Many cheese makers pay homage to the ancient and traditional method of aging cheeses in caves by calling their aging space a “cheese cave." Caves are often ideal locations to age cheese due to their environment and year-round stability, so most aging space seek to replicate those conditions as much as possible.
An aging space requires essentially four things:
Other aspects of a cheese cave can be important, such as limiting light: darkness is good and helps avoid any fat rancidity; avoiding dripping water, and having space to work and to move.
A cave can provide near-ideal conditions for aging cheese, so long as the cave is not a dead-end or otherwise lacking air flow.
Going underground, the temperature quickly converges on the average temperature for the area, usually somewhere in the 45-65 F range. It stays quite stable throughout the year, and changes only very slowly with the seasons so long as it isn't too openly exposed to the outside air.
Caves tend to have higher humidity due to being exposed to accumulated ground water and slow seepage, without direct sunlight to evaporate and bake off water. If their humidity is not high enough, it's not too hard to improve with some added water. Shelving with good aging boards can be constructed and placed inside a cave as easily as any other location, and dripping water can be protected against reasonably easily.
It almost goes without saying, but caves are dark.
Refrigerators and freezers can make wonderful small-scale aging spaces for cheese. They present two difficulties that need to be addressed.
Most fridges are designed to operate in the 33-40 F temperature range, and freezers typically operate in the -5 to 15 F temperature range. Typically, a temperature controller such as an InkBird can be installed that the fridge plugs into, and which has a temperature probe going inside that will monitor for the right conditions (55 F or so) and cycle the power to the fridge to keep it at cheese aging temperatures.
Standalone freezers can work just as well, provided they are frost-free; frost freezers run the coolant through the shelving and will ice up there, dripping onto cheeses below and otherwise causing havoc. Also, some fridges and notably also beverage coolers / wine fridges use a cool plate, related to a frost freezer's mode of operation, which can drip, so if you use one make sure the plate drains away from the cheeses and won't drip on them.
Most refrigerators work on the principle that during the cooling cycle they will remove humidity from the fridge and condense it onto the coils. This causes the cooling cycles to also cause a sudden drop in relative humidity, which needs to be restored as soon as possible. These cycles can be hard on cheeses if not managed well.
There are two methods for managing the humidity in a fridge:
Depending on your location and the typical relative humidity of the air, you may end up with too much relative humidity, especially when your fridge is loaded up with cheese to age as they will emit some of their moisture into the air of the fridge and raise the humidity. If that happens, you may need to also install a dehumidifier into the fridge and have a humidity controller capable of activating both a humidifier and dehumidifier as needed. Sometimes just getting some air flow from outside is sufficient to lower the humidity to a better level.