Smart/App:

1. Ignore the App and “buhuuu smarrrtt bad”!warning here and rather look at the brand more exactly and do your own due diligence. Is a cloud app bad? Yes,maybe. (But tbh, the amount of information given out is somewhat negligible here) BSH (Bosch-Siemens Hausgeräte, incl. Neff and Gagenau) offers HomeConnect that at least is within GDPR reach. Even better: If you already have a Home Assistant instance running there is a “Home Connect local” integration that,well, gives you the important benefits while keeping it local. Liebherr offers the “Smart Box” as an upgrade that your install yourself,but as far as I know there is no proper way to keep it offline. But Liebherr has a fair share of privacy certifications at least (and a lot to loose as loosing them for their “sidemarket” of household cooling appliances and thereby fucking over their professional market would really bite them…not that that is a guarantee, but…maybe it helps…

There are a few Asian brands that work with Tuya (which is a data security/privacy nightmare) but also support Tuya local (without cloud).

The information security risk for these solutions,especially when using proper network segmentation (which is easily done - if you aren’t into IT then get a Omada combined router and be done in 1h)… Last but not least: You can of course smarten up your fridge yourself. Get a binary door opening sensor, wireless temperature probe and most importantly a power measuring plug (Nous A1T are Tasmota based and cheap) so you can find out early if your device fucks up.

Besides that’Considering the energy prices here get the most efficient one you can afford. It will get amortization sooner than you think.