Recommendations for a small personal refrigerator

September 20, 2005 6:17 AM

Your recommendations for a small personal refrigerator? I drink a lot of Diet Coke (3 cans a day), and today my office decided to stop providing it and put in a vending machine.

Was having free soft drinks an uncommon benefit? I’d like something smaller than a ‘dorm fridge’, but that would hold about 6 cans, and not break in a week. They have a number that meet the description, but with poor reviews, on Amazon.

posted by andrewzipp to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

I was in a lab once where someone made trips out to Sam's Club, got large quantities of soft drinks and put it in a fridge. People took the drinks out and paid for them on the honor system. Profits were used to buy candy for the group. Maybe you could plan something like this with some of your co-workers.
posted by grouse at 6:39 AM on September 20, 2005

Here's a low-tech solution: Buy a small, lunchbox-sized cooler and a couple of reusable ice packs. Put Diet Coke and one ice pack in the cooler. Next day, repeat.
posted by SteveInMaine at 6:54 AM on September 20, 2005

Over at Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools, he has a short review for a portable freezer made by Waeco. There's a link on that page for 'Factory Reconditioned' (if you're cost conscious). Look for the MF-15-AC; it's a 15.8 Qt Mini-Fridge that "cools to 36 degrees F below ambient temperature and heats to approx. 149 degrees F." With a capacity of 15 cans, you could stock it on a monday and be good till the weekend.
posted by bachelor#3 at 6:55 AM on September 20, 2005

Best answer: No need to spend that much. Coleman has a line of plug-in mini fridges. Though designed for pampered car campers, my office neighbor has one in his office for this very reason. Camping stores (and Amazon) have them.

Is your company growing? Free soda is always one of those startup "perks" (with the added benefit of keeping you caffeinated, so it's a perk the way nuts at a bar are...) that quickly disappears.
posted by mkultra at 7:10 AM on September 20, 2005

As a cola junkie, three a day is nothing. Lightweight. ;)

Many of the BigBox stores sell fridge/warmer things: For instance, Target sells these in many colors, not just "Hello Kitty". :) Fits 6 cans, keeps them nice and cold.

Downsides: Noisy. First one burned out on me in two weeks, had to be returned.
posted by unixrat at 7:35 AM on September 20, 2005

As a cola junkie, three a day is nothing. Lightweight. ;)

Agreed. Recently, I've switched to Coke Zero, as I like how it tastes in comparison to Diet Coke. I drank the Lime Diet Coke for quite a while, and while I still like it with Mexican food, I can't say that I'll take to drinking it as casually again.

But, yea, 3 cans a day. Man, those were the days...
posted by thanotopsis at 8:15 AM on September 20, 2005

Response by poster: Well, for now I just bought a lunchbox and a 12 pack, and am storing my own stash of 4 in the main fridge. I might end up buying one of the Coleman coolers, but they look a little bigger than I really want.
posted by andrewzipp at 9:22 AM on September 20, 2005

If you regularly make large Office Depot orders they often run a "FREE MINI FRIDGE" promotion where, with a coupon, you get a free mini-fridge if you purchase arond $75 in product (free shipping). I got one of these for my office, along with a three piece luggage set, a car emergency kit, a mini television, and mini web cam.

They're all crap, as you might expect, but they're sorta fun if you've got to make those purchases anyways. The mini-fridge would probably be workable (we gave it away at a work picnic, so I never got a chance to use it), and have the added benefit of being free.

Just type "Office Depot Coupon" into google. Usually Fatwallet has a thread listing most of the coupons, but CouponsXP does a good job too.
posted by fishfucker at 9:53 AM on September 20, 2005

I currently use a mini fridge that I got at Target for ~25 bucks. I've had it about a year - no problems so far. My only complaint is that it doesn't hold 20 oz. bottles, only cans and the 12 oz. fridge pack bottles. I keep mine on top of an empty box under my desk, so it gets ventilation - it seems to run pretty hot.
posted by blackkar at 10:21 AM on September 20, 2005

I have had one of these since February, turned on constantly. It works great, and holds 7 cans of soda. They look like a tiny retro fridge. Everyone at work thinks it's cool.
It's advertised for the car, but it plugs into the wall too.
posted by clh at 10:36 AM on September 20, 2005

Sorry this isn't an answer, but I wanted to comment on something: it's cool and doesn't seem common that your company used to offer free pop, but do they now not even have a fridge where you can put your own lunch/drink? Or do you think other people will drink your pop if you leave it in the community fridge?
posted by peep at 11:09 AM on September 20, 2005