Refrigerators over 15 years old could be costing you more than $80 per year to run. If you need a second refrigerator year-round, replace the old one with a new ENERGY STAR certified. Make sure you keep your fridge in an ambient temperature of 35 to 38 degrees Fahrenheit. On average, an old refrigerator uses about 35% more energy than a model that has earned the ENERGY STAR. To maximize your savings, minimize the number of doors and pay attention to cool air you can feel when you shut the doors. Get honest reviews on top products & services — delivered weekly to your inbox.
Consumer Reports puts LG near the front of the pack for reliability, too. For other current LG fridges (including the French-door models we analyzed) and other major brands, we saw those kinds of problems cited in only whirlpool mini refrigerator about 3% of reviews, give or take. So we’d guess (hope?) that as long as you avoid the older side-by-sides, the chance of a cooling problem with an LG is about the same as with refrigerators from other brands.
Owners like this Bosch model’s style and often say it seems to keeps food fresher a little longer . The GE Café line is also well liked among owners who have left reviews, mostly for its style. We don’t have enough evidence to say with confidence that one brand of top-freezer fridges is significantly better than others. In our reader survey, we didn’t receive enough responses about LG or Samsung top-freezer models, for example, for the results to be statistically significant, let alone for smaller brands like Insignia or Magic Chef. Even with all those upgrades, a top-of-the-line top-freezer model will almost always still cost less than any other style of refrigerator of comparable size. We don’t have great data on LG’s reputation for top-freezer models—we got too few survey responses regarding such models to reach statistical significance.
We have to note that the Energy Star Most Efficient list feels a little incomplete, or maybe built around questionable criteria. When you do the math on energy use per cubic foot of storage, there are plenty of big, stylish French-door models that beat out some of the smaller, more homely top-freezer models. Large fridges can also mean fewer trips to the store, which might mean less driving . Then again, huge fridges also have a way of turning into graveyards for lost, wasted food. GE’s side-by-side models received a notably mediocre satisfaction rating in our survey, and other reviewers are lukewarm on them, too. Our data suggests that these models have more nuisance-type problems with reliability than most other brands’ side-by-sides.
If you have a kitchen island, measure the distance from the wall to the edge of that counter to account for the door swing. In this situation, a counter-depth model, or one with half-width doors (like a French-door Arctic King or side-by-side model) might make the most sense. If your fridge will sit close to a wall, think about whether the door will be able to swing open wide enough for you to pull out crisper drawers or deli trays.
The door has an alarm system that signals when it’s left open for too long. The mini fridge even has an over-temp alarm, which alerts you to when the unit is holding at temperatures over 45 degrees Fahrenheit for more than four hours so you can troubleshoot issues and save your food from spoiling. You can easily adjust the internal temperature with the backlit touch control panel and even enable Sabbath Mode, which disables automatic lights and alarms for religious holidays and the Sabbath when electronics are prohibited.
Top-freezer models are a lot more affordable and can fit really small spaces. Bottom-freezer fridges usually lack the high-end look of French-door models but have a lot of the same practical advantages. Four-door models (equal-size half-width, whirlpool mini refrigerator half-height, swing-open doors) and column designs (all-fridge no-freezer, and vice versa) have their place, too. Once you’ve nailed down a budget for your new mini fridge, you’ll next have to decide what you want to use it for.
If you are set on a mini fridge, consider that it might be wise not to spend too much because of the shorter lifespan. Our recommendations above run the gamut of what we found to be a reasonable price range. The basic wire rack shelf is removable for easy cleaning, and the compact fridge has a chiller for freezing a tray of ice cubes or keeping a small item or two frozen. The bare-bones design means there are fewer components to potentially break down. Frigidaire is a solid name in the refrigerator industry, and the 1.6-Cubic-Foot Compact Fridge is a great affordable, no-frills solution.