This fridge will charge your iPod - and reheat pizza

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

It will chill your beer, warm your left-over pizza, and recharge your laptop and MP3 player, its maker claims.

We may be talking about more versatility here than a Swiss Army Knife - and about a college kid's beau ideal of a useful dorm-room appliance.

The appliance is MicroFridge, which is manufactured by Intirion Corp., a Waltham-based subsidiary of Mac-Gray Corp.

"Combining a spacious refrigerator, freezer, and microwave in a single unit, a MicroFridge appliance is perfect wherever space is limited and there’s a need for food and refreshments," said a company press release.

The MicroFridge (shown here in a company beauty shot) is also equipped with a "Dual Outlet Charge Station," which can be used to power up "laptops, MP3 players, cell phones, digital cameras, or any device that draws four amps of power or less," the press release said.

Eighty-four pounds of convenience doesn't come cheap. The MicroFridge can be purchased at the company website for $425, the release noted.

But that price includes "bold styling" as well as "patent-pending Safe Plug power management system technology" that automatically shuts off various MicroFridge functions to conserve on electricity, the company said.

This feature “reduces utility expenses and is good for the environment,” Intirion vice president Jim Russo said in a statement. “Traditional refrigerators and microwaves can pull nearly twice that amount, potentially overloading electrical systems and creating costly problems.”