If you're going to buy a fridge to rip apart, why not just get a small dorm fridge and use that?
Seems like the cost of materials for something like that would end up costing a decent amount also. Certainly in the ballpark of what a used dorm fridge from craigslist would cost you.
Unless of course you just want something small... in which case, it should work fine, it's just going to take some work to get the fridge apart all while being careful to not puncture or kink any cooling or heating lines. There's definitely some risk involved there.