Thermoelectric devices operated in the transverse mode can decouple heat flow from the electrical current, which in turn offers some practical advantages in device design. In the current study, hypothetical transverse thermoelectric devices are constructed from alternating layers of a bismuth telluride based thermoelectric material and pure metals. The cooling performance of such devices used in the refrigeration mode is examined in terms of the maximum temperature difference, heat flux density, and coefficient of performance. Results show that the size of the uniform cooling region is determined by the aspect ratio of the device, and the temperature homogeneity in this region improves as the individual material layers become thinner. We further show that the effective heat conduction of transverse thermoelectric device when used in the active cooling mode may outperform a heat sink made of pure copper or aluminum, which indicates transverse thermoelectric devices may have potentials in applications such as electronic cooling.