[Arainach]

My refrigerator is the one appliance in my house I haven't had to replace yet, but depending on the age and your budget there are a number of nice features including:

* Better organization - pull out can drawers or exterior-facing small doors so you don't need to expose the whole contents of the fridge to warm air just to grab a can of soda or the ketchup

* Water and ice dispensers - not brand new tech but I've owned plenty of fridges without them (even bought one such fridge within the last 10 years) and much prefer to have them.

* More temperature zones

* Better internal organization

* Significantly better energy efficiency

* Reduced noise

I don't want to have to replace appliances (or cars, or most anything) every 5 years, so I'm glad there are a range of options, but there do continue to be quality of life improvements.

[woodruffw]

This is a helpful list, thanks. I don't think the efficiency improvements have been significant in the last 20 years (see adjacent comment), but anecdotally I think you're right about water/ice dispensers becoming more common (and popular). Same with temperature/humidity zones.