For sure, if you want efficiency, you want to build a fridge with a lid on top rather than a swinging door on the front, and run it off 48v with a decent marine compressor. You might be surprised to find that it could be done for not much more than twice what a dorm cube costs when you throw in an inverter.
I am planning to completely remove all 12v stuff eventually. My old 12v house bank is gonna get the axe this year. Nav lights and a couple of cabin lights (LEDs, all) will run off a 48v-12v DC/DC converter. I have a small inverter (300w) and I will probably install a big one for when I might need it. None of that stuff is ever switched on when there is no load. Not that it matters much. Modern solid state converters/inverters draw very little when not loaded.
A dorm fridge on an inverter sure, it can be done. It definitely has its shortcomings, most of which you already know about. Price of entry is cheap. You will be replacing the fridge probably on an annual basis and on cloudy days your power usage will be worrisome. A most inelegant solution.
For the last couple of years my boat has been a dock queen, and I am using a dorm cube for refrigeration but it is running from shore power and the boat has very little motion, and at $79 it is expendable. Shore power is so cheap I could care less about efficiency. When I want to take the boat out I quite frankly just do without refrigeration. Hey, boats didnt have fridges in the not so distant past and nobody died of thirst or starvation because of it.
If I were cruising I would either build a proper marine fridge, or do without, depending on my budget. At the dock, I like my walmart POS just fine.
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