To provide a refrigerator capable of carrying out effective and efficient power saving operation irrespective of illuminance conditions of a periphery of the refrigerator.

The refrigerator is provided with an optical sensor 6 detecting illuminance of a periphery of a refrigerator body, an operation microcomputer 25 having a clock means, and a body microcomputer 20. The body microcomputer 20 carries out the power saving operation when the illuminance detected by the optical sensor 6 is lower than a predetermined illuminance level, and the clock means indicates a predetermined time. By this, even when the periphery of the refrigerator becomes dark during daytime when it is frequently used due installation conditions and use conditions of the refrigerator, the power saving operation is not carried out.