If you're going to use a mini fridge mainly for beverages, pick a model that has adjustable shelves or built-in racks to accommodate bottle and can sizes. Fortunately, its temperatures are some of the more consistent ones we saw, so once it's properly calibrated it should be all right. Our favorite fridge is the Magic Chef HMCR320WE (available at Home Depot for $0.00), which is a good fit for those looking for a high-performance mini fridge at a great price. If your freezer gets warmer than 0F, it means your food isn't being truly frozen. Its performance and capacity also hold up to more expensive units. One of the ATMP032AES's best features is its stainless steel facade, which looks much nicer than some of the other, glossy-finished mini fridges we tested. Jon demands you have a nice day. The downside of this design is that it actually causes the door to spring open if you don't close it with sufficient force. BLACK+DECKER BCRK25B Compact Refrigerator. Reviewed's mission is to help you buy the best stuff and get the most out of what you already own. Its less than $250 (with free shipping for Amazon Prime members). Though it does have some performance and usability issues, the Galanz GLR31TBEER still looks great and offers a ton of usable storage area. Whether you're in need of extra space in your refrigerator, equipping a dorm, or wanting to stash cold beers in your game room, a mini fridge makes a big difference thanks to its small footprint. The main drawback of a mini fridge is its limited storage space. However, we found this two-door model from Walmart for less than $200! While mini fridges, on the whole, do seem to be more or less the same, the difference between good, bad, and average can be significant. A: This can depend on the quality of the materials used and the durability of the compressor. We also noticed some frost beginning to accumulate at the back of the fridge after only a couple days of use. Each large-capacity drawer has an adjustable divider that can help you keep it organized and maximize storage space. While this 1.44-cubic-foot mini fridge is on the small side, and its door takes some getting used to, we love its retro aesthetic and impeccable temperature controls. But, the best feature? We're always reviewing new products, so stay tuned for our reviews and roundups of the latest products in laundry, refrigerators, dishwashers, and vacuum cleaners. Even though youre probably not spilling stuff constantly, your fridge will get gross over time, and organizing it is a great time to also knock out a quick cleaning. This mini fridge comes with two plugs in the backone for a wall outlet and one for a cigarette lighterallowing you to use it in your home or car. A product must have both of these qualities in order to earn our recommendation. Its freezer temperatures aren't as consistent, though it didn't stray far from -2F during testing. The doors are not reversible. Fridge and freezer run too warm and must be calibrated. Its also important to keep fruits and vegetables separate. All rights reserved. The door seems to have an internal mechanism to help it close and stay closed. Level legs help stabilize it. Weve assembled a list of 50 of the worlds most reliable, inexpensive wines bottles that offer amazing quality for their price year in and year out. With two temperature zones that can be set between 41 and 64 degrees Fahrenheit, you can store age-worthy reds in one section and ready-to-drink whites or sparkling wines in the other. You cant store a lot of refrigerated items in it, and you can store even fewer items in its freezer section. Use both. Given that anything above 40F isn't safe for food storage, this is a disappointing test result. At a whopping 4.5 cubic feet total, this thing can hold a 12-pack of soda and a full gallon of milk with tons of room to spare. In this review, the This Old House Reviews Team researched the five best solar generators on Amazon to help you find the product thats right for you and your home. Those who loved the product listed storage capacity, noise level, and temperature control as their favorite qualities. When you think of a mini fridge, you probably think about shopping for college. While this mini fridge is about the same size as the one from Midea, it uses more of its space for fridge storage than freezer storage, allowing you to hold more drinks, produce, and other refrigerated items. Wine aficionados will appreciate that it holds its temperature very well and gives off very minimal vibration, which is a major consideration for proper wine storage. Purchasers also stated that the product was a great value. While the lifespan of any appliance can vary wildly due to several factors, you should expect your fridge to last for about 10 years. Choose between a left- or right-hinge door. They don't support a lot of weight. If you're a consumer in need of a refrigerator, here are the best places to buy in-stock appliances right now. Email us and we'll compare notes. For starters, it has a really interesting look, mixing a pastel green with a classic car design. Let your coffee table double as a refrigerator. It also has a good mix of storage options inside, with an 8-oz. For a product to make our list of top picks, it must hold a solid sales record on Amazon, have consistently positive customer reviews, and offer unique features, among other factors. Most manufacturers measure the interior of a fridge by essentially flooding it with water and accounting for every empty inch inside the fridge. If you plan on moving your fridge frequently, consider buying a lighter model. The most important thing to note is the temperature. Keeping clutter controlled will keep this kind of food waste to a minimum. The freezer section keeps cold air in and allows frozen foods and ice to stay solid. Don't sleep on these dreamy deals and outfit your dorm bed to perfection. Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. It's outfitted with four scalloped wire racks to hold wines in place. One of the best we found is this Frigidaire model. After narrowing down our list of recommendations, we conduct additional research and sometimes in-person testing to ensure that the products meet our standards. Here are our top five recommendations. This compact machine is made with low-noise technology and is praised by light sleepers on Amazon. In the pursuit of data, he's plunged his hands into freezing cold water, consented to be literally dragged through the mud, and watched paint dry. Then, pantry cabinets, a soaker tub, and kitchen lighting are installed at the house. Join the party! Pros: It has a large capacity for wine bottles, plus removable shelving and accurate temperatures. The crew discusses pocket doors and advises on painting. Offering 3.2 cubic feet of storage, it includes a separate freezer section and ice tray. Our research led us to name the GE Mini Fridge With Freezer as our top pick. Perk up those stark white walls with these charming corkboards, photo grids, string light garlands and more. If you're planning on storing tall bottles (like wine or large bottles of water), be sure the fridge has enough internal space to accommodate them. We tested mini fridges the same way we test full-size fridgesjust scaled down to size. The products included in this article are available at various department stores and online retailers like Amazon. Its also available in a wide variety of neutral and bright colors to match the color scheme of your space. He thinks he's a pretty big deal. With around two to five cubic feet of storage space, these appliances use less energy than full-sized fridges. The HMCR320WE's excellent temperature control in both its fridge and freezer compartments. Pros: Its top-notch features include soft-closing drawers and an alarm that goes off when a door is left open. BLACK+DECKER BCRK32V Compact Refrigerator Energy Star Single Door Mini Fridge with Freezer, Best Overall: GE Mini Fridge With Freezer, Best Value: Black+Decker Energy Star Refrigerator With Freezer, Best Built-In: Caf Built-In Dual-Drawer Refrigerator, Best for Wine: Wine Enthusiast 32-Bottle Dual Zone MAX Compressor Wine Cooler. Mini fridges weigh between 30100 pounds. The refrigerator section has two glass shelves that can be removed to make more space. In our tests, we consider temperature consistency, storage capacity, and usability as the most important aspects of a good mini fridge. Read More, The Midea WHD-113FSS1 comes in a handsome stainless steel, but runs warm enough that calibration is needed to keep food safe. Door can bounce open if not shut forcefully. Get the best deals and the best advice dropped right in your inbox. Runs about 7F colder than readout claims. We test each fridge from two perspectivesfirst, from a data-driven objective point of view, and second, as a regular person trying to get at their leftover Chinese food. It feels like you need to get the door to go up and over a hill in order to close properly, and could encourage slamming. On the sliding scale of features vs. budget, this Midea mini fridge hits the sweet spot for all-around value. The temperature also wasn't particularly consistent, making it our worst freezer test result by a large margin. Overall, the Costway EP22672BK is a decent mini fridge, but we recommend waiting for its price to fall more in line with the rest of the fridges we reviewed: Its performance doesn't merit paying almost twice as much as the rest of the bunch. In other words: The kitchen gear you need when you've hit your Cup Noodle quota for the week. Get ahead of the game and see which organizers are essential for students living on campus. Our one qualm was the door sometimes bounces open. Very few people actually shop around for their mini fridge. While the EP22672BK has steady and accurate fridge temperatures, its freezer runs a bit warm on default settings: about 3F as opposed to 0F. In terms of temperature performance, the NS-CF26BK9 maintained very steady, stable temperatures during testing, though it did use more than twice as much electricity as almost every other mini fridge we tested, topping out at 6.08 kWh while most other models used less than 4 kWh. Most mini fridges are fairly simple in design, but details like adjustable temperature control, partial auto-defrost, reversible door hinges, and adjustable leveling legs can be great to have. Where it fell down, however, was its freezer temperature. Refresh your home with stylish products handpicked by HGTV editors. Our team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Ideally, your fridge should be exactly 37F and your freezer should be 0F. Cans and tall bottles can be stored in the door, designed with a built-in can rack to free up space on the main shelves. All Rights Reserved. These shelves can be removed if you want one open space or adjusted if you want them at different heights. Cons: Though removable, the shelves are not adjustable. The HMCR320WE was actually the only mini fridge we tested to have a properly calibrated freezer. This will vary based on your college dorms guidelines. Its an oxymoron, but there are some great jumbo mini fridges out there. Customers said that they liked the energy efficiency and storage capacity of this mini fridge. That way were only accounting for the usable storage inside the fridge, and different models capacities are more cross-comparable. This allows you to set the fridge to the right temperature for the type of beverage youre storing. Recommendations are independently chosen by Revieweds editors. This mini fridge has two glass shelves that separate its 2.5 cubic feet of storage space into three compartments. The sleek design of the Black+Decker Energy Star Refrigerator With Freezer makes it look like a high-end designer model, but it costs notably less. You also need to be careful while stocking or grabbing items, as its flimsy plastic shelves bow very easily and shake as you add or remove items. Whether you need more fridge space or are furnishing a dorm room, a mini fridge can be a convenient appliance to have. Not only do we test these appliances in laboratory conditions, we also use them just like you would in the course of a normal day. While it makes a kind of sense, we dont use these measurements, because they dont cleanly translate into a usable datapoint. Take a look at our roundup below for a list of the best of the best, from the quietest model to the best option on a budget to a mini fridge thats actually cute. Another factor that narrows the search is whether a unit is a compressor or thermoelectric model. Of course, all mini fridges are