In the comments to this answer, there is some discussion as to whether putting significant mass of hot food into a refrigerator will unacceptably warm the other food already inside.
Elsewhere on Seasoned Advice, Athanasius argues passionately that with modern refrigerators, this is no longer an issue, including a personal story of measuring the temperature in their own fridge over time after putting in hot stock. This is indicative, but only represents one particular refrigerator, one method, and one trial.
So the question is, is there substantive scientific or engineering data (as from manufacturers) indicating whether or not modern home-type refrigerators--and I do mean the more common makes (in the US, this would be brands like Kenmore, GE, or Whirlpool, not the premium "restaurant quality" brands like Sub Zero)--to address this issue? (I failed completely to find such data using terms like "refrigerator recovery time" when googling myself.)
Can an average refrigerator from the last 5 to 10 years handle, for example:
- One gallon (4 liters) of hot stock
- or a full sized hot casserole dish, like a lasagna
put in hot (say 170-180 F), without allowing the temperatures of nearby foods to rise past the 40 F level (or at least not far past it, and not for long)?
Do the have sufficient flow of air to convect the heat away, and enough capacity in the heat engine to provide the necessary cooling?
I will admit, I have believed that putting volumes of hot food in the a home fridge is a bad idea, even for modern equipment since home refrigerators are not blast chillers.
Note: this question is not about how fast the introduced hot food cools, and whether that is safe or wise. This question is about the effect on other foods in the fridge.