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Kitchen backup · September 2026

Best power station to run a fridge — only the hours brands publish

A kitchen refrigerator is two problems: starting the compressor, then feeding it through a night. OutagePack quotes manufacturer fridge runtimes and surge ratings. We did not time a fridge in a garage.

Full spec tables Apartment constraints

USDA guidance on perishable food during outages is a food-safety clock, not a medical claim. Keep the door shut; four hours is the usual unpowered fridge window in public USDA material.

Read the nameplate before you read a marketing hour

Running watts on the fridge sticker or Energy Guide. Many modern kitchens sit well under 200 W while the compressor is on; older or side-by-side units can be higher.
Starting (surge) watts — often several times running watts, for a second or two. If the inverter’s surge figure is below that spike, watt-hours never get a chance.
Duty cycle. Compressors idle. A “200 W fridge for 4.1 hours” Jackery calculator number is continuous-watt math. Real door-shut runtime is longer if the compressor is not on 100% of the time. Brands sometimes publish both styles of number. We do not average them.

BLUETTI’s AC180 FAQ states its runtime formula is not suitable for inductive loads with compressors, like refrigerators. That is the honest version of “it depends.” We follow it: no invented AC180 fridge hours.

Picks, as constraint matches

Short outage / 1 kWh

EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus — maker fridge strip 7–14 h

1,024 Wh, 1,800 W rated, 3,600 W surge, X-Boost over 2,600 W. EcoFlow’s series page lists Fridge 7–14 hr. Expandable to 5 kWh if the outage is not short. UPS <10 ms. About 12.5 kg.

If you do not need extra batteries, DELTA 3 Classic is the same 1,024 Wh / 1,800 W / 3,600 W class, not expandable, ~26.6 lb, 0–80% in 45 min. Classic’s page lists a refrigerator as a 120 W example load, not a runtime.

Check DELTA 3 Plus on EcoFlow Check Classic on Amazon

Overnight kitchen / 2 kWh

Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 or BLUETTI AC200L

2000 v2: 2,042 Wh, 2,200 W / 4,400 W surge, 39.5 lb, not expandable. Jackery blog table: 200 W refrigerator 7.7 h continuous. Jackery blackout guide: 18–24 h for a standard 18 cu.ft. fridge. PDP: fridge, Wi‑Fi, and lights through a full-day outage. Those are three Jackery sentences; we print all three.

AC200L: 2,048 Wh, 2,400 W, Power Lifting 3,600 W, expandable to 8,192 Wh, 62.4 lb. Manual example only: a 40 W refrigerator ≈ 34 h on their formula. That is a small-draw example, not a French-door kitchen unit.

Check Jackery 2000 v2 Check AC200L

Longer outage / 3 kWh

Jackery Explorer 3000 v2

3,072 Wh, 3,600 W / 7,200 W surge, ≤20 ms UPS, not expandable. US page: powers fridges, fans, Wi‑Fi, lights — home running up to 15 hours; kitchen block Fridge 200 W: 1–2 days. AC+DC recharge in 1.7 h. Weight omitted on the US PDP we fetched (we will not invent it).

Check 3000 v2 on Jackery

Maker fridge table

Manufacturer-stated only. Continuous-watt calculator hours are shorter than duty-cycled marketing hours. We do not convert one into the other.
Model	Inverter (rated / surge)	Capacity	Published fridge figure
Jackery 1000 v2	1,500 / 3,000 W	1,070 Wh	200 W fridge 4.1 h (blog calculator)
EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus	1,800 / 3,600 W	1,024 Wh	Fridge 7–14 h (series page)
Jackery 2000 v2	2,200 / 4,400 W	2,042 Wh	200 W fridge 7.7 h (blog); 18–24 h standard fridge (blackout guide); “full-day” (PDP)
EcoFlow DELTA 3 Max Plus	3,000 / 6,000 W	2,048 Wh	200 W refrigerator 6–12 h
BLUETTI AC200L	2,400 / 3,600 W lifting	2,048 Wh	40 W fridge example ≈ 34 h (manual formula)
Jackery 3000 v2	3,600 / 7,200 W	3,072 Wh	200 W fridge 1–2 days; home up to 15 h (US PDP)
BLUETTI AC180	1,800 / 2,700 W lifting	1,152 Wh	No fridge-hour claim; formula excluded for compressors

Jackery 1000 v2

1,070 Wh · 1,500/3,000 W · blog 200 W fridge 4.1 h

Check price

DELTA 3 Plus

1,024 Wh · 1,800/3,600 W · fridge 7–14 h

Check price on EcoFlow

Jackery 2000 v2

2,042 Wh · 2,200/4,400 W · 7.7 h and 18–24 h both Jackery

Check price

AC200L

2,048 Wh expandable · 40 W example only

Check price

Setup notes that are not lab results

Plug the fridge into the station’s AC outlet. Disable “eco” / auto-off modes that kill AC when the compressor rests — Jackery’s blackout guide calls this out as a common fail.
Keep the door shut. Every open door is heat you pay for in watt-hours.
UPS switchover (10–20 ms class) can keep a fridge from seeing a blip if the station is already on bypass/UPS with AC in. That is a product feature, not a promise that food is safe.
Do not backfeed a wall outlet. A transfer switch is an electrician job. These pages are about plugging appliances into the box.

Bottom line

If the manufacturer bothered to print a fridge hour, we used it. If they refused (AC180), we refused too. For a typical kitchen fridge through a night, start in the 2 kWh class with 2,000 W+ surge. For a short outage, EcoFlow’s 7–14 h strip on DELTA 3 Plus is the only 1 kWh figure in this set that is not continuous-watt calculator math.