A mini freezer is a pretty simple appliance when it comes right down to it. It’s supposed to keep things frozen and to do it in as little space as possible. There aren’t a whole lot of bells & whistles to worry about, but there are still some factors to consider when buying a compact freezer.

Mini freezers are ideal in situations where you have limited space, such as a dorm room or office, or as a secondary freezer to give you a bit of extra space over the one in your refrigerator. They’re also very useful in RVs or campers, or even in the car or truck on long trips.

The first thing you’ll need to determine is what sort of capacity you need in the freezer. Mini freezers generally hold 5 to 10 cubic feet. Chest freezers, where the door opens upwards from the top, are wide open and generally all the space is usable. Upright models, on the other hand, lose a bit of space to the door and its attached hardware, so this is something to consider when choosing the style.

You can get both manual and self-defrost mini freezers, each with advantages and disadvantages. A self-defrost freezer can save you time, since you don’t have to defrost by hand (which can often take up to 8 hours). A manual defrost freezer generally uses less power, however, and also tends to be less noisy than the self-defrosting models.

Check the location of the interior light as well. These lights make it easier to find things in the dark or anywhere with poor lighting, but they can sometimes get in the way of food storage if they have poor placement. You’ll also want to check and see how easy it is to replace the bulb since they will eventually burn out.

As far as price goes, you’ll see quite a range, even among different freezers with the same storage capacity. A higher price doesn’t always mean better quality, but it is often an indication. And the cheapest models often use inferior parts and are not as reliable, so don’t buy one purely because it’s cheap.

There are many brands of mini freezer available, most of which are names you won’t see in typical kitchen fridges and freezers. Don’t worry if you haven’t seen the name before – it’s not an indication of poor quality.

Some of the more common well reviewed mini refrigerator brands include Avanti, Haier, Waeco and Engel.