Im 38 Years Old, and I Love My Dorm Fridge – Yahoo Lifestyle

Flash back to 2016: Every surface of my kitchen fridge was hidden somewhere under stacks of jars and berries and citrus and syrups and teetering bottles. I was a few months from the recipe testing deadline for my latest cocktail book, and the fridge was so full of experiments that every time I tried to buy actual food for dinner, there was nowhere to shove it. The fridge door needed, no joke, a lean of the hip to stay sealed.

A final fateful packet of blueberries tumbled onto my head one morning while I packed a lunch, and thats when I decided. Wed remodel the kitchen. Better yet, wed move. Anything for a bigger fridge.

My husband stepped in. We could solve this problem with thousands of dollars in remodeling or a million dollars in San Francisco real estate, he said (too) calmly, (too) rationally. Or, we could buy the kind of mini fridge you had in your college dorm room. What do those things cost?

Not, it turns out, a million dollars. Even for a biggish one. And so we entered the (much happier) dorm fridge era of our lives and Ive never looked back.

A second fridge isnt an especially original move: All my friends moved to the suburbs and tucked a full-sized additional fridge into their basements or garages, stocking it with bricks of Costco cheese, beer, maybe an extra lasagna.

But my dorm fridge isnt tucked away in the basementhes front and center. And hes not for leftovers.

Early on, Dormie (can I call him Dormie?) served as the vessel for my recipe-testing supplies, but quickly he became a central part of how I entertain: hes a drink fridge.

Now, when we have people over, theyre not awkwardly pawing past my kids gallon-sized container of macaroni in search of a seltzer. Instead, Dormie lives in the dining room. Hes got a shelf of La Croix, a four-pack or two of local beer, a bottle of muscadet. He has a new brand of alcohol-free aperitif, a few open bottles of vermouth, and the fancy mineral water I like to serve if anyones having whiskey after dinner.

Help yourself to a drink! is not an empty gestureit takes a task off my hands as the host while Im cooking, and lets people feel free to choose drinks (alcoholic or non-) without any pressure one way or the other.

And since Dormie is about 3 feet from our dinner table, guests can refill as needed without getting an eyeful of all the dirty pots and pans in my kitchen. Or I can easily pull out more drinks to offer without taking any extra steps. Im reminded to hydrate during a cocktail party because Dormie displays all that fizzy, fizzy water.

Best of all, of course, I now know where my mustards and fish sauces and herbs are because theyre not stacked behind Sodastream bottles and cans of IPA.

At times, Dormie does just become an overflow fridge, but his separate nature is still helpful: Ill stash supplies for just one meal (all the ingredients for a big Saturday brunch, for example) and then easily be able to retrieve everything, even if my other fridge is filled to the gills with Saturdays dinner stuff.

Dont tell Dormie, but hes not especially cute. Ive enjoyed his flawless performance since 2016, but I do think that maybe hell conk out one day and Ill trade up for someone, I mean, something cooler. The curvy ones from Smeg are pricey, but now there are cute retro fridges made by Magic Chef, Galanz, and Frigidaire. With a dorm fridge that good-looking, who needs a garage?

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Im 38 Years Old, and I Love My Dorm Fridge - Yahoo Lifestyle