Minimalist refrigerator?

[Alanymarce]

We are looking for a very low profile refrigerator for our Wrangler JK. We sleep in the vehicle, and have a bed built in which has space below the frame where we have storage boxes and a small cooler. The cooler has been OK, however a refrigerator would be an improvement. We had an ARB 35 L refrigerator in our LC80 which was so high that it restricted the bed width at the back, so on our Montero (at home) we chose a Dometic 35 L which is low enough to allow the bed to be full width. However on our Wrangler (in Canada) the height available in the cabin means that we have only a little more than 24 cm (9-1/2 in) available below the bed.

So, we are looking for a refrigerator which will fit into this height. Obviously it will be limited in capacity, however it needs to hold only key items for a few days (including a couple of beers and a bottle of wine – which we replace from ambient storage when we consume). The lowest unit we have found is the Dometic CoolMatic CD 30 which has a height of 25 cm (9.84 in). This might work (perhaps with a bit of sanding of the bed frame, or rebuilding the frame to give more height).

Before buying one and discovering whether it will actually fit, we’d appreciate knowing of any other alternative which has a height less than this - suggestions please.

 

[OTH Overland]

I do not know of a fridge with a lower profile than the Dometic CD-30 or the Engel SB-30 both are drawer style single compartment fridges and very close to the same size as each other. We went with the Engel SB-30 for our Jeep WJ and incorporated it into a low profile drawer system with fridge on the left and single drawer on the right. Leaves sufficient room on top of the drawer unit for a couple of totes and some other gear. The drawer style fridge does provide a unique way to be able to access your cold beers simply by opening a drawer rather than having to have a slide out for the fridge or room to open a traditional lid. The main downfall with this fridge is that they have fairly low sides on the drawers so each time you open it a lot of the cold spills out causing the compressor to work harder than traditional chest style. For the way we use that particular rig that is not a problem, we only go out for a couple of days and are not looking for long term energy efficient storage. The temperature is set like an old fashion fridge with a knob inside with numbers from 1 to 5, no digital readout or specified temperature setttings. Just takes a while to learn where to set the knob for a given ambient temperature. High setting will freeze water bottles solid, so can get pretty cold.

You will likely have to raise your bed a bit to get the fridge under. it is in its own cabinet (back is open for air flow) so it can sit on the floor of the Jeep and have the bed platform directly above, I would recommend a thin layer of plywood or other spacer 1/4" or so the drawer front does not drag on the floor when opening. Dometic does make a CD-20 which is smaller but the only difference is the front to back dimension is about 8" less so that would not help with vertical clearance.

 

[Alanymarce]

Excellent - thank you!

Yes, the benefit of the CD-30 (and SB-30) is the drawer rather than a top hatch. The way we travel, we re usually on the move most days, at least briefly, so we can maintain a reasonable temperature in the refrigerator. No problem with a simple temperature control - as you say it's something one learns quickly. The spacer makes sense although obviously adds a little more to the height.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll think some more and look at the Engel as well.