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this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2026
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I've lived in central Europe all my life and all apartments I remember living in had fridges similar to this: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bosch_Electronic_no_frost_fridge_freezer_(2019)_06.jpg (on the top is the fridge, on the bottom the freezer)
Smaller fridges where the freezer is only located on one shelf in the fridge are a thing too, I've seen them in vacation apartments, but I think only people with extremely limited space in their kitchen would get one of these for their homes.
Well I was a student. I was in a 1 bedroom apartment. I also looked at about 6 places before renting this one. They all had mini fridges. Perhaps it's different in other parts of Europe. This was the UK and more specifically, Wales.
Yes, that makes sense that very small apartments would also have very small kitchens where you'd have these kinds of fridges. Point is, most people do have much bigger ones, even in Europe. :)
Well Europe is big. Maybe it's a UK thing. I only lived in Wales and was told it was common there.
I live in the UK, and in every flat or house I've lived here, from 1-bedroom to 3-bedroom ones, we had full-size fridges like the one linked higher up in this comment chain.
So maybe the tiny fridge is just your social circles, or tiny studio flats or somesuch?
(Edit: I specifically live in Scotland, but I can't imagine a reason that people would have different fridge sizes in Wales.)
Okay but what about Wales specifically. You said UK. So England , Scotland?
Sorry, edited my original comment to say I live in Scotland specifically. But Wales is the same. The UK countries mostly differ in politics, our lifestyles are basically identical.
I was told the reason for the mini fridge was the same reason why fans and heaters has timers on them. During WW2 and after, there was a shortage of electricity and being conservative with electricity was highly encouraged . And even now , people typically still follow that mindset.
It was also what encouraged the use of your water heating systems (we have water heater tanks that heat the water constantly but UK uses heaters that heat the water at use).
And I was told this is also why it's less common for people to have clothes dryers.
Well, full regular clothes dryers. I had a washer/dryer in my apartment but it was not like American ones.
Firstly it took like 3 hours to wash and "dry" a small load of clothes.
I was told it uses way less water than American washing machines.
It also did not have vents. And didn't really dry clothes.
It just spun out as much water as possible and applied a little heat.
All clothes still had to be hung out to dry.
Despite your claims that mini fridges are not common, the Internet says otherwise. Perhaps you just were lucky to have a full fridge.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/qz7iii/how_do_you_survive_with_such_small_fridges/
https://wilshirerefrigeration.com/why-europeans-have-smaller-refrigerators/
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/qz7iii/how_do_you_survive_with_such_small_fridges/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Edinburgh/comments/10taeb3/why_do_almost_all_rental_flats_in_edinburgh_have/