Final answer:
Leaving the refrigerator door open leads to increased energy consumption as the appliance works harder to cool the incoming warm kitchen air, resulting in a warmer overall kitchen temperature due to heat exhaust from the refrigerator's coils.
Step-by-step explanation:
When a refrigerator door is left open, the energy flow is characterized by heat transfer from the warmer kitchen into the refrigerator and the increased work by the refrigerator to maintain its internal temperature. Since the refrigerator works to remove heat from its interior, the motor runs more frequently, using more energy to transfer heat from the inside to the outside of the refrigerator. However, with the door open, the warm air from the kitchen continuously enters the refrigerator, opposing the cooling effect. Consequently, this wastes energy, as the appliance has to work harder to cool the incoming warm air, and also warms up the kitchen due to the heat being exhausted into the space from the coils behind the refrigerator. This indicates that leaving the refrigerator door open does not lead to cooling the kitchen, but rather can contribute to a slight increase in overall temperature of the room due to the heat being exhausted by the refrigerator's coils.