Indoor vs outdoor bar fridges

If you’ve been fantasising about elevating your summer entertaining with a bar fridge, the first thing to consider is exactly where you plan to place it. It sounds obvious, but people often assume that a standard small kitchen fridge or a cheap mini bar fridge will be fine sitting out on the patio. It won't.

Indoor models just aren't built to cope with outdoor conditions, and while outdoor models can work perfectly well indoors, they are considerably more expensive because of their tougher construction and more complex technology. Here's what actually separates the two, so you end up with the right fridge in the right spot.

If you've got your BBQ and outdoor furniture sorted but want to elevate your alfresco entertaining this summer, an outdoor drinks fridge could be the final piece of the puzzle. It looks great - especially if you get a model with glass doors - and it's genuinely practical, saving you from running inside to refresh guests’ drinks while you're trying to get a perfect sear on their steaks.

Appliances Online product expert Colin Jones says that if you’re setting up an outdoor kitchen, you shouldn’t be tempted to cut corners and buy anything less than a proper outdoor bar fridge.

“Most indoor fridges are only designed to handle ambient temperatures up to around 32°C. Put one outside and the compressor ends up running non-stop trying to hit its target temperature, which wears it out fast. Alfresco fridges are rated Class T tropical, and are built to keep working in temperatures up to around 43°C. To manage that kind of heat, they run fans continuously to push warm air out and keep things cool inside.”

The materials matter too. If you're near the coast, don't assume standard stainless steel will hold up - it may be tough, but salt air will rust it faster than you might expect.

“You'll want 316 marine-grade stainless steel if you live within a couple of hundred metres of the ocean, and maybe up to a kilometre if you want to play it safe” says Colin; “If you're not near the sea and humidity isn't a big issue, a mid-range outdoor model rated to around 38°C should comfortably keep drinks at 1-2°C without needing to pay extra for marine-grade steel. Either way, keep any alfresco bar fridge out of direct sunlight and protected from the weather, because UV and constant heat will shorten its lifespan”.

Glass doors look great and let you see what's inside, but in humid weather they fog up fast, and you can end up with water pooling underneath. If you live in a high humidity area, it’s a good idea to look for a heated glass door bar fridge. As Colin explains:

"Heated glass is the most effective way to stop condensation forming. It uses a low-voltage electric film of around 50-65 watts, which warms the glass and the surrounding door frame just enough to prevent condensation, which is a common problem otherwise."

The downside to this, of course, is that because it's drawing power constantly, heated glass significantly pushes up running costs, by double or more, and reduces the Energy Star rating, so it's worth factoring into your decision. Outdoor-specific features like this are a big part of why alfresco fridges cost more than indoor ones.

If you choose an alfresco fridge because you like its look and functionality, but plan to put it indoors somewhere with air conditioning, you can usually switch the heated glass off and save on running costs. Just keep in mind that if your local climate is naturally humid, the glass might still fog up a bit without it. If condensation isn't a major issue where you live, Low-E (low emissivity) glass or a solid door will insulate well without using the extra electricity.

Indoor bar fridges don't need to fight the outdoor summer heat their alfresco counterparts do, so their compressors and fans switch off once they hit the target temperature rather than running constantly. That means they're generally quieter than outdoor models and considerably cheaper to run.

Most people place indoor bar fridges in games rooms, home bars, media rooms or pool houses - social locations where a full-size fridge would be too bulky or out of place. A lot of bar fridges don’t have freezer compartments and use all the internal space for drinks, though Appliances Online does stock a good selection of models with a small freezer section if it’s important for you to have ice cubes readily to hand.

Regardless of whether you go indoor or outdoor, higher-end fridges tend to come with a few extra features worth looking out for: electronic temperature controls for more precise settings (cheaper models usually stick to a simple mechanical dial), adjustable shelves for different bottle sizes, reversible doors so you can set it up either way, and internal LED lighting. If you've gone for a glass-door model, some also offer colour-changing lighting for extra ambience.

The number one cause of a bar fridge dying early is poor airflow - and how much airflow it needs depends on how it's ventilated.

Cheaper models are almost always freestanding, releasing heat out the back and sides. If you're tucking one under a bench or into cabinetry, it needs a decent gap of around 100-150mm all around it, or trapped heat will overwork the compressor and shorten its life.

If you want a fridge built flush into cabinetry, you need a front-venting model, whether you're after a single door, 2-door or even 3-door option. These pull air in and push it back out through a grille under the door, so rather than getting trapped behind the unit, the heat goes forward into the room or outdoor entertaining area (remember to check whether it's suited to indoor use only or covered outdoor areas, depending on where you plan to place it). This front ventilation means they only need around 10mm of clearance on the sides and top - much easier to fit into a sleek, built-in look.

It’s worth noting too that built-in models tend to be glass-door display fridges, since showcasing the drinks is often half the appeal.

Even though they often look similar and share the same under-bench footprint, bar fridges and wine fridges are built to do very different jobs. A bar fridge is all about getting drinks ice-cold, usually down to around 1-2°C. A wine fridge, on the other hand, works more like a climate-controlled cellar - it holds a steady, warmer temperature (typically 12-18°C) to protect wine as it matures. Brands like Schmick build dedicated versions of each, with features like vibration-dampened shelving tailored to what's actually being stored.

The right bar fridge really comes down to where you live and where the fridge is going. An indoor model won't cope well with a hot Aussie summer outside, and an outdoor model indoors is often overkill - louder and pricier than you need. Check the temperature rating, materials and ventilation type of any models you’re interested in to get a fridge that’s best-suited to the space.