Once the province of college dorms and motel rooms, under-counter refrigerators have evolved into full-fledged appliances, driven by the trends of modern kitchen design.  Combined with the rise of the home wine cooler, the resulting number of options are staggering, as are the prices.  A built-in refrigerator the size of a dishwasher can easily cost $1,000.  If you’re outfitting a dorm room, look for a compact refrigerator. You can buy one from amazon.com for under $200.  If you’re looking for a sleek built-in model, read on.

Almost every under-counter refrigerator is 24" wide.  And most are available in a variety of finishes and door styles, including custom panel options to hide them. The big differences are the interior configurations: the GE Monogram brand alone has 10 different options. Your decision should be driven by what you plan to chill. 

If you’re just planning on chilling wine, models labeled wine coolers will offer racking that maximizes the number of bottles you can store.  Slide-out racks make accessing your bottles easier. 

If you’re chilling a variety of beverages including wine, models called beverage centers usually include one or two wine racks, plus shelves for sodas and beer.

If you want ice or an ice maker, you have a number of options to consider. 
1. A freezer section is least recommended.  These are plagued by poor freezing, frost build-up and manually-filled ice trays. 

2. A freezer compartment solves those problems on the Sub-Zero 245, but the freezer capacity is small and deceptive:  I have cleaned many exploded soda cans from that lowest door shelf, despite the label indicating that it’s part of the freezer.

3. A refrigerator/Ice-maker combo.  This is my current favorite, and I’ve just ordered a U-Line CO75 from HomeClick.com  for our pool house.

It has a large refrigerator section, and an automatic icemaker.  It’s the perfect solution for a ready supply of cold drinks. If you want ice cream, walk to the kitchen.  U-Line also makes a combo that combines a refrigerator with a full-fledged clear-ice maker.  Clear ice is frozen from the inside out, so it has no air bubbles, thus making it clear.  It’s what stand-alone ice makers produce.  But unless you’re using a lot of ice daily, they’re very energy inefficient and also require a drain line, since they constantly make new ice and melt old unused ice.

4. Refrigerator/Freezer Drawer combo.  Sub-Zero and U-Line both offer this option, with or without an
icemaker.  This is the best configuration for dependable freezing capacity if you want to keep ice cream or popsicles.

If you’re tight on space, there are 15" width refrigerators, and if you’re looking to make a grand statement, Perlick offers 48" and 72" multi-configurable options that include vinyl-coated extension racks that are well-suited for chilling fragile glasses.

Most manufacturers offer glass-door options on beverage centers and wine coolers.  I’m fond of this option both for the way it looks, and the practicality of easily seeing when you need to re-stock.  GE even offers a gimmicky "privacy glass" that can be clear or blacked out at the flip of a switch.

Outdoor refrigeration is the final frontier, with a number of manufacturers offering units designed for installation in your outdoor kitchen or backyard grilling island.  Viking is heavily promoting their "outdoor kitchen", but the leader in outdoor refrigeration options is Perlick.