what to put in a mini fridge in your room
The 4 all-time mini fridges for whatsoever space and need in 2022
Updated
2022-01-14T20:l:11Z
- The 4 all-time mini fridges of 2022:
- Best mini fridge overall
- Best compact mini refrigerator
- Best convertible mini fridge
- Best mini fridge for drinks
- Our mini fridge enquiry methodology
- Mini refrigerator FAQs
- Check out more kitchen guides
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A mini fridge can be a convenient addition to the office, home office, garage, or anywhere else you care to have a chilled 6-pack or array of snacks at the fix.
Nosotros spoke with several refrigeration experts, including the folks at Liberty Dwelling house Baby-sit, to notice out what makes a good mini fridge, what to avoid, and how to take care of one in club to ensure it lasts for years.
When shopping for mini fridges, the almost important features to consider are shelf configurations (and adjustability), design aesthetics, and whether or not yous want a freezer. If yous only plan to store beverages in your mini fridge, you may prefer 1 specifically designed for holding cans, or one with a glass door so y'all don't accept to open it every fourth dimension you want to peruse your inventory.
Mini fridges aren't generally congenital to final the way that full-sized ones are, and then continue in mind that a expert one will demand to be replaced around the five-year mark, depending on how much you use information technology. Acquire more virtually how Insider Reviews tests and researches abode products.
The iv best mini fridges of 2022:
Best mini refrigerator overall: GE 3.1-Cubic Foot Mini Fridge and Freezer, $296.97 at Amazon
This fridge has a split up freezer and plenty of smartly-designated infinite for cans, food, and more.
Best compact mini refrigerator: Midea 1.6 Cubic Foot, $156.74 at Amazon
The Midea one.6-Cubic-Human foot model has a chiller, a shelf, and stores but the right corporeality of food and beverages for most mini fridge needs.
All-time convertible mini fridge: Avanti Dual Role, $221.30 at Amazon
Meaty and versatile as a refrigerator or freezer, Avanti's Dual-Function mini fridge has a single shelf for like shooting fish in a barrel storage and cleaning.
All-time mini refrigerator for drinks: NewAir 126-Can Mini Bar Fridge, $364.xc at The Dwelling house Depot
A double-paned drinking glass door and adjustable shelves for optimal drink organization make NewAir's 126-tin Mini Bar Beer Refrigerator a great pick for the dwelling bar.
Best mini fridge overall
GE'southward three.1-Cubic-Foot mini fridge has a dissever freezer and plenty of smartly-designated space for cans, food, and more than.
Pros: Great layout with designated sections, separate freezer storage, piece of cake-to-clean glass shelves
Cons: Dorsum wall freezes, can storage is basically useless if yous don't store 12-ounce cans
A mini fridge with a separate freezer is a great packet for galley kitchens, dorms, and moisture confined where you want to take all possible storage options.
Between the slick glass shelves (which we like because they don't take any plastic pieces that could trap leaner and crud), the tin holder, a section on the door for two-liter bottles or wine bottles, and a infinite on top for butter or smaller items, GE'southward three.one cubic pes mini fridge is packed with features. Basically, you could hands alive out of this refrigerator if y'all wanted.
There are a few reasons this refrigerator isn't for anybody, though. If yous don't shop 12-ounce cans, y'all might discover that the can holder on the door becomes wasted infinite, and while about people agree that the freezer works well, some have constitute that temperature fluctuates above freezing. The dorsum of the refrigerator compartment also tends to get colder, which you can use accordingly, simply information technology can also be a nuisance.
Note: Midea's 3.one Cubic Foot Mini Fridge and Freezer is the same fridge from the same manufacturer, and often cheaper. Availability is sporadic, though, as are price fluctuations.
Best compact mini fridge
The Midea 1.6-Cubic-Foot model has a chiller, a shelf, and stores just the right corporeality of food and beverages for nigh mini refrigerator needs.
Pros: Compact, versatile, easy to clean
Cons: Tiny chiller/water ice-making section
A mini fridge is about oft auxiliary, and in offices and dorms where space is a premium, the smaller the improve. We also find that staying on the budget-friendly side makes more than sense when it comes to mini fridges. According to the expert technicians we interviewed, alongside our own research pulling fridges apart, many brands license their name out to such a pocket-sized number of manufacturers that there's very little departure from one refrigerator to the next.
