Inside Parts of a Refrigerator – Shelves, Bins, Ice Maker

All 24 parts on the diagram

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Inside the cabinet 11

Freezer compartment It sits above the fresh food compartment on this kind of refrigerator. It is the freezer section and has a door of its own.
Ice maker It fills with water and freezes it. Then it drops the cubes into the bin below. The second drawing enlarges it.
Freezer shelf A shelf in the freezer compartment.
Air vents A fan moves cold air through them. It passes between the freezer and the fresh food compartment. Food should not block them.
Temperature control It sets how cold the refrigerator runs.
Light The bulb, behind its cover, that lights the inside of the refrigerator.
Shelves Most can be moved to another height. Many are glass.
Deli drawer A shallow drawer for meat and cheese. One maker calls it the deli drawer, another the meat drawer.
Crisper drawers Drawers at the bottom for fruit and vegetables, under a cover.
Humidity control A slider on a crisper that adjusts the humidity inside the drawer.
Base grille It lets air through at the bottom front. So it must not be blocked. Some makers call it the toe grille.

The door 3

Dairy compartment A covered compartment for butter, spreads and cheese.
Door bins Bins on the door for bottles, jars and cartons. Some can be moved up or down.
Door gasket A flexible strip round the door. It seals the door against the cabinet when it closes.

The ice maker 5

Ice mold The mold fills with water. Its row of curved pockets gives the cubes their crescent shape.
Ejector When the cubes are frozen it turns and scoops them out. They go from the mold into the bin.
Heating element A low-power heater at the mold. It melts the cubes slightly so they do not stick.
Shutoff arm A wire arm. Ice piling up in the bin lifts it. That stops the ice maker. Lifting it by hand turns the ice maker off.
Ice storage bin The bin under the ice maker that holds the finished cubes. Also called the ice bucket.

The back 5

Water valve An electric valve at the back where the water supply line joins. It opens for a few seconds to fill the ice maker.
Condenser coils Here hot refrigerant from the compressor gives its heat to the room. Dust on the coils makes the refrigerator work harder.
Condenser fan A fan that forces air through the condenser coils. It is at the bottom of the cabinet.
Compressor It compresses the refrigerant vapor and sends it to the condenser coils.
Drain pan Water from the defrost cycle runs into this pan and evaporates. On some refrigerators it sits on top of the compressor, on others behind the base grille.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two independent sources use it: Wikipedia, text only (Refrigerator, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator; Icemaker, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icemaker); and the use and care manuals of five refrigerator makers, read as full text on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-7256690, https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-7258054 (with its maker's ice maker service document, https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-6021933), https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-7257028, https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-7257577 and https://archive.org/details/manualsbase-id-568512. Between them the manuals name the freezer compartment, ice maker, freezer shelf, temperature control, shelves, crispers, humidity control, door bins, dairy compartment, door gasket, air vents, base or toe grille, condenser coils, condenser fan, compressor, drain pan, water valve, ice storage bin, ejector, shutoff arm and the heating element that releases the cubes. Hints and detail lines are in our own words. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; no maker's refrigerator, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

Three drawings of a top-freezer refrigerator: inside the cabinet, the inside of the door with the ice maker enlarged, and the back with its lower cover off. Makers arrange these parts differently; the names are the ones their manuals share.

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Where the cold comes from

The compressor squeezes the refrigerant and sends it through the condenser coils, where it gives off heat to the room; the condenser fan helps. The cold is made in the freezer, and a fan moves cold air through the air vents into the fresh food compartment. The temperature control sets how cold it runs. During defrost, melted frost runs down to the drain pan and evaporates. The door gasket keeps the cold in. In the freezer, the ice maker takes water through the water valve, freezes it in the mold, warms the mold for a moment, and the ejector pushes the cubes into the ice storage bin.

Crisper drawers are for fruit and vegetables; the slider on the front sets the humidity inside.
Deli drawer and meat drawer are two makers' names for the same shallow drawer. Both are accepted.

Questions and answers

What are the inside parts of a refrigerator called?

Shelves, crisper drawers, a deli or meat drawer, the temperature control, the light and the air vents in the cabinet; door bins and a dairy compartment on the door, with the gasket round its edge. The freezer often has an ice maker.

What are the parts of a refrigerator ice maker?

The ice mold, where the cubes freeze; the ejector, which pushes them out; a heating element that frees them from the mold; the wire shutoff arm; and the ice storage bin below. A water valve at the back fills the mold.

What is the drawer at the bottom of a refrigerator called?

A crisper, or crisper drawer. It is meant for fruit and vegetables, and on many refrigerators a humidity control on the drawer adjusts the humidity inside.

What is on the back of a refrigerator?

The compressor, low down, and near it the condenser coils and often a condenser fan. Many refrigerators also have a drain pan for defrost water there, and a water valve if there is an ice maker.