I was going to get one and did some research. I found there are beverage coolers and there are undercounter refrigerators and they do not perform the same. Most beverage coolers can't be set low enough to beverages REALLY cold. They are fine for wine, but not really good enough for beer. They are coolers, not true refrigerators. Undercounter refrigerators can be set really low, just like a full sized refrig. They are also nearly as expensive as a full sized refrigerator, which is why I decided to not get one. You can't use a dorm refrig under the counter unless you are willing to leave a fairly large gap all around it because they vent and cool out the back and will overheat if they have cabinetry close on the sides. True undercabinet refrigerators vent and cool out of the bottom front, just like a large refrig. Before you buy, check the mfg specs....they will tell you about venting requirements and also the low temperature.

We found matching beverage and wine cooler at Home Depot for a steal. (about $800 for the set or $399 each); stainless steel, quiet, great looking. The beverage cooler and wine cooler both have adjustable temp. The wine cooler has separate white and red temp. zones. We got them for the inside of the penninsula where DH does the cooking. He stocks the bev. cooler with frequently used items for cooking so they are handy for cooking/prep and we use the main fridge for beverages(designed to keep his cooking area out of the traffic). That's his zone. They are designed to open like french door, although are two separate units. We love them!

We just went through the same decision process. If we're talking about undercounter mounted refrigeration devices, I think you can put them into a few categories: 1) Refrigerator drawers. Pull out horizontally, can stack two under the counter vertically. Can be either fridge or freezer. Can be visible or have custom panelling over the fronts, making them indistinguishable from cabinets, as kateskouros states. 2) UC "beverage center." These days it appears this is used to describe a counter height unit which is all fridge, and typically contains a couple pull out racks which hold wine bottles horizontally, plus shelving below for sodas, milk, etc. 3) UC refrigerators. These have been around forever. They are like the "dorm fridges" that are sold at Costco, but designed to mount undercounter. Some have a tiny freezer area, pretty useless, while others contain an ice maker (typical "cloudy ice" maker as in most refrigerators 4) wine coolers. Dedicated to wine storage. Mostly or completely filled with horizontal shelving. Some include some bin or shelf storage at the bottom to accomodate larger bottle sizes. Some are single temp, others two zone to accomodate white wine chilling as well as an area to "cellar" bottles at the warmer 55 degree temp. Comments re these: Drawers. Very trendy. Very expensive-two drawers can be way more than twice the cost of a single bev ctr. Advantages include ability to access without bending over, and ability to totally integrate with cabinetry. Bev centers. Decent compromise. Reasonable cost. Most, but not all, come with glass doors. Some can also have custom trim installed around the glass area, so that the door matches the cabinetry, but the glass is still visible. A small numger (KA for one) have solid doors which can be completely hidden by a custom panel. Refrigerators: cheapest in general, though there are exceptions like some of the "pro" lines. Interiors on the cheaper ones are usually plastic and not particularly attractive. I think the tiny freezer areas are useless. Not sure about those with icemakers though have heard of some complaints about inconsistent temperature control. Wine coolers. Something of an affectation in my mind. I can't see spending $$ though for the ability to "cellar" a couple dozen bottles of wine. If you're really collecting wines decent enough to deserve cellaring, I can't imagine not wanting a more substantial storage unit, either one of the large freestanding units or a true cellar. I guess I can rationalize it if it's used solely to chill whites, or keep reds at serving temp to save a run down to the real cellar or whatever. Anyway, we chose option 2, and pretty well blindly went with a U Line 217BEV if I remember correctly.

The KitchenAid beverage center is 24" wide. We shopped for months to finally choose this model. We picked it because it has less beverage space and more wine space, which fits our beverage needs better than the two-wine rack configurations. We also like that it has three zones: a cold beverage section, a cool white wine sections and a red section. Currently the temps for those sections are reading 37, 52, 59. The model was brand new when we chose it, and there was one GW memeber that got one right when it came out. He replaced his Vinotemp with it because the Vinotemp was way too loud for him. The KA is extremely quite while running. When it was new, I could hear the relay that controls when the fridge kicks on, but that softened up after a couple months. The appliance guy said that was normal for that type of relay (which is the "better" kind to have anyway). We bought our in spring 2007 and paid ~$900 for the panel ready model. An added bonus is that the beverage section actually goes down to 37; many (if not most) beverage fridges have thier lowest temperature at 40. Anything above 40 is not food safe, so I wouldn't feel comfortable storing opened juice, or cut fruit in there.