If you’re looking for a mini fridge for your college dorm, an ultra-compact model will be your best choice, since you won’t have a lot of room for appliances. Mini fridges are almost synonymous with college dorm life, but they can be helpful around your home or office as well. They can provide extra cold storage for groceries like vegetables, fruits, and even meat or keep frozen meals close-at-hand for quick lunches at your desk. There’s even a model from Frigidaire that has a water dispenser in the door so you can refill your reusable water bottles whenever you like! Stocked with a full width freezer and multiple compartments, the Whirlpool 3.1 Cubic Feet Mini Refrigerator offers multiple ways to organize your food and drinks.
In addition, we evaluate each refrigerator’s ease of use, including the helpfulness of the manual, the type and ease of use of the controls and the comfort of grasping or using the door handles. It has two adjustable shelves in the fridge and one in the freezer, and its crisper drawer keeps produce fresh. Mini Fridge with Top Freezer has an interior light for spotting exactly what you need inside. Why go all the way to the campus cafeteria or dorm lobby for a cold drink when you can easily just get it out of this mini fridge in the corner of your room?
But keep in mind that use cases and environmental factors will have an impact on energy use. I chose a variety of price points, designs, and sizes of mini fridges to suit almost every budget and purpose. I even chose a mini fridge model with a Sabbath Mode for Jewish customers who observe strict rules about using electronics on the Sabbath and religious holidays. The Smeg Mini Refrigerator is an Italian-made, 1950s-inspired mini fridge that comes in a variety of colors (black, white, red, cream and green). We love the sturdy handle, which makes the unit easy to open, and the adjustable door bins, which are perfect for fitting taller bottles.
Unless all you need a frozen section for is to hold an ice tray, you may be better off choosing a two-door compact fridge. They maintain more even temperatures and give you more storage for frozen goods — at the cost of refrigerated space. Whether you’re looking to buy a mini fridge for your dorm or office or need extra space at home for groceries, the Hisense LCR44D6NSE freestanding mini fridge is an almost perfect option. It has 4.4 cubic feet of space, and it forgoes a freezer section to provide more room for things like 2 liter bottles and gallon water or milk jugs. The door hinge is reversible, allowing you to choose whether it opens to the left or right to better fit into your space.
Standing at just over 27 inches tall, this mini fridge provides enough space for snacks and drinks and can fit nicely under most desks or inside a cubicle. The door also has storage for up to eight canned drinks as well as space for larger bottles. The adjustable thermostat aims to ensure an ideal temperature for your food.
Having a mini fridge in your dorm is a great way to keep drinks and food handy for study sessions and hangouts with friends. The Frigidaire EFR100 is small enough to fit on a dresser top or under a lofted bed, and the reversible door hinge gives you even more placement options by allowing it to open to the left or right. The door has enough space for 2 liter bottles and the freezer section is perfect for an ice tray or frozen meals for a quick bite between classes. This model has a single wire shelf that can be removed, making it easier to lug around when moving in and out of dorms or when you need to wipe out the mini fridge. In the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab, we have a long history of testing kitchen appliances, including full-size refrigerators, smart refrigerators and built-in refrigerators.
We were able to fit ounce cans into the Danby DCR044A2 comfortably (meaning, they didn’t fall out when we opened the door). One of our favorite features is the set of eight individual can holders, a departure from the one-at-a-time dispensers in most other mini fridges. We also put half a head of iceberg lettuce on the top shelf of the fridge to see how well the fridge could preserve perishable whirlpool mini refrigerator produce, as well as to see if it accidentally froze items sitting near the freezer. The US federal government issues the certification to the most energy-efficient appliances available. The goal is to save you money on your utility bills when you choose the most efficient ENERGY STAR model. A mini fridge can absolutely be worth the cost, especially if you’re going off to college.