Martha Stewart Weighs In on the Fridgescaping Trend

It must be tough to maintain a kitchen memorable enough that even Martha Stewart, queen of home aesthetics, will remark on it years later. But the elaborate fridgescaping at Kris Jenner’s house is stuck in Stewart’s head like an artichoke in a fall floral arrangement. Her visit to Jenner’s was the first time Stewart had seen such diligently ‘scaped fridges, and the artful displays blew her mind. “It was like looking at her closet full of Hermès pocketbooks, but looking at the most fabulous fridges,” she recalls.

Though Jenner was slightly ahead of the curve, the fridgescaping trend is building momentum on TikTok, where millions regularly watch videos about not only organizing but actually decorating the insides of fridges. The scaping methods range from simple color-coordination to themed scenes employing all kinds of non-edible bits and bobs, tailored to the seasons or a favorite TV show. (So you’re a “Bridgerton” head — but have you met Fridgerton?)

Popular fridgescapers craft artistic, Arctic-temperature displays with joy-sparking (but totally impractical) touches like twinkle lights and antique wooden boxes that frequently earn them backlash from viewers who say these climate-controlled creations waste valuable fridge real estate. But in a recent post incorrectly referencing stats from the Department of Energy, one of those creators asked: “If I’m looking inside my refrigerator up to 1,500 times a month, why wouldn’t I want to make it pretty?” (The actual statistic comes from a program run by the Environmental Protection Agency, which estimates Americans open their fridges 33 times per day.)

Regardless of how often they’re opened, Stewart predicts most home cooks like herself may not have much room in their fridges for flower vases and photo frames. “I try to keep my fridge looking slightly organized, but I have to fit a lot of stuff in it,” Stewart says. “I’m constantly picking stuff in the garden and bringing it up, and it has to be refrigerated once it’s picked.”

While she’s impressed that Jenner’s house is “fridgescaped to the nth degree,” Stewart, who spoke with PS ahead of both the Oct. 30 release of her Netflix documentary, “Martha,” and her latest campaign with Pure Leaf tea, won’t be partaking in the trend anytime soon.

“I don’t have time to fridgescape,” Stewart says. “Sorry.”

Still, she acknowledged any great home cook should try to keep their kitchen organized — with or without a crisper drawer full of luxe flatware.

What Is the Fridgescaping Trend?

While Americans have been covering the outsides of our fridges with magnetic masterpieces since the 1970s, it’s the inner shelves and drawers that are getting the most attention online today. Fridgescaping gained unprecedented visibility in August when a disgruntled husband’s Reddit thread went viral. In the post, he calls what his wife did to their refrigerator “absurd,” adding that her decorating, like placing vases full of flowers “in front of food so you have to move things just to get to the food,” was “really getting on my nerves.” The post, which now has nearly 4,000 comments, kicked off some chilly discourse about the trend’s merits (or lack thereof).

But the now infamous practice of fridgescaping actually dates back to 2011, when blogger Kathy Perdue coined the term as a riff on fridgescaping’s better-known cousin: tablescaping. “Why not put your everyday food items in pretty containers and have something pretty to look at when you open the door,” she wrote at the time.

And while fridgescaping can be more minimalist, the refrigerators that have gone most viral are more sculpture than food closet, woven with narratives and themes. Lynzi Judish has created several such scenes, including her latest fall scape, complete with mini gourds, decorative woven baskets, antique-looking colored glass vases filled with fresh herbs, and Halloween-approved skeleton dolls whose bony legs dangle off the shelves.

Fridgescaping Pros and Cons

Stewart doesn’t have the time or space for fridgescapes that involve lots of inedible items like vases and photo frames, and neither will most home cooks. But fridgescaping pioneers swear by its benefits as a mindfulness exercise, adding that it helps cut down on waste because it forces you to keep track of what’s actually in your fridge. And some, like Judish, have even said it’s helped with disordered eating recovery and can heal relationships to food.

There are some health hazards associated with fridgescaping to be aware of, too, and projects that encourage people to intentionally store perishables without proper covers, for example, are not recommended. But committing to a fridgescape is a good excuse to deep clean your fridge, which likely otherwise gets infrequent attention from a sponge — though experts recommend a deep clean three to four times a year to prevent cross-contamination and food spoilage.

Still, professional organizers and interior designers like Stewart wonder if fridgescaping, in its most impractical forms, runs the risk of making homeowners feel inadequate. “If you have the time for it, then great,” Stewart said. “But I think that’s unusual.”

How Martha Stewart Keeps Her Fall Kitchen Organized — Without Fridgescaping

Though the bedrock of her career is home decor, curating her fridge display is an afterthought for Stewart, whose stalwart commitment to home cooking might surprise even her biggest fans.

“You’ll be horrified to know I’ve never ordered in,” she tells PS. Someone once ordered her a pizza, but she doesn’t even remember what kind. “There’s always something that can be cooked in my home.”

Fridgescaping might not be for Stewart, but there are other methods of kitchen curation that she swears by, especially during busy seasons. “Counterscaping,” especially for organizing her egg collection, is especially beloved. One of her favorite methods involves her row of “beautiful antique white bowls,” each full with eggs from the many fowls she raises on her property: chickens, geese, guinea hens, and turkeys.

With the busy fall season coming up — and all its many culinary demands — organization is key. Like just about everyone else, Stewart is planning to make lots of soups this fall, and she makes extra for her grandkids in nearby New York City, who like to come visit on weekends. (They especially love her butternut squash recipe.)

So while Stewart won’t be building an autumnal fridgescape anytime soon, her kitchen is surely not at risk of being neglected this fall.

Emma Glassman-Hughes is the associate editor at PS Balance. Before joining PS, her freelance and staff reporting roles spanned the lifestyle spectrum; she covered arts and culture for The Boston Globe, sex and relationships for Cosmopolitan, travel for Here Magazine, and food, climate, and agriculture for Ambrook Research.