Fridge & storage
Undercounter fridges that survive outdoors, ventilation behind a fridge cabinet, and how much dry storage a real kitchen actually needs.
The short answer
An outdoor fridge needs ventilation at the back and a cabinet sized to the unit, not to the grid. Most failures are airflow failures, not appliance failures.
Read in this order
Start here
The rest of the category is variations on these. Each answers one question rather than listing trends.
Guides in this section
The full list
Newest first. Each guide answers one question and links to the cabinet, drawing or report that settles it.
Before you read the guides
What an outdoor fridge bay needs
These are the decisions the guides below keep returning to. Settle them roughly first; the articles then fill in the detail.
Ventilation behind and above
A sealed box cooks the compressor. The bay is open at the back and vented at the front, and the appliance manual's clearances are the ones that apply.
Sized to the appliance, not the grid
A 600 mm fridge in a 900 mm bay wastes 300 mm of run. The bay is set from the appliance dimensions you send, not from the nearest standard width.
A path for condensate
Condensate has to leave the bay. On a castor run it drains under the base, which is another reason the run does not sit flat on the ground.
Power where you can reach it
The socket belongs in the adjacent bay at the back, not behind the fridge where it cannot be isolated without pulling the appliance out.
Dry storage is a separate volume
Fridge, dry goods and the gas bottle should not share one closed space. Heat from the bottle bay and damp from the fridge do not help flour or paper.
Straight answers
Questions this section gets most
If the answer you need is not here, the enquiry form asks for the grill model and the run length and nothing else.
Can any undercounter fridge go outside?
No. It has to be rated for outdoor or commercial use. A domestic larder fridge will run, then fail, usually inside two summers.
Does the fridge come with the cabinet?
No. The bay is built to the appliance you choose, which is why the model number is the first thing we ask for.
How much dry storage is realistic?
Roughly one 400 mm module for every two metres of run, plus a drawer module if you cook from the outdoor kitchen rather than carry things out to it.
Save the reading
Send us the grill and the length
One field, then a configuration and a price. If your grill is one we have not cut for, we will ask for the manufacturer's drawing rather than guess at it.
Page last updated · Reviewed by the BOGEQI technical team, Foshan Bogeqi Cabinetry Co., Ltd.