I use a front loading Vitrifrigo c51is at about 50 litres/ 1.8 cubic foot capacity.
It has the danfoss compressor which I have found to generate 1/3 the noise of my former Norcold de0040, a 1.7 foot front loader that used a Sawafuji 'swing' compressor.
In 2007 I got the Norcold, it lasted until 2012. Its failure was caused by low refrigerant and this rate of refrigerant loss was likely exacerbated by my attempts to isolate the compressor from fridge and fridge from cabinet, as its noise and vibration were irritating. Much effort was expended floating the fridge within the cabinet, and as annoying as the noise was, having a fridge over a cooler was freaking awesome.
What I liked a lot was the front loading nature ergonomics. I hated to have to remove stuff from atop a cooler, slide it to me lift the lid, shine a light or blindly fumble around. After relocation the hinge to other side of fridge, Getting foodstuffs in and out was so much easier and took a fraction of the time.
The VF makes about 1/3 the noise of the Norcold, and its design allowed me to better ventilate the condenser, and add slightly more insulation. The danfoss compressor controller allows one to adjust compressor speed, and I wound up removing a resistor to slow the rpms from 2500 to 2000, and this reduced the amp draw while slightly increasing the duty cycle.
I do not really use the freezer portion. I tapped the 12v for the internal LED light and power a small internal fan that runs 24/7, and keeps the internal box temperatures within 3 degrees of each other, where without it temps varies as much as 15 degrees according to my IR temperature gun.
I also removed the original condenser fan, and replaced it with a better 120MM fan and placed it to push coolest possible ambient air through the condenser once, which greatly increased efficiency. The fan is quieter and uses 40% the electricity of the original fan for the Win win.
I ran my VF next to a friend's chest style 50QT ARB with insulative cover side by side and tried to open the lids the same amount of time, regularity with wattmeters on both cables measuring AH and Watt hours. My Vf used about 10 to 15% less electricity.
I know the chest style fridges are touted as inherently more efficient as the 'cold air does not spill out' with the door opened. I think the cold air spilling out is BS, as the air itself has so little thermal mass, and the reason that they are inherently more efficient is there is no door seal on the bottom of the fridge compromising the insulative qualities of the box.
It is the door and the door seal which where the biggest room for improvement lies on my VF. The door seal closes on the metal skin of the fridge exterior, and this metal is exposed to interior and exterior temperatures, and transfers heat inside the box. My biggest complaint with this fridge design.
I have also damaged the door seal when cleaning it with a paper towell on my finger tip. It still passes the dollar bill test, but the insulative propertes have been damaged.
I would not recommend choosing a chest style over a front loader just because they are touted as more efficient. My test with the 50QT ARB in my van next to my installed improved front loading 51QT VFc51is proved otherwise, and the ergonomics of a front loader, at least in my rig, is vastly superior to what I would have to do to get food in and out of a chest style.
Another brand of fridge in the "other" category is Truckfridge. They sell both chest style and front loader fridges and also use a Danfoss/Secop compressor and are more budget friently than many 12v compressor fridges.
http://www.westyventures.com/parts.html#cart_restore
