We had no idea how expensive 12V refrigerators were until we started looking… So we’ll warn you that this is one piece of your kitchen that can (surprisingly) cost a lot.
Why can’t you just buy a mini fridge? (They are a lot cheaper, after all!)
Technically, you could (if you have an inverter), but refrigerators draw a lot of energy. A LOT. If you went with a regular mini-fridge, you’d likely only be able to run it in increments to avoid draining your battery.
The 12-volt options on the market are much, much more efficient. But they are also generally much, much more expensive. We’ll walk you through the best 12V refrigerators on the market as well as a budget option that we personally chose (and really like).
Dometic CRX 65
Isotherm 12V Fridge
Budget 12V refrigerator
We opted to go with a lower-budget 12V fridge (it’s really difficult to find inexpensive ones!), but we’re pretty happy with it. Our fridge draws more energy than the more expensive models would, but so far it has worked great and keeps our food very cold.
Insider Tip: If we’re running low on battery, we turn it off while we sleep, and turn it on in the morning (when we can draw solar power). This has never been an issue, and our food is typically still very cold when we open the fridge in the morning.
If we do another van build in the future and have more money to work with, we would likely choose to upgrade to either the Dometic or Isotherm model so it was more efficient with energy usage.
What we chose & why: We chose a Smad 1.7 cubic feet 12V refrigerator because we liked the idea of being able to open the door like a regular refrigerator. With our van’s very small footprint, it was really difficult to find a spot where we could put a refrigerated chest, so the upright design worked a lot better with our compact layout.
Plus, I like being able to stand things up and organize them like I would in a regular refrigerator rather than a cooler style.
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