Kitchen
The history of the iconic Smeg fridge
Kitchen
The history of the iconic Smeg fridge
Building on the success of their FAB fridges, Smeg now also has a full collection of appliances to carry the look throughout your kitchen.
Founded in 1948 in the historic northern Italian town of Guastalla, Smeg (a thankfully short acronym for a long and difficult-to-pronounce Italian name) first launched appliances in 1955 with a design-forward darling of a gas stove called Elizabeth. Forty years later, following successes with “starchitect”- designed appliances from the likes of Mario Bellini and Renzo Piano, the company set tongues wagging with the launch of their now-iconic FAB range of retro-inspired fridges.
An iconic refrigerator? Yes, it’s true. With those va-va-voom ’50s-style curves and in a popping range of colours, this is a fridge for people who want their interiors to stand out. Whether you’re into the soft robin’s egg blue, fresh minty green or even the bestselling bright white, it’s never a wallflower. In fact, there was a time when you’d spy one of these lookers in bright cherry red in almost every British design magazine. Over the years, Smeg has upped their game even further by wrapping the fridge in denim, finishing it in chalkboard paint or – more glamorously – collaborating with Dolce & Gabbana in a limited-edition series that turned the fridge into a high-fashion fantasy colourfully hand- painted with folkloric scenes by Sicilian artisans.
As time passes, we’ve seen appliance trends come and go, but for a segment of the market, the vintage vibe is one that’s here to stay. Canada’s own Elmira Stove Works’ Northstar refrigerators celebrate that Happy Days feel in bright colours and chrome accents more often seen on a vintage fin-tailed Cadillac. And portable small-scale fridges can dial up midcentury charm in a dorm room or bedroom, offering space to chill a six-pack of pop or keep beauty essentials on ice (seriously, it’s a thing!). Though if you ask us, we might just nix the pop for Prosecco so we can be ready with a classic Negroni Sbagliato quicker than you can say “Smalterie Metallurgiche Emiliane Guastalla.”
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