s a function I wasn’t sure I needed – if you have a hand free to tap, surely you can just open it – but once I turned it on, I used it all the time. What I like about this automatic door function is that you can still open it manually if you want. It takes a few seconds for the door to open and then to swing out, so if you’re in a rush, opening it manually is much quicker.

In addition to using the touch sensors, you can also open the fridge doors using your voice. Saying “Hey, Bixby, open the fridge door”. The assistant takes a few seconds to think about the task, but then complies by opening the door, as if by touching the sensor.

The only downside, apart from the delay while it thinks through the command, is the fact that it opens both the fridge and freezer doors at once. Handy if you’ve just got the shopping and are replenishing both, but for use while cooking, it would be good to be able to do one or the other.

Should I buy the Samsung Family Hub refrigerator?

This Samsung refrigerator is not only a great-looking device, but it’s one of the best fridges I’ve used in a long time – and I’ve used a lot. There’s plenty of space for all of your fresh produce, including nice big door pockets for all your drinks.

Both the fridge and freezer sections are extremely well chilled and the airflow keeps the temperatures even and the produce ventilated. I’m also a big fan of the two giant vegetable trays in the bottom of the fridge.

When it comes to smart controls, the 9-inch display is useful without being too in-your-face. It provides all the information you need, though the Ring app feels a little glitchy, and general operation can seem a little slow compared to a phone or tablet. I’d love to see this display updated to a full Android setup, complete with Google Gemini, as I think it could work a lot better.

As for my favourite part, the ice dispenser, this makes the fridge for me. Filtered water and ice on tap with no refilling, plus crushed ice straight from the machine, to make those perfect cocktails. What more could you ask for?

Especially at its new discounted price, the Samsung side-by-side family hub refrigerator is a great choice.