There’s a thin line between laziness and luxury.
Depending on how highly you rate the pleasures of a well-chilled drink, a mini fridge could be the latter. What could be better than a fridge just about large enough to hold a personal stash of goodies, eliminating the need to go to the proper fridge? Talk about laidback luxury.
Jokes aside, a small fridge has many uses. Handy in small spaces like sheds, trailers and temporary offices, the compact devices offer convenience in a pinch. Whether you want to keep breastmilk on standby in the nursery, need something more substantial than a cooler to store certain medicines, or simply enjoy the idea of grabbing a cold can when you fancy it, a mini fridge can help.
They’re also great for students and in houseshares for keeping the more precious and costly food items away from hungry eyes and pilfering hands.
Recently, there’s also been a rise in the trend for beauty fridges, where all manner of lotions and potions are stored away from sunlight in a chilled nirvana. Better to store beauty gadgets like eye ice globes and gua sha tools in a dedicated fridge than have them rolling against soggy cucumbers and salad leaves in your main machine’s vegetable crisper.
Then there are the lockable designs, made for keeping beer, wine and spirits cool. Place them in your conservatory, dining room or living room, ready and waiting for happy hour.
Whatever you need a mini fridge for, we’ve rounded up some of the coolest designs to make shopping for them a truly chilled experience.
Best mini fridges at a glance
- Best for makeup and skincare: Russell Hobbs RH4CLR1001SCW Scandi 4 Litre Mini Portable Cooler & Warmer - White - £39.99, Robert Dyas
- Best for the entertainer: Subcold Super50 LED – Mini Fridge Black - £159.99, Amazon
- Best for ample storage and a bold design: HUSKY Coca-Cola HUS-HU252 Mini Fridge - Red - £149, Currys
- Best for chilling on a budget: Bush TTCHILLO Table Top Drinks Chiller - Black - £110, Argos
- Best for sleek and stylish homes: Russell Hobbs RHGWC1B-C-LCK Beer & Wine Drinks Mini Fridge with Lock- Black - £139, Very
- Best for stout lovers: Husky Guinness 48 Litre Drinks Cooler - Black - £189.99, Amazon
- Best for precise, adjustable cooling: AstroAI Fridge - £43.19, Amazon
- Best for beauty disciples: StylPro Beauty Fridge - £52, lookfantastic
- Best for happy hour: Husky 42.9L Prosecco Drinks Cooler - £220.78, Wayfair
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Russell Hobbs RH4CLR1001SCW Scandi 4 Litre Mini Portable Cooler & Warmer - White
Best for: makeup and skincare
It pays to keep up with the trends; Russell Hobbs has well and truly jumped on the beauty fridge bandwagon by labelling this 25.2 x 18 x 24 cm fridge as such. In fact, it can be used for storing anything, from your personal supply of Tony’s Chocolonely to that posh vintage cheddar you don’t want anyone else getting their paws on. Holds 4 litres.
Buy now £39.99, Robert Dyas
Subcold Super50 LED – Mini Fridge Black
Best for: the entertainer
Keep your beers, ciders and cocktail tinnies ready for your next gathering with this 50L glass-fronted fridge that comes with two wire shelves to maximise the space. It features compression cooling with a range of 3 to 18 degrees. Not only is it low noise (at 42dB) but its low energy too (using 66kWh), which makes it ideal to install in areas like a bedroom or living room. There’s also a lock for an additional layer of security.
Buy now £159.99, Amazon
HUSKY Coca-Cola HUS-HU252 Mini Fridge - Red
Best for: ample storage and a bold design
If you heart bold style, a Coca-Cola branded fridge from Husky could work well in your interior scheme. The box design measures 51 x 43 x 47cm and can hold a surprising 43 litres in its cavernous depths. Not bad for a mini fridge.
Buy now £149.00, Currys
Bush TTCHILLO Table Top Drinks Chiller - Black
Best for: chilling on a budget
Coming in at just over £100, Bush’s table top fridge is giving us chills. The all-black design is billed as a drinks chiller, and as far as we can discern, that means it has a glass instead of an opaque door. There are two shelves so you can adjust the levels as required. It’s the sort of thing you might spot behind a bar and will smarten up your home drinking experience.
Buy now £110.00, Argos
Russell Hobbs RHGWC1B-C-LCK Beer & Wine Drinks Mini Fridge with Lock- Black
Best for: sleek and stylish homes
In our view, there are a few markers of adulthood when it comes to the home: fresh flowers in a proper vase, a dedicated spot for your keys, and a mini fridge for the sole purpose of storing booze. Russell Hobbs’ beer and wine fridge comes with shaped chrome wire racks that will hold your precious bottles of red, rose and fizz safely as well as a special lock to keep the pricier bottles out of harm’s way. There’s space for up to 12 x 75cl bottles or 38 cans and a temperature range of 5-18°C
Buy now £139.00, Very
Husky Guinness 48 Litre Drinks Cooler - Black
Best for: stout lovers
Got a Guinness fan to buy a gift for? Husky’s stout-branded fridge makes a perfect present for fans of the black stuff and it can hold 48 litres - that’s around 40 cans. The glass door is covered with gold livery making out the founder’s name, Arthur Guinness, and the temperature can go down to 6°C, leaving every sip tasting like it’s fresh out of St James’s Gate. Ideal for impressing your mates at the next match viewing.
Buy now £189.99, Amazon
AstroAI Mini Fridge
Best for: precise, adjustable cooling
If you need to store things at a precise temperature (such as medicines or breastmilk), having a fridge with an LCD display on the front can be a lifesaver. Available in pink and white as well as this mint green, it’s small but sweet with enough space to keep eight 330ml cans at the perfect temperature.
Buy now £43.19, Amazon
StylPro Beauty Fridge
Best for: beauty disciples
Whether you’re fed up of finding your favourite lippy a melted mess thanks to summer heat waves or you long for a face mask to soothe weekend sunburn, a beauty fridge can help and more than earn its keep in your home. This one from StylPro is made specifically for precious lotions, potions and face tools like rollers, keeping them in optimum conditions which could help them last for longer.
There are two shelves on which to arrange your products along with a shallow sleeve behind the door that’s the perfect place to stash sheet and eye masks.
Buy now £52.00, lookfantastic
Husky 42.9L Prosecco Drinks Cooler
Best for: happy hour
Say goodbye to lukewarm bubbles when you’ve got this Prosecco fridge in the corner. Offering three shelves and a capacity of just under 43L, there’s plenty of space for your bubbles collection. The freestanding design comes with a reversible door as well as a mechanical temperature control so you can set it to exactly the right level. Does it get cooler?
Buy now £220.78, Wayfair
