For one or two people the correct answer is almost always a 185-200 L direct-cool single door, and the reason is running cost. These draw 108-176 units a year against 205 for the smallest sensible frost-free double door, so the fridge that costs ₹8,000 less to buy also costs around ₹770 a year less to run. Over a typical three-year rental stint that is meaningful money.
The trade is manual defrosting, roughly monthly, and it is the thing to be honest with yourself about. If you will not do it, ice builds on the freezer box, insulates the cooling plate, and the fridge quietly costs more to run while cooling worse. If a 30-minute Sunday task is fine, the single door is the better machine for this household size.
Buy a mini fridge only if the space genuinely will not take a full-size unit — a hostel room, an office cabin, a bedroom. A 45-53 L compact holds a couple of days of food for one person and costs more per litre than a 190 L single door. And if you do buy compact, check it has a compressor rather than a thermoelectric cooler, because the latter does not refrigerate in an Indian summer.