Midea's 1.half dozen-cubic-foot model is on the modest (and affordable) side, only nosotros discover it'll hold a couple of six-packs, a bottle or 2 of wine, and yet leave room to spare for smaller items.
While it's small, the 1.6 cubic foot model includes a chiller for making ice, and the simple wire-rack shelf is piece of cake to pop in and out to make clean. Another not bad characteristic is the reversible door, which isn't as mutual equally it should exist.
Other than that, there are very few components to this fridge, and no flimsy plastic parts apart from the chiller door, which requires more than delicate treatment.
Best convertible mini fridge
Meaty and versatile as a fridge or freezer, Avanti'due south Dual-Part mini fridge has a single shelf for like shooting fish in a barrel storage and cleaning.
Pros: Reversible door, affluent back for space, convertible
Cons: On the smaller side, little infinite for upright storage, no door storage
If you're looking for a mini refrigerator that you can put to piece of work in a pinch every bit either a fridge or a freezer, this is the easiest, most meaty and stowable choice effectually, and came recommended to the states by the experts at Liberty Home Guard.
Note that if you do use this refrigerator equally a freezer, you lot'll desire to be hypervigilant about condensation and exist sure to get a good seal every fourth dimension you open and close the door. This is basically destined to be a problem with almost like models, so it's important to understand that you're working with a very pocket-sized, very inexpensively built apparatus.
A lot of people build this fridge into their RVs because of its size, calorie-free weight (33 pounds compared to virtually others' 40+ pounds), and versatility, as well equally the fact that it can become well below zero degrees and store frozen foods. Some fifty-fifty finish upwards purchasing two of these fridges to store side past side, using one equally a refrigerator and 1 as a freezer.
Best mini refrigerator for drinks
A double-paned glass door and adjustable shelves for optimal drink organization make NewAir's 126-tin Mini Bar Beer Fridge a bang-up pick for the home bar.
Pros: Double-paned glass door for easy visibility, relatively quiet, removable shelves
Cons: No designated space for wine bottles
If you want a wet or mini bar refrigerator, look for a model with a (double-paned) drinking glass door. This allows you to keep an center on your inventory and not take to stand up in that location with the door open while line-fishing around or deciding what y'all want. Every bit we mentioned before, the longer and more frequently yous open your mini fridge door, the more you lot overwork the poor little congenital-in compressor, and the faster you shorten the appliance'due south life.
NewAir refrigerators are congenital with the aforementioned compressors we found in Magic Chef mini fridges and others owned past Whirlpool. Once more, because there are simply a scattering of big manufacturers, the parts are roughly the same, and then too is the quality. If you really want to step it up and are looking for a vino fridge, nosotros have recommendations here.
Otherwise, NewAir offers multiple sizes (a 90-can as well as the 126-can model we recommend), a sleek stainless steel design, and 5 removable shelves so, yes, you can go that case of wine in there no problem, should you want to divide infinite differently.
Our mini fridge research methodology
While writing this guide, nosotros spoke to David Moreno, a New York Urban center-based fridge technician with Liberty Habitation Guard, and also chatted with a mechanical engineer, and a sales associate at The Dwelling Depot. We even disassembled a few mini fridges ourselves to compare their parts, because, as Moreno said, "what I run across with mini fridges is a lot of these manufacturers discover a manufactory that produces them, and license out the name. They're produced in bulk using actually inexpensive components, simply they do come at a great toll point." To that betoken, we found that the four fridges nosotros disassembled used parts from two manufacturers, both from the same province in China.
Based on what we learned from the experts, and our own experience every bit consumers (we've owned over a dozen models), nosotros decided on our recommendations based on the following criteria:
Design: Because almost mini fridges essentially have the same components, design is an important consideration. Simplicity is key; as with any refrigerator, the more complex, the more that can go wrong, co-ordinate to Moreno.
Our overall pick is the nearly versatile mini fridge we could find, with room for everything from cans and condiments to takeout boxes, as well as a pint of ice foam or a couple of ice trays in the freezer section.
