Looking for feedback on fridge purchase

[blucrsr]

OK, so I sent my upright freezer back since it had coils in the shelves and the temps and humidity were hard to control.  I am looking for a small fridge to see if I even get into this whole cheese making process.

I have the Auber TH220 temp/humidity controller.
I also just purchased a Cave Cube from perfect cheese.

Here is the fridge I'm looking to purchase
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Magic-Chef-9-9-cu-ft-Top-Freezer-Refrigerator-in-White-HVDR1040W/205429596

I know if has glass shelves, but I can easily purchase some wire shelving and replace them.  This size fridge will easily make it into my basement (100 year old house with crazy steps and small doors).  It is also a nice price and new so I don't have to worry if the used ones on CL are in good condition.

I have spent so much time second guessing myself so any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Dave

[Gregore]

The only issue I see that may cause issues , is the seperate compartments ,  the controllers you have controls the power to the whole fridge  thus you may or may not get the freezer compartment temp to match the lower fridge temp.

2 mini fridges might be a better option , buy one now and another later when needed , stack them on top of each other

[awakephd]

I echo Gregore's concern about having two compartments. I know that some folks on the forum have used freezers with good results - maybe they have used a different style that doesn't put the coils in the shelves? I'm using a wine cooler for my cave - one that has a compressor rather than the thermoelectric thingamajig, that stands about 36" tall (rough estimate). That may not be big enough for what you want, but it has worked nicely for me; it has a built-in control for temperature (i.e., not just "red" or "white," but I can set the temperature I want). The back wall is the cooling element - no fan. I made simple wooden-slat shelves to replace the bottle-shaped wire shelves. Since I use vac-bagging as my primary method, I can stack cheeses once they are bagged, and thus I can fit quite a lot of cheese in the space, while still having a "working shelf" for the cheeses that are drying / not yet bagged or that need to be in ripening boxes.

[Duntov]

Not sure what your budget is but check out this one:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Danby-Designer-24-in-W-11-0-cu-ft-Freezerless-Refrigerator-in-White-Counter-Depth-DAR110A1WDD/205471286?cm_mmc=Shopping

[blucrsr]

I understand I won't be able to use the freezer side.  I looked at the smaller fridges, but the slightly bigger ones were approaching $300 and were still quite small.  The fridge side has about 7 cu ft of space.  I also looked for a wine cooler with a compressor and the costs were approaching the same amount, but once again the space was lacking.

Duntov, thanks for the link you provided.  I'm not sure why I didn't see that in my searches.  That might be a little out of my "try it out" price range.  This might be a good option should I run out of room in the future.

Hmmmmm.......

[awakephd]

FWIW, I bought my compressor-based wine cooler for $100 off of Craigslist - another option to consider.

[blucrsr]

Well, I went ahead and purchased something similar to the first one I mentioned.  I talked to my salesman and he gave me a discount based on the confusion with the first freezer I purchased.  I also had a $25 off code.  So, I paid $275 for this fridge. 

http://www.abt.com/product/97826/Whirlpool-11-Cu.-Ft.-Black-Top-Freezer-Refrigerator-WRT111SFDB.html

It's currently out of stock, but he said more should be delivered in 1-2 weeks.  I can't wait for this to finally be here so I can start aging some cheese.