Six Reasons Why You Should Forget About Fridgescaping

Design tips are everywhere these days, with content creators showing off ways to transform your home, yard, and even the inside of your fridge. Fridgescaping, the art of decorating your refrigerator’s interior, is a popular trend on TikTok and elsewhere, and many viewers are clamoring to makeover their boring fridges.

Creating a beautiful scene inside your fridge comes with caveats. You can’t fit as much food, and it’s tough to maintain the look, especially if you don’t live alone. Fridgescaping often ends up causing food to spoil more quickly, which leads to wasting money. Plus, the upkeep of your artistic endeavors takes time and energy that you may wish to devote elsewhere.

Fridgescaping has its fair share of skeptics, but it also has many fans, so it’s easy to find a video, reel, or even tutorials walking you through the process. But before you decide to go all Picasso with your produce, decide if styling the inside of your refrigerator is worth it.

It’s Okay To Fridgescape If You Really Want To

This article isn’t to stop you from your dreams of creating an organized refrigerator. By all means, sort and categorize your food to your heart’s content, so meal prep or grabbing a snack isn’t a hassle. But know that fridgescaping goes beyond simple organizing and could actually be counterproductive.

Also, if opening your fridge to a gorgeous display of fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and decanters of juice makes you smile, then you do you. However, understand that it takes a little time and money. The money comes in from buying the different decanters, containers, shelves, knick-knacks, twinkle lights, and any other decor items you want to include.

Basically, if you’re set on designing a luxe look inside your fridge, go for it. However, don’t start creating your chilly masterpiece without knowing the whole picture.

Before You Start, Know The Potential Downsides Of Fridgescaping

If you're already a committed refrigerator display aficionado, then continue making the inside of your fridge a thing of beauty. But if you're on the fence, you're just curious, or you want to look at every angle, keep reading. These drawbacks of fridgescaping might have you thinking twice before you add that vase of flowers or build a cheese pyramid.

1. Food Spoils Faster

The biggest downside of styling the inside of your fridge is the effect it has on your food. After all, isn’t the whole point of your refrigerator to keep your food fresh and safe?

The shelf-life of many items is reduced drastically once you open the container (many types of meat, some sauces, etc.). Therefore, if you're opening these things all at once to put them into something pretty, you now have between four and seven days to eat or drink them.

Also, storing flowers next to food could lead to potential cross-contamination. (Yes, some fridgescape artists include floral embellishments alongside their food pageantry.) Furthermore, displaying fruits and veggies on shelves instead of storing them in the proper drawers could lead to premature spoilage.

Those crisper drawers are there for a reason. According to the FDA, the drawers “ provide an optimal storage environment” since veggies need higher humidity and fruits do better with less humid conditions. Also, some die-hard fridgescapers end up including certain produce that shouldn't go in the refrigerator at all.

2. You Likely Can’t Fit As Much In Your Refrigerator

When you add a bunch of decor inside your fridge or containerize every little thing, you need more space. Therefore, you might end up sacrificing the necessary room you need inside your refrigerator for your food.

The takeaway is that if you fridgescape, you likely won't fit as much food in your fridge as you should be able to. Less space means more frequent trips to the grocery to replace or buy food as you free up space. 

Alternatively, you could adjust your eating habits to include more non-perishable foods or purchase a deep freezer or backup fridge for extra storage. (Of course, this also means spending more money, but you could score a good used option on Facebook marketplace or similar sites.)

3. You Could Use That Time And Energy On Other Things

Let's face it: most people are juggling plenty of responsibilities, and when you're running low on energy, fridgescaping isn't likely a top priority. Before you start styling your strawberries, think about your overall schedule.

Do you have the time to spare? Or is fridgescaping going to steal the time and energy you need for more pressing projects? This is one of those things that only you can answer, since you know your schedule, commitments, and sleep requirements. 

4. Fridgescaping Is Stressful If You Share Your Fridge With Others

Can you imagine spending time and money painting a beautiful portrait only to have someone come along and poke a hole in it? Well, if you live with other people, your fridgescaping efforts are going to be in vain.

You'll take the time to create an Instagram-worthy food masterpiece inside your fridge, only to have it rearranged by roomies or hungry teenagers scrounging for snacks. Then, whenever you open the fridge to get something, you'll end up rearranging and fixing your display instead of actually getting anything to eat.

5. You Might Spend More Money

Let's circle back to how fridgescaping could potentially shorten your food's lifespan and lead to early spoilage. Another consequence of this unfortunate side effect, besides more grocery store runs, is spending more money on food.

Grocery prices are high enough without having to replace expired items because you decided they looked better in an acrylic box instead of their original packaging. (And this isn’t even touching on the fact that you're also wasting food for the sake of a styled fridge.)

Plus, fridgescaping incurs other costs for all of the containers and decor you need to make your artistic statement. Additionally, there are the added energy costs of keeping the fridge door open for long periods while you craft your showy spectacle.

6. You Sacrifice Function

Again, fridgescaping is not organizing. Your refrigerator may look neat and pretty, but it's not performing at an optimal level. If your primary focus is on aesthetics, functionality takes the backseat when it should be the other way around.

One of the key points of good design is “form follows function,” especially in something with a more utilitarian purpose, like your fridge. But shifting your priority to appearance over practicality comes with drawbacks. 

There's the food spoilage issue, wasting time finding items, and overspending on your food budget. When you start to add all the extra knick-knacks, accessories, and glitzy containers, you end up with less room for your food. Unfortunately, the result is that the setup of your fridge’s contents is less practical.

Is Fridgescaping Worth The Fuss?

There's no right or wrong answer to whether fridgescaping is worth it. It's a pretty subjective thing, depending greatly on the person with the fridge. Some people hate the idea and consider it frivolous and pointless, while others find great joy every time they open their fridge to a beautiful, artsy scene.

If you understand all the potential drawbacks and have no qualms, style your fridge. But do it because you really want to and because you love the outcome. Do it because maintaining your masterpiece makes you smile and relaxes you.

Don't do it just to follow a trend. If you're grumbling every time you have to transfer milk to a bottle, reset the fruit bouquet, and trim the mini topiary, fridgescaping isn't for you.

Or maybe you'll find a happy medium. Organize your fridge for optimal function, include a gorgeous pitcher for some homemade lemonade, and add a cute trinket that makes you smile. It's a little taste of fridgescaping without all the extra frills and fuss.

Related Guides:

• These Types Of Cheese Last The Longest In The Fridge
• 12 Types Of Fruit You Shouldn’t Put Directly In The Refrigerator
• Why Do My Berries Get Moldy So Fast (And How To Fix)