Matthew Zahnzinger

There's very little about a mini fridge that's attractive other than its convenient size and extremely low price tag. Even so, some models have a distinctly higher-end feel than others. The Danby DCR88BLDD is a mini fridge that looks and feels like an upgrade from the one-door model of your college years, but with dreadful moisture retention.

The Haier HNSE045BB is an unassuming little compact that retails anywhere from $145 to $280, depending on where you shop. Even at the low end of the price scale, however, we had enough issues with its usability that it overshadowed temperature performance.

Even though the freezer in the Black & Decker BCD33B had unusually bad temperature ratings, it's actually a good fit for consumers who like to have more frozen goods than will fit in a single door compact. The catch? Freezer burn.

It may look and feel great, but the beauty of the IKEA Dåtid ISC23CDEXY01 is only steel deep. Performance as poor as what we saw in this fridge may be acceptable for a low-end budget model, but not for something that retails for $1899. If you want flash with no real substance, then by all means, purchase one today. Otherwise, look elsewhere; there are better products available to buy for that kind of money.

One of KitchenAid's newest fridges, this model includes Preserva technology and boasts a very elegant design. For $3,099, however, we expected better results in our performance tests.

The IKEA Nutid S25 S ID5HHEXWS03—say that five times fast—proved to be a decent fridge that felt unusually familiar. Turns out, this product is nearly identical to the Amana ASD2522WRD.

It's a decent fridge, so if you can find a good sale, go right ahead and buy it in good faith.

In such an overcrowded appliance market, only a few items are genuinely fantastic or terrible. Most float somewhere in the middle, including the GE Profile PFSS2MJYSS. This stainless steel fridge had some minor issues, but they weren't really substantial enough to detract from overall performance. It also had some strong points, but nothing worth getting excited over.