Resurrection...

I came home from the store last night and immediately went downstairs to the circuit panel. Flipped the switch off, waited a few seconds, flipped it back on, then returned upstairs. Pulled the fridge away from the wall, (not as scary a situation as I thought it might be, dust- and grime-wise), unplugged it, unscrewed the back panel, and vacuumed the floor and fridge coils. Cleaned out some of the ruined food and put it in the garbage bin (thank goodness for Wednesday trash days). Put a plastic bottle of water in the freezer as a sort of gauge. Went to bed.

The fridge appears to be working now, and the bottle of water is frozen. Thank ALL the Gods. I have no idea whether it was the switch-flipping or cleaning that solved the problem, but for right now, I'm pretty happy. I really didn't want to have to shell out $500+ for a new refrigerator right now.