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There are niches where DC makes sense - low-voltage lighting, USB/LED ecosystems.

Once you get into higher power (laptops and up), switching and distribution get harder, so the advantages fade.

For bigger appliances (fridge, etc), AC is fine + practical.

Your modern fridge is probably going to have an inverter-driven motor, so you're right back to using DC.

All modern appliances and HVACs are using inverter drive motors for efficiency. Brushless DC motors are more efficient though.

"Brushless DC motors" are actually just AC synchronous motors.