Welcome to fridgescaping… the latest fad sweeping social media

Critics say it is a waste of time and bad for your health but millions are viewing decorated fridges online

It’s the latest trend sweeping social media and involves putting embroidered artwork, ceramic ornaments and wicker baskets in your fridge.
TikTok influencers are showing off their fridges online, adorning them with fresh flowers, handmade picture frames, mirrors and other trinkets in a new fad called “fridgescaping”.
However, food safety experts are warning that keeping food next to such items could be bad for your health.
The Food Standards Agency has urged people not to store their food in containers that have been used for other purposes other than produce storage, as well as to keep it in sealed bags or containers to avoid the risk of cross-contamination with harmful bacteria.
The official watchdog has also advised that fridges should be kept between zero and five degrees celsius, and that raw food including meat should be kept covered.
Laura Mountford, a household cleaning guru and author of Live, Laugh, Laundry who has more than one million followers on social media, warned against the new fad.
“It’s all well and good being pretty, but if it’s not going to add value to your everyday life, it’s not going to have any longevity,” she told The Telegraph.
“But fridgescaping is very aesthetic, and while it’s probably not feasible for a family fridge, if it does give you the motivation to clean your fridge out then it can’t hurt.”
Discussing the use of wicker baskets in the trend, she added: “You can get so many acrylic boxes for any type of food and they’re so much easier to properly clean… the fridge is not the place for a wicker basket.”
A hybrid of interior design and home organisation, fridgescaping can serve both an aesthetic and functional purpose, and advocates claim that it helps them to finish all of their produce.
However, the trend has also faced some backlash and accusations of “timewasting”. And with some TikTok users turning to the Netflix series Bridgerton for inspiration for their designs, critics have taken to branding the trend “fridgerton”.
Shabaz Says, a social media influencer who boasts almost four million followers on Instagram and TikTok, has taken aim at the practice in a satirical video with over a million views.
“Hi, you’re poor, you may not understand this,” the comedian quips in his intro, “but let me show you fridgescaping.”
He goes on to explain: “This is the artistic movement of decorating the inside of one’s fridge like Bridgerton.
He adds: “You’re not adding ceramic swans with flowers or jewellery boxes with actual jewellery inside in the fridge… you strive to be this level of unemployed, but you can’t. You can’t afford to stock up your fridge, let alone fridgescape.”
Mioko Fujisaki, who leads the kitchen interior design company Kitchen Bee Design in London, said that she suspects the trend will remain a largely online phenomenon.
She explained: “Lots of trends come from the US and some people ask me to implement these styles, but often it’s popular in the US and not the UK… but here it’s a bit more understated.”
“People’s fridges can be the most important appliance, so organisation inside of the fridge is extremely important… I don’t know how people can put something they don’t need in there because fridges are never big enough,” she added.
Tanya Weller, marketing director for digital appliances at Samsung Electronics UK, suggested that the trend could become more permanent with newer see-through fridge models on the market.
She said: “Fridgescaping is a fun, creative trend that enables you to organise everyday food items and decorate an area of your kitchen that isn’t always on show, but with certain models it could become increasingly important.
“There’s also a practical side in organising your food and lessening food waste… Being organised can not only look good, but it can help you keep track of foods and help plan the family meals.”