The simplest answer for why Los Angeles landlords don’t provide refrigerators is that they don’t have to.

California law does not require refrigerators to be included in rental units, instead classifying them as “amenities” that aren’t necessary to meet habitability standards. “It’s like a hot tub,” Maloney said, incredulously.

Buying and maintaining a refrigerator became an extra expense that landlords just didn’t want, said Deena Eberly, managing director of the Eberly Company, which manages 4,200 apartments in L.A. County. When they broke, Eberly said, tenants would complain that they had just gone to the grocery store and demand reimbursement.