> Which seems insane; it cannot add that much to the price.

Be careful what you wish for.

When buying my current fridge, I specifically tried to go out of my way to avoid complexity, but the opening for my fridge is an odd size so my choices were limited. The only fridge I could buy that didn’t have a bunch of crap that’s was guaranteed to break (ice maker, water dispenser [seriously? aren’t most fridges right next to a faucet?], LCD-covered glass panel, etc) that also had a thermostat had a digitally-controlled thermostat. No knob or physical buttons, just a capacitive surface for temperature adjustment and some LCD screens showing the fridge and freezer set temps. (Not the actual measured temps, that would be too useful, just the set temps.)

In hindsight, I probably should’ve just gotten one with a regular dial, but I was a bit fixated on the “real” thermostat. So now I’ve got that to look forward to breaking in 4-5 years and figuring out where the hell to source a discontinued fridge LCD panel from.

> water dispenser [seriously? aren’t most fridges right next to a faucet?

Same reason you'd keep a container of filtered water in your fridge.

...why would I keep a container of filtered water in my fridge? My water comes out of the tap already filtered at my municipal water supplier?

Maybe if I was on a well I would need to filter my own water, but then I definitely wouldn’t trust that job to a fridge.

Many people prefer a cold glass of water compared to the cool to room-temperature water that comes out of the tap (Hence the refrigerator for cooling). Filtering at the individual level is typically done for flavor, because depending on where you live, while the water is probably safe to drink (assuming HN readership demographics), it may or may not be particularly pleasant. Even here in the Bay Area, where we have that sweet, sweet Hetch-Hetchy water, I know people who live in buildings with pipes bad enough that they filter their water.