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The best dorm room mini fridges for back to school
Amazon
Hey, parents, college freshmen and dorm-bound students: Don’t forget to add a mini fridge to your back-to-school shopping list. This dorm room essential takes up minimal space and keeps your drinks and snacks nice and cold.
The shopping experts at CBS Essentials have curated a selection of customer-favorite mini fridges with various features, including freezers, eraser board doors for notes, skincare refrigerators with mirrors and quiet models that won’t disrupt your sleep. All these top-rated mini fridges boast four-star ratings or higher and come with tons of positive reviews.
Sticking to a dorm room budget? Many of these mini fridge options are currently on sale right now. We’ve even found quite a few under $50!
The best mini fridges for dorm rooms in 2024
Shop our selection of the best mini refrigerators for dorm rooms below. All of these cool fridge finds have a four-star rating or higher.
Our top choice: Upstreman mini fridge with freezer
Upstreman via Amazon
Amazon’s No. 1 mini fridge has a 4.5-star rating and it’s on sale now. The Upstreman mini fridge has a 3.2-cubic-foot capacity and features a reversible door, an adjustable thermostat, a crisper drawer, removable shelves, a freezer and an ice tray. It measures 17.4″ x 18.7″ x 33.1″.
“This mini refrigerator exceeds my expectations,” says an Amazon customer. “Lots of room and it gets very cold without putting it to the maximum. I’m very happy with this purchase. I highly recommend this item!”
Upstreman mini fridge with freezer, $140 (regularly $180)
Frigidaire eraser board mini compact dorm fridge
Frigidaire Store via Amazon
This 4.3-star-rated fridge includes a reversible door, two adjustable shelves, a 2L bottle storage area and a door can rack. It measures 16″ x 20″ x 30″.
We especially love that this 3.2-cubic-foot Frigidaire mini fridge has an eraser board door. Claim your fridge with your name, write your roommate notes or draw pictures on the exterior of this appliance using a dry erase marker.
Frigidaire eraser board mini compact dorm fridge, $137
Frigidaire portable mini fridge
Frigidaire Store via Amazon
Add a pop of color to your dorm room with this retro Frigidaire beverage and snack refrigerator. This 4.3-star-rated mini fridge can hold up to nine beverage cans, skincare and snacks. Choose from four colors: black, blue, red and pink (shown).
“Bought this for my daughter for her room. She loves it. Keeps her beauty rollers and drinks/snacks cold,” says an Amazon customer who called the appliance a “nice fridge.”
This refrigerator measures 7″ x 12″ x 10″. Note that the price may vary with color.
Frigidaire portable mini fridge, $40
Galanz one door mini fridge
Galanz via Walmart
This 3.3-cubic-foot refrigerator features a full-width chiller compartment, two adjustable leveling legs and a convenient reversible door. The refrigerator measures 17.48″ x 19.09″ x 33.19″.
“I really do think it’s worth the price, not even starting with the fact you get a one-year warranty so if anything goes wrong you can get a replacement,” says a Walmart reviewer. “It does just what I need to for a great price … it’s pretty big and very quiet.”
Galanz one door mini fridge, $118 (regularly $190)
Midea refrigerator
Midea via Amazon
This 2.4-cubic-foot fridge has a 4.5-star rating. It measures 20.08″ x 17.52″ x 24.8″.
“If you’re looking for a low-cost fridge perfect for your room or a mini-bar, then this is going to be perfect for you,” says an Amazon reviewer. “This fridge is great, because it is lightweight (for a mini-fridge, of course), surprisingly durable, and small enough to keep in a room while still holding plenty inside.”
Werseon mini skincare fridge
Werseon via Walmart
If you’re looking for a refrigerator that will keep your serums, moisturizers and face masks nice and cool, consider this mini skincare fridge. This Werseon refrigerator features a lighted makeup mirror door with a button to adjust the brightness. This tiny fridge operates quietly, reaching only 28 decibels. (Standard refrigerators operate between 32db to 47dB.)
Note that this is a very small refrigerator: It measures 8.74 x 2.64 x 10.44 Inches.
Werseon mini skincare fridge, $37
Thousands of dockworkers at ports from New England to Texas went on strike just after midnight on Tuesday as they rally for higher pay and more job security, The Associated Press reported.
The work stoppage, the first at East and Gulf Coast ports since 1977, follows a lengthy impasse in labor talks between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), a shipping industry group representing terminal operators and ocean carriers.
The strike was expected to involve 25,000 workers, according to USMX, and close 14 ports: Baltimore; Boston; Charleston, South Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; Miami; Houston; Mobile, Alabama; New Orleans; New York/New Jersey; Norfolk, Virginia; Philadelphia; Savannah, Georgia; Tampa, Florida; and Wilmington, Delaware.
The ILA is demanding sizable wage hikes and a complete ban on the use of automated cranes, gates and container-moving trucks in unloading or loading freight.
The ports affected by the strike handle roughly half of the country’s ship cargo. Experts say the economic impact of a prolonged work stoppage could be steep, potentially raising the cost of consumer goods and creating shortages ahead of the holidays.
A one-week strike could cost the U.S. economy nearly $3.8 billion and increase the cost of consumer goods, according to the Conference Board.
For consumers and businesses, a longer strike could hamper shipments of products such as bananas, manufacturing components, plywood, and raw materials such as cotton and copper. Fresh meat and other refrigerated foods also could spoil, resulting in shortages and increased prices.
Still, many businesses have been preparing for months, stockpiling products that could be disrupted by the port shutdowns.
Despite the massive port of New York and New Jersey being set to close in the labor action, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a news conference on Monday that New York does not expect shortages of essential items anytime soon and advised consumers against stockpiling goods.
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