Where should I put the mini fridge in the car?passenger seat?Trunk?

Small extra fridge

• Please help me choose a secondary fridge (in the UK) - for an upcoming party and perhaps to keep after that. We're living in a small one-bedroom flat with a galley kitchen, and we have a 90cm side-by-side fridge-freezer something like http://www.dealtime.co.uk/xPF-Zanussi_Zanussi_Freestanding_side_by_side_F_Freezer_4_6_2_9cu_ft_89_5cm_wide_WHITE. We're having a party in early Jan and we were thinking of borrowing, renting or buying another fridge or drinks cooler to put in the living room. But it occured to me that a compact one might be useful as a permanent fixture, since we're always bemoaning our lack of fridge space. It would be great to shop for fresh food twice a week instead of almost every day. We probably have enough space in the living room for a standard under-counter one, and certainly a http://www.dealtime.co.uk/xPP-refrigerators--5_or_less_cu__ft_, although we'd probably prefer one or two smalller ones (mini-bar size) which could be hidden in a cabinet eventually. My two main concerns are: Noise (are there different types of fridge, some noisier than others?) Food safety (are drinks coolers or hotel mini-bar-style fridges less safe for things like meat?) Ebay has some 30 litre (1 cu ft) ex-hotel mini-bar fridges on sale for £50 including postage which, the seller boasts, are pretty much noiseless. That would be great in our living room/office. I travel a lot and I don't remember ever being woken up by a loud mini-bar clicking on and off in any hotel room, but are they really consistently quieter than a normal kitchen fridge? And do they have decent temperature regulation?

• Answer:

  I'm almost certain that I've read about mini-bar fridges not being good enough to keep food safely cold enough for long periods. If you look at consumer fridges designed for drinks, like http://www.cocktail.uk.com/shop/products/product.asp?ID=669, you'll see that they have a temperature range from 4 °C to about 15 °C. Refrigerated food, on the other hand, should be kept below 4 °C. If you're going to be putting food in it, I'd make sure you get a fridge that's designed for that purpose. From my experience with mini-fridges, some of them have substantial gubbins hanging out the back, while others seem to put a lot of it (including the compressor/pump stuff) actually inside the plastic case. The latter kind are quieter, for obvious reasons. However, this does make the inside of the fridge weirdly shaped, since there'll be a big lump sticking in where the gubbins lives (if you see what I mean), rather than just having a big rectangular space.