Ever pull out your water pitcher to find it’s only got a few droplets left of chilly water? GE wants to make that a thing of the past with a fridge that automatically fills up your water pitcher.
The Autofill Pitcher uses magnets to sense when the jug is in place and a floating switch to tell when it’s full. Whenever you snap the pitcher back into its spot, it will fill up with 74 ounces of filtered water. The docking station is right at the front on the top shelf, so you’ll have to fit items around it if you plan on letting it do its autofill thing.
This tech isn’t meant for fridges with ice and water dispensers. Instead, GE added it to its $900 GAS18PGJWW and $1,000 GAS18PSJSS top-freezer refrigerators. The filters last six months, and an indicator light will remind you when it’s time to change it.
“We discovered that many top freezer owners were already pitcher users, but with frustration points of inadequate filtration, and having to constantly fill the pitcher,” said Jason May, top freezer product manager for GE Appliances, in a press release. “Creating a solution to these problems is why we advanced the technology and added it to our lineup.”
Apparently 36 percent of water-filtration product owners think refilling is a time-consuming hassle, according to GE’s research. The company says it hopes the autofilling pitcher solution will cut down on bottled water consumption, too.
And while it seems like someone who really wanted filtered water could just by a side-by-side model with an H2O dispenser, GE’s least-expensive models are still $1,200, a couple hundred dollars more expensive than the Autofill Pitcher versions.
