To provide a refrigerator which detects the partly opened state of its door and informs the user of the refrigerator of the state even when the partly opened state is such a degree that has not been detected before and controls a compressor so that no abnormality will occur.

The refrigerator having the compressor which can be rotated at a variable rotational speed measures the cumulative operating time of the compressor at the maximum rotational speed in step 1 and, when the cumulative operating time exceeds a prescribed period of time in step 2, lowers the rotational speed to a smaller value in step 3, and gives warning to users by ringing a buzzer in step 4. When a reset switch is operated in step 5, the refrigerator cancels this partly opened door controlling method.