Not sure if this is the right place for this question, but we are moving to a smaller place and we want a small, super-efficient, high-quality refrigerator. Anybody know where to get something like that? The fridge we have now is just too big for our needs and for the new place, so we want something probably no bigger than 15 cu. ft. and very efficient. Any tips appreciated.

well, not the right place unless you plan to power the compressor on the fridge with a diesel motor,converted to burn vegoil,lol. there are several solar powered refrigerators on the market, as well as propane,12 volt,etc. how much efficiency do you need. or can you afford? check with the solar power crowd for the most cost/energy efficent models. many can be found online

A solar stor owner told me that the "woods" brand was the best buy for your dollar to watt ratio. once they put a 'high efficentcy" tag on somthing it becomes terribly expensive

15 cu ft? Consider re-evaluating your real refrigeration needs. Ours (2 people) is 3.4 cu ft. We mostly eat fresh, or dried, or powdered, or pickled, or canned, or cooked. It's out in the barn, where it stays cooler than in the house, futher reducing it's power needs. The barn is mostly solar powered, but that's sort of beside the point. The fridge is a conventional 120vac compact unit, small enough to easily run on the available power. I think we paid about $90 for it, 12 years ago.
I assume you've alredy checked all the usual Solar and Alternative stuff catalogs? (Real Goods, etc)
Cheers,
JohnO

Thx for the replies, especially johno's. I seem to recall that I said 15 c.f. "or less." But your experience is inspiring, and we'll try to get the smallest fridge that meets our needs. We are not going solar (yet), just moving to a smaller place and "downsizing," so we need a conventional plug-n-play fridge that's as efficient as possible.

to help your fridge out, if it has coils on the back or bottom exposed, you can place a small fan behind it to disapate the heat from the coils, some refridgerators will drop 20f inside when you do this. this will let you set the thermostat inside higher, and work the compressor less. also, if you can vent this back of the fridge heat outside, it will help your a/c to work a little less.

Great tip! I assume the cost of running the fan is canceled out by the savings in fridge operation...?

Easily I would guess.

A heat pump (fridge) is the only device I know that can output more heat energy than the electrical energy you put in to it (it collects and concentrates rather than generates)

Even so, a fan to provide forced circulation of the heat uses a trivial amount of power compared to the electricity it takes to drive a fridge.

yep, and the fan doent have to run on 120v, either. i doubt a big box fan would cancel out, but a small effective one will.

If you haven't already checked Backwoods Solar, they always have good explanations that help you to determine what you really need.
Cheers,
JohnO