3 Best Mini Fridges of 2026, Lab-Tested and Reviewed
The top models, from companies such as Danby and Frigidaire, outperform their rivals on cooling performance in our tests
When you shop through retailer links on our site, we may earn affiliate commissions. 100% of the fees we collect are used to support our nonprofit mission. Learn more.
Whether it’s for a home office or college dorm room, mini fridges are deceptive little appliances. They all look roughly the same and offer next to no features beyond keeping stuff cold (at least compared with full-sized refrigerators). But our tests find that mini fridges can vary significantly in their cooling performance, energy efficiency, and noise output.
Consumer Reports brings popular mini fridges into our climate-controlled test chambers for a thorough evaluation by our engineers. Below you’ll find the three best mini fridges from our most recent tests, including a couple of mini fridges with freezers. The list includes models made by Arctic King, Danby, and Frigidaire.
To see how all of the mini fridges perform in our tests, check our detailed mini fridge ratings. And if you need help shopping for a new mini fridge or full-sized refrigerator, head to our refrigerator buying guide.
Best Mini Fridges
Below, we highlight three of the best mini refrigerators from CR’s tests. One lacks a freezer compartment but makes up for it with impeccable cooling performance.
How CR Tests Mini Fridges
Despite their diminutive size, mini fridges go through much of the same rigorous testing as full-sized models in our climate-controlled test chambers. Our test engineers then compile the results into four test scores: refrigerator performance, freezer performance, energy efficiency, and noise.
Do Mini Fridges Use a Lot of Electricity?
With “mini” in the name, you’d think these little refrigerators wouldn’t use a lot of energy compared with full-sized refrigerators, but that’s not the case.
“Mini fridges are true energy hogs,” says CR engineer Bernie Deitrick. “They use almost as much energy as the most efficient, and smallest, top-freezer refrigerators in our ratings.”
Keep in mind that the smallest top-freezers you can buy are still three to four times the size of a mini fridge. That means that while you can get a lot more bang for your buck at home if you go with a small top-freezer refrigerator, a mini fridge is still a better choice for tight quarters.
BEST TIME TO BUY:
