If your Instagram algorithm is anything like mine (and even if it isn’t), I can almost guarantee you’ve seen the Rocco fridge pop up on your feed at least once in the past couple of years. If you’re unfamiliar, I’ll give you the rundown: First released in the fall of 2023, the Rocco Super Smart Fridge is a beverage fridge that doubles as a bar cart. It’s one of the best additions I made to my home last year—and it’s currently on sale at its lowest price all year.
I’ve been a staunch advocate for the whole mini-fridge-as-bar concept since I moved into my apartment several years ago. I live in a small space, but that doesn’t keep me from hosting dinner parties, game nights, and cocktail soirees on a regular basis, so it’s always been important to me to have a designated area where guests can help themselves to all manner of drinks, alcoholic and not. Before the Rocco, that meant my roommate’s old college mini fridge: a retro-looking light blue number that looked quite cute next to our yellow couch, but was bulky and left something to be desired functionality-wise. The interior was designed like a fun-size version of a normal fridge, so there was no space-efficient way to store cans or bottles. It also jutted into the room far more than we’d have liked, with a square-shaped top that worked fine for stashing bottles on, but not as well for actually seeing said bottles.
The Rocco caught my eye immediately because it seemed like the ideal level up from my existing mini fridge. Intended to hold a mix of wine bottles and canned beverages on its adjustable racks, with a top that’s specifically designed to function as a home bar and a shallow depth that works great in tight quarters, it promised to meet each and every one of my needs—plus, it was, well, pretty. It also boasts dual temperature zones to keep your reds and whites appropriately chilled and a host of smart features (hence its name), like app connectivity and a camera that supposedly tells you what’s inside your fridge.
Now, I’ll tell you right off the bat that if the camera function is what entices you about this fridge, you should meter your expectations a bit—while I have noticed improvements in the technology in the year-plus I’ve been using the Rocco, it isn’t perfect. But I’m willing to bet that most of you who have been coveting this thing are drawn, like me, to its mix of form and function. And I can almost guarantee that if you’re into it as an aesthetic choice, you’ll be surprisingly impressed with its functionality.
After testing this fridge for over a year, I can confidently say that it’s been a true hosting game changer. I love that I can set one half of it to fridge-cold for sodas, hard seltzers, and the like, while keeping the other half at a warmer temp more suitable for wine—all of which I can control remotely from the app (which works very well for that purpose). It’s incredibly quiet and even has multiple noise level modes that you can switch between (Smart, Quiet, and Party). As someone whose kitchen and living room are essentially one unit, I’ll do anything I can to keep guests on the other side of the room while I’m futzing around with appetizers or frantically getting dinner to the table—and there’s simply no better way to do that, I’ve found, than an eye-catching fridge that’s fully stocked with all of their favorite bevs (and even a premade batched dirty martini if I’m feeling like it).
