If access and storage area per floor area is the problem for chest fridges, would a fridge with sliding drawer-style shelves be a good compromise?
The drawer compartments could have holes (for air to circulate) when closed (like current "grill" shelves), and a mechanism that closes them and isolates the drawn-out drawer from the one below and above it.
This way you lose at most one drawer worth of cold air and heat only one drawer worth of products. The mechanism would be quite simple to build (just mechanical, shouldn't need any fancy electronics).
The downside being that you would have rigid fixed compartments (each shelve's size) whereas fridges tend to have adjustable shelves.
The drawer compartments could have holes (for air to circulate) when closed (like current "grill" shelves), and a mechanism that closes them and isolates the drawn-out drawer from the one below and above it.
This way you lose at most one drawer worth of cold air and heat only one drawer worth of products. The mechanism would be quite simple to build (just mechanical, shouldn't need any fancy electronics).
The downside being that you would have rigid fixed compartments (each shelve's size) whereas fridges tend to have adjustable shelves.