Mini Refrigerator Guide

Find the best deals on the mini refrigerator you’re looking for at a price you can afford. A mini refrigerator can be a great addition to any place where extra space to store cold food and beverages is needed. From the family room to a wet bar to a college dorm room to the master bedroom and even in your car or truck, the mini fridge is here to stay.

Mini refrigerators have been around since the 1960s but in the affluent twenty-first century they’ve evolved into several types of small refrigerator, each with its own specialized use. The term compact refrigerator generally refers to the familiar cube- or rectangle shaped units that run on house current. Sizes run from 1.7 cubic feet up to 5 cubic feet. Sizes from 3.2 through 5 cu ft are typically counter high units and run about 32 inches tall.

The most familiar size to most of us is the standard 1.7 cu ft refrigerator, sometimes referred to as a 1 2/3 cu ft refrigerator. This unit is shaped like a cube approximately 18 inches on all six sides. Sometimes called a dorm refrigerator because college dorms rent them out to students by the thousands, these units do the job of keeping beverages and small amounts of food cold with no frills. The interior typically has a single coated wire shelf and a tiny ice chest tucked up in the right corner that takes up most of the room in the top half of the compartment. There’s nothing glamorous about these units. An adjustable thermostat control lets you make minor temperature adjustments. Defrosting is done manually. Weighing in at between 40 and 50 pounds, they’re easy to move from room to room as your household needs change, or out of the dorm in the spring

Don’t depend on the built-in mini freezer in a 1.7 cu ft dorm fridge to keep ice cream cold, but you can usually keep it below 32 degrees, which is enough to keep a tray of ice cubes frozen. On the bottom shelf you’ll find enough room for a six pack of 12 oz. bottles or cans to stand up, and the better models have molded shelves in door that leave room for one or two 2-liter bottles of soda or a fifth bottle of wine to stand upright. A good example is the Haier HNS-B02 1.7 cu ft refrigerator, which is a popular brand and can be ordered online for less than $100. Magic Chef, Igloo, Danby, and GE are also popular mini fridges.

The next step up the food chain, so to speak, is a 2.4 cu ft mini refrigerator. This is a somewhat unusual size, with Haier and Sanyo’s two models comprising the bulk of sales in this category. Like its smaller 1.7 cu ft cousin, these units are nothing fancy. The Sanyo SR-A2480 2 2/5 cu ft refrigerator simply takes the dorm size cube unit and adds a second coated wire shelf, bringing the height to 24 inches. Pricing runs around $150 to $175 for this model, which includes a door can dispenser and a reversible door. The Haier HSB03 is a similar model which sells for about $100. The Sanyo SR-2410 is slightly larger than the A2480 at 26 inches high and adds a lot of extra space inside by eliminating the freezer. Otherwise it has the same features as the A2480 but costs over $200. All three models weigh around 50 pounds, except the stainless steel models which are considerably heavier.

A 3.2 cu ft refrigerator not only makes room for more of your food and beverages, but it allows manufacturers to equip them with more features than the smaller compact refrigerators. Typically these units are about 32 inches high and weigh around 70 pounds. The basic models have three shelves inside and a full-width freezer compartment, plus shelves in door that will hold tall bottles. At under $175, the Danby 3.2 is the most basic of these units. It has a full width freezer, a reversible door, and pushbutton defrost. The Avanti 3281B has similar features at a similar price with automatic defrost added. Although the freezer in these units is wider, it isn’t any colder than the smaller ones. The Igloo FR834a 3.2 cu ft refrigerator and the Sanyo SR3770 are other models in this category worth looking at.

Moving on up to the 4.3 cu ft refrigerator, you’ll find that the features are very similar to the 3.2 cu ft single door designs with full width ice chest type freezers. The manufacturers add space by increasing the unit’s width and depth to 21 inches, while leaving the height around 32 inches. Weight approaches 100 pounds with these larger models, and prices are about $175. Some examples are the Danby DCR412 and the Haier ESR042.

If you want a true 0-degree freezer, you need to look at the two door mini fridges, which will keep your ice cream and frozen foods every bit as cold as their full size cousins. A good example is the Danby 3.1 cu ft two door refrigerator, which also features a crisper drawer in the bottom to keep your vegetables fresh. Both the Danby and the Edgestar two door are priced around $225 and weigh under 100 pounds. The Edgestar has automatic defrost for the refrigerator compartment but the freezer unit still has to be defrosted manually.

The Sanyo SR-4912 is a 5.0 cu ft counter high refrigerator that looks and performs very much like the inexpensive 3.2 cu ft and 4.3 cu ft models. It features an adjustable thermostat, a crisper drawer, reversible door, gallon bottle storage and can dispenser in the door, and three shelves. It does not, however, have a freezer or automatic defrost. Price is about $275 online.