small, but if you're looking to go as small as possible, this teeny, tiny fridge from Frigidaire can sit on a desk or stack on top of another appliance such as a beverage chiller or dorm dresser even. If youre in a dorm or a tiny house and youre sleeping close to a mini fridge, you dont want to buy one that makes strange sounds or a loud humming in the night. Right now, you can score this Insignia compact fridge for just over $100 at Best Buy. You can split the size of a mini fridge into three categories. Here at Reviewed, our experts have tested hundreds of full-size refrigerators over the years and found some are definitely better than others. The only area people generally get tripped up by is the door: If the front of your fridge is flush with your cabinetry, you wont be able to open the door properly. Help your student learn to fend for themselves with these brilliant (and budget-friendly) cookbooks. If you clean with it, it's likely that Jon oversees its testing. Fortunately, its fridge temps were consistent, so once you calibrate the compartment to be cooler you should be good to go. While the C20LDXW was the only fridge we tested with a digital readout, the readout is inaccurate, resulting in temperatures about 7F cooler than what was programmed. The GLR31TBEER also has the auto-close door issue, but worse: If you don't shut the door hard enough, it'll actually bounce open again. Black+Decker Energy Star Refrigerator With Freezer, Wine Enthusiast 32-Bottle Dual Zone MAX Compressor Wine Cooler. Fortunately, this is an easy fix: just make sure enough of your fridge is sticking out past your cabinetry that the door can swing freely. It keeps both sections cool by using a high-performance compressor. While the FFPE3322UM does technically have a freezer, we do not recommend using it as such: During testing, we were only able to get it down to about 22F, which is not nearly cold enough to function properly in this regard. An added bonus is Sabbath Mode, which disables the fridge's lights and sounds to comply with religious observances. Most reviewers were satisfied with their purchase, as the mini fridge was lightweight and stylish. This is a somewhat ambiguous question that we get asked a lot. The freezer does run warm, however. Purchases you make through our links may earn us a commission. Get the latest This Old House news, trusted tips, tricks, and DIY Smarts projects from our expertsstraight to your inbox. Customers who enjoyed the product said that it was energy-efficient and sturdy. Other important factors include size, which is measured in cubic feet, and the option to have a freezer component. Despite having a slightly more expensive upkeep, the NS-CF26BK9 is excellent for those looking to maximize fridge storage space without sacrificing too much performance. Cons: Some may find it too small. Mini fridges come in several designs, each of which are meant to store different types of foods and drinks. Indeed, capacity and overall size were two factors we considered when looking at the top mini fridges on the market, in addition to their configuration and features. Mini fridges (and full-size refrigerators) in particular can be very sensitive to ambient air conditions. Over the course of a week, including a day for calibration, we put each mini fridge through its paces. If you don't need a freezer, the Insignia NS-CF26BK9 may be the way to go. Ft. Mini Fridge With Eraser Board, Upcycle a Hutch Into an Outdoor Bar and Buffet. We do have a guide that breaks down the process of cleaning and organizing your fridge, but theres really only a few points to remember. Plus, with its dimensions of 18.5 by 19.4 by 33 inches, its the perfect size for an under-the-counter cutout. The glass shelves are adjustable and removable, so you can play around to find a configuration that suits your needs. There isn't much to say about its usability or storage space. Choosing a mini fridge means considering how much space you need, what kind of configuration works best for you, and how ambient temperature may affect the machine's ability to stay cool. Make any room guest ready with a versatile futon that transforms from seating to a bed in mere seconds. While any of the mini fridges in this list would make great dorm fridges, this 3.2 cubic feet fridge, a good average size, from Igloo boasts an extra fun feature for dorms. By submitting your email, you agree to our. can grab what you need from each compartment without letting all the cold air out, but the extra drawer usually comes at a higher price. But you can skip the research because weve done the work and combed through the world of mini fridges for you. Though they look similar, a beverage chiller and a mini fridge have different cooling settings and a beverage chiller will not keep perishable food at a cool enough temperature to safely store and consume. Available in white and black, this next-level coffee table from Sobro may be pricier than a traditional mini fridge, but it features a pull-out drawer to keep your snacks and drinks perfectly chilled, four USB ports for charging, two outlets, Bluetooth speaker system, LED lights and a touch screen control top. During testing, the Midea WHD-113FSS1 performed slightly below average, mostly due to its temperature control. Its freezer performance wasn't much better either, hovering around 5F instead of 0F. The way we measure the interior of a fridge is to get the measurements of each shelf, bin, or other storage locationthe places you can actually put foodand add those together. To help you select the right model for you, the This Old House Reviews Team researched the best mini fridges on Amazon. For many homeowners who have a basement or carriage house living space they rent on Airbnb, a good mini fridge is a must-have if the rental space doesn't have a full kitchen. Pros: It's a quiet appliance. Hello! These not-so-small appliances are perfect for rental suites or a guest cottage where you need to create a small kitchenette. Enter the Smad Mini Fridge. It also has four shelves of storage space that can hold anywhere from 100 to 120 drinks depending on their size. Read More. Many fruits give off ethylene gas, which can exacerbate the ripening process for other fruits and vegetables.

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