Press Release
Whirlpool Protton Nxt 3 Door Refrigerator by Whirlpool India Design Team Wins the Silver A' Design Award in Home Appliances Design
Whirlpool India Design Team acknowledged for home appliances design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 15, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Home Appliances Design category for Whirlpool Protton Nxt 3 Door Refrigerator by Whirlpool India Design Team, designed for Whirlpool Of India Limited. The result belongs to the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the Silver A' Design Award
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
More About Whirlpool Protton Nxt 3 Door Refrigerator
Protton Nxt is a three-door refrigerator designed for urban Indian homes. The third door holds a 34 litre crisper drawer dedicated to fruits and vegetables, the items accessed most often in Indian kitchens. The separate drawer reduces cold air loss from the main compartment. The Active Deo feature limits odor mixing, and the Freshpad feature improves air circulation in the vegetable drawer. Adjustable shelves and rails allow storage to be rearranged as needs change. The refrigerator uses R600a refrigerant, and non-structural parts are made of recycled plastic.
About Whirlpool India Design Team
Whirlpool’s design team in India, anchored in Gurgaon, excels at catering to the diverse Indian consumer by meticulously analyzing varied behavior patterns and usage needs. Their philosophy delivers design true to the brand, maintaining fidelity to the global brand attributes while keeping the consumer at the core of every innovation. By deeply addressing Indian design sensibility, the team integrates premium aesthetics, that transform appliances into sophisticated centerpieces for social home spaces. Functionally, they tackle local pain points through "India-first" solutions that are a derivative of the insights generated through consumer connect and pan-India research activities.
Award Record
This recognition makes Whirlpool India Design Team a winner of 7 A' Design Awards. The awards were granted between the 2020 - 2021 and the 2025 - 2026 editions of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Home Appliances Design Award
The A' Home Appliance Design Award is an international competition recognizing good home appliance designs by best appliance designers and brands worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to home appliance designers, industrial designers, product engineers and appliance brands from all countries. Typical entries include refrigerators, dishwashers, microwaves, washing machines, dryers and ovens. The awarded home appliance designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/home-appliance
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/181869
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/181869
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!181869
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/227038
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.croma.com/unboxed/whirlpool-protton-nxt-3-door-r
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Whirlpool Protton Nxt 3 Door Refrigerator
- Function
- 3 Door Refrigerator
- Category
- Home Appliances Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Electronics & Appliances and Furniture & Home
- Colors
- Light Slate Gray, Gainsboro, Silver, Dim Gray and Dark Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Whirlpool Of India Limited
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Whirlpool India Design Team
- Country
- India
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #181869
Credits
- Team
- Chandradhar Singh Rathore, Ritesh Ramankutty
- Image Credits
- NA
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Whirlpool 3 Door Protton NXT is a novel approach in the saturated refrigeration market, distinguished by its unique format and contemporary design. Meticulously designed to cater to the evolving lifestyles of urban Indian consumers in Tier 1 and 2 cities, this innovative product seamlessly blends progressive aesthetics with enough expression to resonate with the Indian consumer sensibility. This bold design choice enhances the product's aesthetic appeal, making it a standout choice for the consumer.
- Inspiration
- Modern lifestyles and India's predominantly vegetarian population have led to a growing demand for refrigerators with ample storage space for fresh produce. Whirlpool Protton addresses this need by offering a unique three-door format with a dedicated compartment for fruits and vegetables. Key consumer needs were identified and translated into innovative design solutions such as a large vegetable drawer and freshness features like Active Deo, Microblock and Freshpad. While Active Deo feature reduces food odor, Freshpad improves air circulation in the Vegetable compartment which helps in retaining the freshness of stored items.
- Research
- To ensure the product's success, we conducted extensive consumer research which involved ethnographic research and subsequent heuristic evaluation. This allowed us to understand the consumer behavior pattern and identify key consumer needs specific to the target audience and translate them into innovative design solutions stepping up the freshness retention of food items. We have also identified and addressed several consumer concerns, specifically regarding cooling loss during frequent door openings. In the Indian market, the vegetable zone is the most frequently accessed part of the refrigerator.
- Challenge
- Having conducted research to innovate refrigerator features in India, we encountered a complex challenge deeply rooted in profound cultural and dietary diversity. The habits we analyzed revealed drastically varied storage needs. Diverse behavioral patterns had to be decoded to arrive at insights relevant to the entire spectrum. Crucially, the Indian consumer's reliance on fresh produce highlighted a strict requirement for an enlarged, dedicated vegetable zone with freshness prolonged. Ultimately, our greatest hurdle was having these localized insights synthesized into adaptable cooling and freshness features successfully tailored to the everyday rhythms of the diverse Indian kitchen.
- Realization and Technology
- The product retains Whirlpool's core cooling expertise in Freezer and Refrigerator cabinets. The dedicated Veg compartment in the form of a drawer cabinet is further empowered with the Active Deo feature reducing odor mixing and Freshpad which ensures better air circulation and thus keeping the food fresher for a long time. This product is going to be manufactured in Whirlpool's production facility made with a high focus on quality and safety, while ensuring that our plants comply with all environmental laws. The products are reengineered and upgraded as per the latest government approved energy ratings.
- Operation and Interaction
- Whirlpool Protton NXT Refrigerator takes care of the core consumer requirements. The space management of the shelves and the bins follows consumer storage pattern and needs. Additional rails allow users to adjust shelf positions based on their changing storage needs and usage patterns. A primary feature is the Crisper Drawer, a dedicated compartment for fruits and vegetables. Its smooth-glide design ensures easy, one-step access to all stored produce.
- Project Duration and Location
- Project Duration: 18months Location: Design: India Design Studio, Whirlpool India Head Office, Gurgaon Development and Production: Whirlpool India Refrigeration Plant, Pune
- Specifications
- Dimensions(whd)(in cm) : (56 x 175 x 52) Weight: 64.7Kg Capacity: 250L and 237L Consumes Less Energy Than 1 LED Bulb 360 degree enhanced cooling with Fresh Flow 43% lesser cold air loss vs 2 Door top mount No odor mixing with Active Deo 34L Vegetable Crisper to store fruits and vegetables 15 days of Freshness with Microblock technology
- Keywords
- Refrigeration, Whirlpool, Multidoor, India, Appliance, Top-mount, Refrigerator, MakeinIndia, Protton NXT
