Wine refrigerators are a great way for everyone to enjoy the precise taste of wine. Even though the average wine lover would enjoy having an entire cellar in a mansion dedicated to storing wine, it just isn’t practical for most people. How can you store hundreds of bottles of wine properly in an apartment? And if you have kids, how can you expect to store your wine safely in your basement if you use traditional wine racks? The answer is to use wine refrigerators instead. In this article, we’ll explain what to look for when purchasing wine refrigerators including features, considerations and things to watch out for.

Features To Look For In Wine Refrigerators

When reviewing the different wine cooler refrigerators for sale, you’ll want to look for the following features.

Wine Storage Amount

Wine RefrigeratorsDepending on how many wine bottles you have, storage could be very important. Wine refrigerators are only meant to hold bottles of wine for less than a year at a time, so you’ll want to find a different long-term storage option if you have a collection you’d like to age for years. In this case, you’d only need a wine refrigerator that stored a few bottles of wine.

However, if you drink several bottles of wine per week or have wine fairly regularly, you can safely store your wine in your wine fridge since you’ll be cycling through your wine quickly. In this case, you’ll want a larger wine refrigerator to keep all of your bottles ready to go whenever you might need them.

Temperature Control

Every wine refrigerator should have some sort of temperature control option. If one you’re looking at doesn’t allow you to set the exact temperature you want your wine to be chilled to, find a different model. Ideally, wine refrigerators will allow you to set the temperature of your wine at some precise place between 45 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit. You should also check to see how consistent a wine cooler claims to be in temperature. Some wine coolers are even dual zone wine coolers and can have multiple temperatures set at once. Because the flavors in wine can be so subtle, it’s important to purchase wine refrigerators that keep wine at the exact right temperature (or with a wine bottle dual zone wine cooler, two temperatures).

Style

This may not be important to some people, if your plan on having your wine refrigerator in a place where people can see it, you should consider the style of the fridge you purchase. If your room uses wood paneling as decoration, stainless steel trim or a graphite trim door could draw unwanted attention to itself. Depending on how your home is decorated, however, you may actually want to have a stainless steel exterior for your wine cooler. Look at where your wine fridge is going to be placed and figure out what would look best.

You can also consider getting a wine fridge that is built into your wall if you have the funds for it. Built-in wine refrigerators usually cost a little more and take some more time to install, but they can be an attractive addition to your home that doesn’t have to draw unwanted attention.

Considerations

After you find wine refrigerators that have the features you’re looking for, there are some other considerations that should be made to make sure you get the fridge that will work best in your home.

Size Of The Fridge

Depending on where you live and how much space you have, the actual size of the fridge is very important. If you live in an apartment, for example, space is limited and you need to make the most out of every corner. This means you don’t want to purchase a fridge that is too big. The size of wine coolers comes down to much more than simply how many bottles they store. Look to see a model’s actual dimensions before purchasing the wine cooler so you don’t end up with something too big.

If you have a lot of bottles of wine to store, though, you’ll want to get something a little bigger. Depending on the model, a wine fridge that holds 50 bottles isn’t much bigger than a wine fridge that holds only 30. Again, look at the actual dimensions of the bottle wine coolers you’re thinking of purchasing and figure out what size would work best in your home.

Built-In Or Free Standing?

We’ve touched on this a little bit already, but you should choose whether you want a wine refrigerator that is built-in to your home or that is free standing. A freestanding wine refrigerator costs less and is more easily replaced, but built-in wine coolers look much nicer and add to the aesthetics in your home. You have to make sure you have the electrical hookups to power a built-in wine fridge, though. It’s up to you and your budget to determine whether you want a fridge that stands by itself or that is built into a wall.

What To Watch Out For

With those considerations aside, here are a couple of things you should watch out for when shopping for your home’s wine refrigerator. You’ll want to avoid models that have problems with either of these.

Noise Level

All appliances make some amount of noise, but a very loud wine refrigerator can be an annoying addition to your home. Some wine fridges can be very loud, so you should check user reviews for individual fridges to see what owners have said about noise level. While super quiet fridges can be expensive, you shouldn’t have to use a wine cooler that sounds like a jet just to keep your wine at the right temperature.

Durability/Protection

Most importantly, if your wine refrigerator doesn’t protect your bottles of wine, it will cause more harm than good. Make sure the wine fridge you purchase will be able to keep your wine safe and also last for a long time. Paying a little more for a wine cooler model that has protection for your wine bottles and that will last for years will pay off down the line even if it costs a little more up front.

By knowing what to look for, what considerations you should make and problems to avoid in bottle wine refrigerators, you can find the cooler that would work best in your home. You don’t need a wine cellar to be a wine enthusiast. Start checking product descriptions of popular brands for wine fridges and read user reviews of wine refrigerators today to get an idea of which one you should buy.