Abstract Computational models emerge as essential tools in the challenge of developing competitive thermoelectric refrigerators for the domestic sector. This paper presents a computational model for thermoelectric refrigerators that simulates the entire system under transient state, including the thermoelectric modules, heat exchangers, insulated compartments, and hot and cold reservoirs. Also, temperature-dependent Peltier, Seebeck, Thomson and Joule effects are implemented. A prototype of a thermoelectric refrigerator has been built and tested to conduct the verification and validation of the computational model. The most important outputs are predicted with deviations lower than ±10%. The effect on the outputs of temperature-independent properties has been assessed. Results indicate that deviations are up to twice as high as those obtained for temperature-dependent properties, so these simplifications are invalid in the simulation of thermoelectric refrigerators under real operation.