Although I always use crates for food and drink, that's mostly because there are limited options for containers you can craft if you don't want to grab them from the creative menu, and they don't have a ton of space available compared to a steel crate. I like the idea of using specific containers for things, instead of just crates, and if everything could be crafted and had enough space, I'd definitely do that. I don't see any reason why the fridge can't offer the same storage space as a steel crate... at least if the cost to craft it is similar to the cost of a steel crate (not a wood crate). I'd be fine with having to use forged steel to craft a refrigerator that has the same space as a steel crate. And as long as the space available isn't more than a steel crate and the costs are similar, there isn't any issue with balance, so there isn't any reason not to offer that.
It could even be an option with the crates to have alternate "skins", where the cost is the same but you can choose a skin to fit what you want - refrigerator, water cooler, gas barrel, beer barrel, cabinet, tool chest, etc. The actual block would be the crate and use the crate's cost and stats and could be upgraded to iron and steel for more space, but the visual would use one of the other blocks/decorations. That would really work well, I think. The only issue being that something like a refrigerator is 2 blocks high, so the skin would need to take up 2 blocks for that, while only taking 1 block for something like a cabinet. But that should be doable.
As a side note, it would be great to be able to paint the actual crates.