Size: Within the realm of mini fridges, there are many sizes. Consider what you're going to store, and how much of it. Our recommendations run the gamut from 1.1 to 4.4 cubic feet, which is about every bit big every bit they get earlier being too beefy to fit under a counter or desk.
Configuration: It'south important to determine what your mini fridge is going to concord — and how much space those things require — earlier making a buy. Removable and adjustable shelves are preferred, and we paid attention to fridges that had both.
Usage: The fewer times yous open and shut a fridge, the less you lot appoint the compressor, and the longer the fridge lasts. I personally have an EdgeStar fridge that'due south in its sixteenth twelvemonth, but I simply open information technology every week or so, and often not for months at a time. I also accept a Magic Chef model that gets about the same corporeality of use. It's over five years old, and information technology's doing simply fine, save for some mild clicking one time in a while.
Toll: While near mini fridges worth recommending fall inside the $200 - $400 range, we did consider budget options, particularly for those who don't plan on using their fridge too often. Since all mini fridges have a lifespan of about three to five years, spending a lot of coin on one doesn't make much sense, with the exception of built-in options, which require more of an investment. We're researching built-ins for our next update, but for now, Moreno suggests a Whirlpool model.
Mini refrigerator FAQs
Should I buy a mini refrigerator?
Mini fridges are great for offices, dorms, recreation rooms, and and so many other places, but it'southward important to know that they aren't usually congenital all that well, and you can't expect to get more than 5 years out of even a good one.
That'due south because mini fridges are congenital using cheaper components — namely, cheaper compressors — than standard refrigerators, and they're just non built to final as long.
If space isn't necessarily the deciding factor, and y'all're going to be using (opening and closing) the fridge a lot, you lot may consider purchasing a full-sized refrigerator on the more than affordable side.
If you are set on a mini fridge, though, it'southward a perfectly useful and worthwhile investment. Just consider that it might exist wise to not spend too much, taking into account the shorter lifespan. Our recommendations above run the gamut of what nosotros plant (based on inquiry and expert interviews) to be a reasonable price range.
How practice I intendance for a mini fridge?
The most important matter is to continue the back of it (or any type of fridge) at least three inches away from walls and other surfaces, According to David Moreno, a service technician with Liberty Home Guard.
In order for a compressor to do its job, information technology has to collect estrus, and in order to run optimally, it has to have air to release that heat. Otherwise, information technology's working double-time.
Likewise, make certain to go on your fridge make clean inside and out. This includes dusting the dorsum, and in particular dusting the coils. Keeping the fridge clean on the inside is important for your hygiene of course, simply also the fridge's. After some bespeak, the wrong mix of spills and ensuing mold can start to impairment the components.
And, to make sure you maintain a good seal with your gaskets, exist sure to wipe the gaskets clean every calendar month. The more a fridge leaks air, the more the compressor runs, and the more the compressor has to run, the shorter its lifespan will be.
Tin you leave a mini refrigerator on all the time?
Aye, and mostly, motors final longer when they're regularly run. What really speaks to your fridge's longevity is how ofttimes you lot open and shut information technology. The more you do and then, the harder the compressor works, and the shorter you can await it to live.
Where should you lot not put a mini refrigerator?
Go along your mini fridge away from heat sources, including other refrigerators (or at least their compressors and hot spots), and go on it three inches away from walls and cabinets so that its compressor has infinite to cool.
Owen Burke
Home and Kitchen Reporter
Owen Burke is a Senior Habitation and Kitchen Reporter at Insider, helping arts and crafts a make new guides section for Insider Reviews. Always in search of the perfect espresso, he focuses on espresso machines and equipment, juicers, kitchen knives, grills, meat and seafood, and the odd outdoors product. Previously, he was a contributor at Wirecutter, Outside, Surfer Magazine, and The Atlantic. He's as well worked in raw bars, restaurants, and on fishing boats, belongings a USCG Master Captain'south license. He is a contributing author on The Sea: The Ultimate Handbook of Nautical Knowledge. Say how-do-you-do at oburke@insider.com. Acquire more about how our team of experts tests and reviews products at Insider hither. Learn more about how we test kitchen products.
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