My home office is on the 2nd floor, which leads to many work-interrupting trips up and down the stairs to get something from the fridge, so I’m looking for a decent size refrigerator to store mostly canned water and other beverages to reduce the need for these trips. Large water bottles like camelbak are ok but get warm pretty quickly, so the cooling feature of a fridge is important.
I’d say something that can hold 16 - 24 cans or bottles of water would work for me. Bonus if it has a built-in microwave or at least fits one on top.
I’d love to get some recommendations from the MPU community as google search just wants me to buy full size commercial fridge, and reddit search won’t return my calls.
Just noting that if you’re doing any audio recording, the compressor noise could be a potential factor. You might want to see if there’s a way to put the fridge on the other side of the room, or the other side of the door.
I realize that interrupting work is a real problem, but have you considered that there is a health benefit to going up and down the stairs periodically? I’m not being snarky and please forgive me if my comment is not appropriate. I do not mean for it to be. But I merely wanted to suggest that there could be a hidden blessing to the interruption and hassle of going up and down the stairs.
I have an Insignia 2.1 cubic foot refrigerator with a small freezer. It’s about 2x3 feet (width x height). Model NS-CF30SS9. I think it was a bit less than $200. You could check online for photos of the interior, but I think it would manage a couple dozen 12oz cans. It’s pretty quiet, but anything with a compressor and fan is going to cycle from time to time, especially if you open it frequently. These small models do not preserve the cold well when they’re opened regularly.
Incidentally, especially for beverages, this is one of the reasons to make sure and keep the fridge stocked as full as possible. If you open the door and it’s just air, the air can all escape quickly. If you open the door and it’s a little bit of air with a large number of cans/bottles/whatever, the cans/bottles/etc. help the refrigerator retain the cold.
