How should 500ml water bottles be stored in the fridge so they will be coldest? Should they be taken out of the wrapping and stored as single units, or should I leave them in the package? 
EDIT to add I mean, the package is 24 bottles bundled together. Should I just leave them in the crate, or disperse them around the fridge?
 A: That depends, 


*

*if the water in the bottles is warm and You want to cool it down 
as fast as possible, then unwrap them. 

*If there is enough time to cool or the water is cold already, 
then leave the package intact, it might be useful later to 
protect the water from heating up fast, when the bottle is removed 
from fridge for use. 
Georg
EDIT to Todds edit:
There is not much "wrapping" in this case, but the outermost 
bottles are a shield for the inner ones. So, the answers stay the same. 
A: Left long enough, no matter how you store anything at a fixed temperature, it will equilibrate with its environment and reach the same temperature. So store them however you want, they'll be just as cold in the refrigerator in any case. 
Though, I would point out that a) some parts of the fridge are colder than others, so that'll make a difference, and b) as Georg points out, the speed that they cool off in the fridge (and warm when taken out) will depend on packaging.
A: In the bottom, the temperature will be lowest there. Also you should take the bottle out of the wrapping, and the water out of the bottle for fastest cooling, and the air out of the freezer, otherwise you use power to cool the wrapping and air etc.
