I have never bought a fridge in my life. When I bought this house the owner just left the current fridge behind it has no branding at all and is basically a white box. The only smart feature it has is that it beeps if you leave the door open (although honestly it's not really much use since it only starts beeping after 10 minutes which I feel like is too long).

and that future will include me ripping out the network connection cards from the primary boards.

if that bricks it, I'll just have to setup an "internet" connection.

I sure hope not, it's hard enough to find nonsucking TVs, I really don't want to have to find an "industrial" fridge just to get a regular one.

I can totally see it going the same general way as TVs.

I would pry the screen off and dig out the WIFI device if it came down to no other option.