A refrigerator includes a plurality of storage compartments, a plurality of cooling units to cool the plurality of storage compartments, a temperature sensing unit to sense temperatures of the plurality of storage compartments, a drive unit to drive the plurality of cooling units, and a controller to control the drive unit to drive the cooling unit that satisfies a predetermined driving condition. If at least one cooling unit among the plurality of cooling units is being driven, the controller delays driving the other cooling unit even if the other cooling unit satisfies the driving condition. The refrigerator minimizes simultaneous driving a plurality of compressors, which may prevent generation of noise and vibration, as well as excessive power consumption, due to driving the plurality of compressors.