Bar Fridges

A bar fridge is what turns a garage, a shed or an alfresco kitchen into somewhere people actually stay. This page is the whole range: 326 models from Schmick, Rhino and the officially licensed beer brands, priced from $297 to $4,750 with the middle of the range at $1,156. Capacity runs 23L to 737L, every model publishes a decibel figure, and 225 of them carry a two-year warranty against 86 on one year.

Bar Fridge, Beer Fridge or Drinks Fridge?

Same appliance, three words, and which one you reach for depends mostly on what goes in it and where it ends up. Bar fridge is the Australian default and the term nearly everyone searches. Beer fridge is what the same cabinet gets called once it is in the shed or behind the bar, and 202 of the models here are tagged for beer. Drinks fridge is the household word, used when the thing is holding mixers, wine, soft drink and water for everyone rather than beer for one. Beverage fridge is the trade term, and the North American one. None of it changes the machine.

What does change is capacity, where it is going to live, and how loud it is when the compressor kicks in. Those three settle most purchases, and they are what the rest of this page is built around. The longer version: drinks fridge vs bar fridge.

Size: 23L to 737L

Start with the space, not the litres. Capacity is published on 324 of the 326 models here, so these bands are counted, not estimated.

• Under 60L: 45 models. Mini bar fridges for a bedside, a study, an office or a guest room, where small comes before everything else.
• 60L to 119L: 89 models. The single-door workhorse most people picture when they say bar fridge.
• 120L to 199L: 94 models. The biggest group in the range, and the usual answer for a home bar or an outdoor kitchen.
• 200L to 399L: 79 models. Full-height uprights and two-door cabinets, for a bar that has to keep up with a crowd.
• 400L and above: 17 models. Three-door and commercial upright, for clubs, function rooms and people who host properly.

If it is going into joinery, measure the cavity, not the fridge, and work from the cavity and ventilation clearance figures on the listing. Narrow gap to fill? Slim bar fridges, 82 of them. Small footprint, more height? Tall bar fridges, 105.

Freestanding, Under Bench or Built In

This is the decision people leave until last, and it is the one that decides how long the fridge lasts, because underneath it is a question about where the heat goes.

Freestanding, 222 models. Vents at the back, so it wants clear air behind it and room at the sides. The right answer for a garage, a shed, a rumpus room, anywhere it can stand on its own feet.

Under bench, 79 models. Front-venting, which is the entire point of them: the heat leaves through the grille at the bottom of the door, so the cabinet can sit inside a run of cabinetry without cooking itself. Push a rear-venting fridge into a sealed cavity and it will run hot, run loud and fail years early. The most expensive mistake in the category, and the easiest to avoid.

Built in, 14 models. Integrated cabinets, 8 of those, sit flush with the joinery, and some take a cabinetry panel on the door so the fridge disappears into the kitchen altogether.

Going outside? The hard part of an Australian summer is not getting drinks cold, it is keeping a compressor working in a hot, unairconditioned space. The outdoor bar fridge collection holds 81 models built for high ambient temperatures, which is what an alfresco kitchen or an uninsulated shed actually asks for.

By room: garage, 75 models. Man cave, 100. Office, 58.

Beer and Wine in One Cabinet

Beer wants to be as cold as you can get it. Wine wants to sit well short of that, and a good bottle kept at beer temperature for months is a bottle you have quietly ruined. One thermostat cannot serve both, so a cabinet doing both jobs needs two zones.

Beer and wine fridges, 26 models, split the job across two doors and two compartments. Dual-zone models, 11 of them, do it inside one cabinet, usually top and bottom. If it will only ever hold wine, the wine fridge range, 20 models, has the racking and the steadier temperature instead.

Quiet Bar Fridges, from 12 dB

Noise is what people ring up about once the fridge is installed and it is too late. It is also the easiest thing to settle beforehand, because there is a decibel figure on all 326 models here.

56 models run at 40 dB or under, and that is the band to shop in if the fridge is going anywhere near a lounge room, a bedroom or a desk. 298 run at 45 dB or under, which is fine in a garage, a shed or an outdoor kitchen with other noise going on. The quietest in the range is 12 dB. If quiet is a requirement rather than a preference, start with the quiet bar fridges, 58 models, or read how bar fridge noise levels compare.

What Officially Licensed Means

113 licensed models. Licensed means the artwork is printed under licence from the brand that owns it, on a cabinet built for it, not a decal stuck on afterwards. That is the difference between a fridge with a logo on it and a Great Northern fridge.

Every brand below has its own range. Pick one to see every model in that livery, or browse the full officially licensed range, 79 models, and retro bar fridges, 54 of them, which scratch the same itch without the badge.

If the name on the door should be your own, that is what the branded bar fridge range is for: your artwork printed as a full wrap, on the cabinet you choose. The branded bar fridge range, 155 models, shows how it lands on each shape. Pubs, clubs, cafes and trade counters use it for the fridge everyone stands next to.