Wine Cooler suggestions

16 years ago

For those of you who have put them in what are your recommendations? Would love to spend $1200+ but not in the budget. We saw a "Franklin" on the internet for a reasonable price. DH liked it because of the double doors, but it seemed to get bad reviews (too noisy). Costco is going to have a Magic Chef (dual zone; built in) at the end of Feb. for $449 PLUS an extra $100 off with the coupon. Seems like a great deal. Anyone have Magic Chef?

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Comments (7)

auntiebubba
16 years ago
Can't help with the Magic Chef but we did buy a Vinotemp from Costco last year. Its dual zone, works well, cost ~$500. Only down side is that it makes noise when the compresser kicks on, which is really noticable when all your other appliances are ultra quiet models.
muscat
16 years ago
I have an Avanti unit that I bought about 2 years ago, and I love it. Holds 45-ish bottles, has 2 temperature zones, SS front and nice looking. It would have been $500-600 (cannot remember exactly) but I got it at about 1/2 that because it had a couple of tiny scratches. Score!!! I got it from Thebeveragefactory.com, through Ebay
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Good advice on the Perlicks. They are one of the few, and maybe the "Only" that offers variable speed compressors on their wine fridges. Sooooo, what's the big deal about a variable speed commpressor??? Better temp control, (less temp fluctuation for your wines). More efficient. Less "Cycling" (on/off). Need proof??? Remove the accelerator pedal from your car and replace it with an on/off switch and then get in and drive that succer, (if you dare)!!!! The motor is either full on or full off, just like wine coolers or even fridges/freezers with old style compressors. They have to "Overcool", then shut the motor off, wait for contents to get "Too warm" and then come back on full blast---very "Ancient Technology" and Yep I have one, An Elux Wine Fridge, it does OK, but why not do better???? At least I did with my 48 JA built in Fridge! Good luck on your choices!! Gary
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In the future, if you encounter similar problems, you could consider buying things from the UK (or for that matter, from most other countries in Europe). I have had good luck ordering from country-specific Amazon stores. Shipping is not negligible, but I find it is frequently surprisingly little compared to what I would have expected. A quick glance at the amazon.co.uk suggests that shipping an undercounter wine cooler to the US would set you back somewhere on the order of $85. Amazon usually is good about shipping internationally for items that they sell themselves, but several third-party vendors on Amazon don't do so by default. I have sometimes contacted them directly, and discovered that in about 50% of cases, they are willing to negotiate special terms to ship to the US. Also, they should technically refund value-added-tax, when they do this. That's about a 20% discount, which can often make the extra cost of shipping more palatable. The downside is that you won't have easy warranty service, and you also will have to deal with country-specific model differences. Dimensions could be a little different, but a quick check suggests that UK appliances are compatible in height with US models. And of course, voltage is different. The UK uses 240V/50Hz, whereas the US uses 120V/60Hz. The difference in voltage is easy to fix. You simply ask your electrician to run a 240V circuit to the kitchen. That's possible in most households, although it might be difficult to do in some apartment buildings that get three-phase service. The difference in frequency is usually not a problem. Modern electronics never care; resistive loads (i.e. heating elements) don't care; inductive loads (i.e. motors and transformers) might care. That's a chance you have to take. Or you could ask the manufacturer. Realistically, it is extremely unlikely that operating at 60Hz instead of 50Hz is going to cause problems. The reverse is more likely to be a problem. This only leaves you with potential questions about building codes. There is nothing inherently wrong with European appliances. After all, hundreds of millions of people use them daily. But they might not have been tested by American test labs. And they probably won't even show up in American building codes, as they simply aren't a major consideration. This could be a problem when you get the kitchen inspected -- or it could be a non-issue. Depends on your local building department.
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I've got the stacked Marvel wine storage/beverage refrigerator. It was expensive. It cost around 4K when I bought it five years ago. They are separate units with some kind of joining mechanism that allows them to be stacked on top of one another. The wine storage unit is fine. I have no complaints. The racks are not tilted, they are flat shelves with indentations for bottles. The beverage storage has drawers that are not adjustable. Everything has to be stored on the side. Nothing can go upright because the racks are too close together. I purchased it from AJ Madison. I never saw the product in person, only on the web. I learned a valuable lesson. Always see it in person. I wouldn't have purchased it if I had known how the beverage drawers were set up. But, you want to know if it is dependable. Yes, both units are dependable. It's plenty sturdy, too.
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Depends on how much of a wine person you want to prepare for. Someone very serious about a wine and likes a variety will want a large storage cellar at about 55-60°f and then a dual zone cooler to chill whites to proper serving temp. Someone else is happy to store their wine at whatever temp and then stick whites in the frig to cool them to whatever temp they are when removed. Then there are folks in the middle. We'll have a storage cellar that I hope will be about 60°f. Reds will be served right out of the cellar. Whites will go in the top of an under counter Perlick beverage cooler so they'll be about 50°f for serving. I might shove whatever cans are in the bottom to the side to stick a lighter white on the bottom to get a little cooler. Not perfect but good enough and cost effective.
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cat_mom
16 years ago
Along the same topic (hope this isn't considered hijacking the thread): Anybody with experience with the "Wine Enthusiast" coolers? They have a thermoelectric cooling system which supposedly is silent. They are coolers, so are not meant for long-term storage (I think the guy on the phone said you can keep bottles in it for up to a year).

I'd purchased, but then returned the Cuisinart 6 bottle cooler (also had thermoelectric cooling) when I realized that I could get something larger for roughly the same price (also, the Cusinart requires storing no less than 3 bottles inside for the cooler to function properly, and needs 3" of clearance around the unit--the WE one has no such minimum bottle storage and only 1" clearance required; according to WE cust svce).

Here is a link that might be useful: Wine Enthusiast coolers
slc2053
16 years ago
We have a Magic Chef wine AND beverage cooler...we wanted it to store soda, beer as well as a few bottles of wine...it was from HD and cost $300-$400. We went to Magic Chef's website and bought and additional glass shelf because we wanted more can storge than wine bottle. So we removed one of the wine bottle shelves and put in this extra shelf. We love it...and it is soooooo quiet..lucked out there I believe.

The wine cooler was almost an after thought..and just thought it would be somethinf fun..however, I couldn't justify paying as much for a wine cooler as we did our new fridge, so that is why we went with this affordable option. We thought that maybe down the road, if/when we could afford a higher-end wine cooler, we would get one. What we love about this wine cooler that is sooo hard to find, is that it has a black interior..most have white...I like that when the light is on inside that it is a nice accent light to the kitchen and it doesn't look like a typical white refrigerator inside.
mrs_tlc
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for your thoughts everyone! We did read a tip, by the way, on noise from wine coolers. They say to put a piece of carpet underneath them and they will be quieter.

slc2053 I think you have the same one we are getting. HD has a Magic Chef right now and they said they would honor the Costco coupon but the one they have doesn't have the reversable door (dh wants it to open to the right) and it doesn't have the glass shelves. The Costco one does so I guess we wait till it comes in and is the coupon time (2/23). I'm glad to hear you like it. We also looked at the VinoTemp, Auntibubba, because that's what they have right now. It's really nice as well but I guess we're going to wait for the MC for $350.
green-zeus
16 years ago
I have a Kenmore. It was only around $200 and is VERY quiet. You hardly hear it when it comes on. I don't think you have to spend a lot of money on a wine frig unless you're after a "look."
cat_mom
16 years ago
FWIW, the one from WE is about $179.99 in the 16 (18?) bottle size with the SS door/handle.

Wine Cooler suggestions

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Wine Cooler suggestions

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auntiebubba

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