We have a small fridge for four people. We live in a cool climate, but we never put apples, citrus, bananas, stone fruit, berries, grapes or cherries in the fridge - but other than the apples and citrus, we don't expect them to last more than four or five days. I'm not sure how successful some of these would be in temps over 70's. I do keep green vegetables in the fridge, but as above, not root veggies or squash, etc.

More space savers: Eggs don't need to be refrigerated unless you keep them for weeks. Butter can be frozen until you need it, if you have more room in the freezer.

apples last longest outside the fridge.

Tomatoes are yummier if yu keep them out of the fridge.

I buy my stone fruits and avocados hard and leave them out of the fridge to ripen. I also leave apples, bananas, lemons, limes, potatos, onions, and garlic out. (You get more juice from a room-temp lemon or lime.) I also save room in the fridge by washing all my berries and grapes together, and then piling them in a colander and keeping it on the top shelf of the fridge. We eat alot of berries quickly in our house, so I don't know if they keep any longer this way, though.

Apples may last outside the fridge, but they aren't worth eating! :) Definitely store your apples IN the fridge - they turn mealy very quickly at room temp. Also, no need to put them in the crisper if that space is at a premium.

My rule of thumb is what I see at the grocery store, actually - if it doesn't need to be refrigerated there, I figure it doesn't need refrigeration at home. This amounts to the same list other people have already posted (roots, squashes, and most fruits are fine outside - greens go inside).

If you still need more space, my gut instinct is that the leafier greens would be more susceptible to wilting outside the fridge. At that point, you're probably buying vegetables in small quantities every other day anyway, so you might be able to get away with leaving things like celery and cucumbers out (even though they'll probably taste better cold). Like I said, though, I've never done this, so I can't speak from experience.

The only produce I ever re-fridgerate is leafy greens.

Nothing else needs it, we lived without a fridge for 2 years and never had a problem.

mangos, kiwi, peaches, bananas

Agree with the above, but definitely keep tomatoes out of the fridge. Putting them in the fridge makes them mealy.

Tomatoes. Never refrigerate uncooked tomatoes.

Also, if you put potatoes in the fridge it makes them hard on the inside. keep them in a dark place.

Most things are fine out of the fridge, but if you are like me, you buy more than you need at the farmers market! Keeping them in the fridge helps to extend the life of most items.

OK - it's not produce. But eggs don't need to be in the fridge assuming you use them in a relatively timely manner. Here in Germany all the stores have them just out in the open air...

You can actually store more hardy leafy greens (like kale, chard, mustard greens) and celery out of the fridge in a glass of clean water. You have to use it in the next 2-3 days, but until then, you have a pretty bouquet to remind you to eat your greens :)

It really depends on the temperature and humidity of your apartment. I don't have air conditioning and it gets quite humid here in the summer, so some produce that I can leave out in the winter I can't leave out in the summer. In general, none of my fruit goes into the fridge unless it's ripened quicker than I can eat it (generally stone fruits). Most vegetables I keep in the fridge as long as I have room, but not all in the crisper drawer. Tupperware works well for items that end up on the regular shelves. Many greens, however, last well on the counter in a glass of water. Kale, chard, parsley, etc. The key is to freshly cut the ends before you put them in the water, just like with cut flowers.

I think European eggs are handled differently, eggs that are initially stored cold in the US are supposed to stay that way:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/focus_on_shell_eggs/index.asp#19

Not that I've never left them out, and whenever I have my fridge/freezer cranked up to get my ice cream maker cold enough, eggs plus all the produce need to stay on the counter to avoid freezing in the fridge!

An easy way to remember: Just consider how they stored it at the store or market where you bought it. Let them do the homework.

If they don't know how to store their product, they'd lose a ton of money, it's always in their best interest to store it in the most optimal way.

I would just buy small amounts of fruits and vegetables because outside of bananas I hate warm produce.

I'm with QChan - leafy greens are one of the few things that I find must be refrigerated. If I have space I also put zucchini, fresh peppers, carrots, herbs, and green onions. I live in Athens, Greece and I don't find that the heat changes things much - I'm good about keeping my potatoes, onions, and garlic in paper bags, and I make sure that there is air circulating around thing like citrus, tomatoes and other fruits - I don't have a fancy fruit bowl or anything, they're just in a dish and I pick them up every day or so to make sure nobody's molding!

ladidi -- thanks for the US information! I guess eggs here are never refrigerated until they reach someone's home (if then)

Eggs definitely don't need to be in the fridge. I'm an American living in the UK, and at first I was horrified at the whole warm egg phenomenon. But after my boyfriend and I moved in together I gave in and started leaving eggs out of the fridge. They're fine. They also cook much better. I leave butter out of the fridge as well, it gets used within 3 or 4 days and I've never had problems. Most of my fruit and veg stays out, although I do leave carrots and leafy veg in the crisper drawer.

The kale in a vase thing is a great idea.

Now that summer is here, I've been doing shopping for dinner on the day it's being cooked, so my fridge has been demoted to holding leftovers and milk.

You can take a page from folks who have gone fridge free who use coolers with ice packs to keep their perishables cold. You could simply keep in the cooler the produce that doesn't fit in the fridge and that you don't want to keep at room temperature.

Strawberries dont need to be refergerated

Keeping time aside, I can't think of a single fruit that doesn't lost flavor in the fridge. Worked at a produce stand through high school and college--turns on into a bit of a fruit snob.

Make sure you leave space in the fridge for the cherries! They age 10x faster on the counter.