30 or so years ago the realtor I was working with at the time took me through a house, vacant, had been owned by the survivor of a couple who had started a successful local lumber company (still around today). Immaculate, but looked like it hadn't been updated in dacades. Upstairs (oddly, a storey and a half, so, those annoying slanted ceilings) there was an old fridge... hmm, this post epitomizes the irrelevant sidebar, but 'Civ is gonna plunge on... and it was pre-freon, used sulphur dioxide. Often I almost wished I'd have made the heirs an offer for the fridge. :^)
I had a kerosene fridge when I lived in the woods for 7 years - worked really well. Just light the wick and coolness follows - no worries about explosions or noxious gasses when I was gone fishing for days.