Left Over Fridge

The previous owners of our new house (new to us anyway) left a perfectly good fridge/freezer combo in the garage.  Originally SWMBO said no way, I have an entire unfinished room that is dedicated to brewing beer there is no way I'm also getting that fridge.  She basically laid claim to it and since we moved in, my equipment has been left in the downstairs bathroom tub on more than one occasion so I didn't think it would be wise to push it. 

Well, last night, after growing frustrated with my 2liter frozen bottles of water in the freezer in the house she asked if I could just move them outside (first step).  to this point the fridge has yet to even be cleaned, let alone plugged in, let alone used for anything except a shelf.  Well, short story long, when I told her if I could use the fridge to ferment in I wouldn't need those bottle to control fermentation temps.  She relented a little and told me that I can have the fridge for fermentation but she has dibbs on the freezer.  So, now I ask,

Can these fridges get down cold enough to those near freezing lager temps? 

Can the shelves inside those fridges hold 6-12 gallons of fermenting beer? 

What do I need to do to get it set up for lagering?  I'm assuming buying a Johnson Temp Control is my first step, anything else? 

Thanks in advance

WR 

I think the issue with these types of fridges are they rely on the freezer to keep the other compartment cold. If you put a Johnson controller on it, I don't think it would make it any colder than what it can get at its coldest setting. Which is why most people start with a freezer. Put a temp gauge in some water and see what temp you get on the coldest setting, and that's what you get. The good news I have a friend who uses his for Lagering, and he claim's to get down to 50F.

Best of luck, and Nice work!

Cheers
Preston

Is 50 cold enough to lager?  I thought you needed to get a bit lower than that?