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Small Wine Refrigerators

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Tom Troiano

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Small Wine Refrigerators

by Tom Troiano » Fri Jan 10, 2014 4:36 pm

I may be in the market for a small wine refrigerator (30ish bottles). I've never really looked at these before and was stunned by the number of brands and the number that I've never heard of.

Two questions:

1. What brands have people here had good experiences with?
2. What are the brands to definitely avoid?

In addition to the "normal" GE, Frigidaire, Kitchen Aid, etc. I've seen:

Koolatron
EdgeStar
Koldfront
Newair
Vinotemp
Danby
SPT
Avanti
Haeir
and more.....
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Tom NJ

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Re: Small Wine Refrigerators

by Tom NJ » Fri Jan 10, 2014 6:33 pm

I have a 30-bottle(ish) Sunbeam wine fridge that my wife gave me for Christmas around 12 years ago. It's kept a steady temp all this time (it's a 1-zone), and any wine I've pulled from it, even ones that were in for a decade, have been just fine. I guess that's the ultimate test. It has a dark frosted UV-filter glass front, so it looks nice also. Not fancy or expensive, but it's been bullet proof.

I'm afraid that's the only one I've ever had, so I can't opine on the others.

Good luck in your hunt for one!
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Lou Kessler

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Re: Small Wine Refrigerators

by Lou Kessler » Fri Jan 10, 2014 9:57 pm

Tom Troiano wrote:I may be in the market for a small wine refrigerator (30ish bottles). I've never really looked at these before and was stunned by the number of brands and the number that I've never heard of.

Two questions:

1. What brands have people here had good experiences with?
2. What are the brands to definitely avoid?

In addition to the "normal" GE, Frigidaire, Kitchen Aid, etc. I've seen:

Koolatron
EdgeStar
Koldfront
Newair
Vinotemp
Danby
SPT
Avanti
Haeir
and more.....

I have a small Haeir in my bar area and it has worked well for quite a few years.
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Jay Labrador

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Re: Small Wine Refrigerators

by Jay Labrador » Fri Jan 10, 2014 11:14 pm

I have one small Haier that's been working fine for maybe 10 years now.
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Re: Small Wine Refrigerators

by Doug Surplus » Sat Jan 11, 2014 3:04 am

I have 2 Sunbeams (47 btl) and one Kenmore (24 btl). Had them for about 8 years. One Sunbeam doesn't cool as well as the other, but the other Sunbeam and the Kenmore work great. The shelves on the Sunbeams don't work well with larger Pinot/Rhone bottles and sometimes fall down a bit, but they were special buys at Home Depot for $150.

I've been looking for something larger to hold all my wine, but reviews are discouraging on most everything that costs less than $3000.

Amazon does have a 107 btl unit listed that has only 5 review but the reviews are fairly positive. A lot of complaint seem to be with the compressor failing and not being able to find any body to replace it.

Also, don't believe the listed bottle count - it is almost always for Bordeaux size bottles. If you have a lot of Pinot Noir and/or Rhone wines the count will decrease significantly. I can usually fit about 35-40 bottles in my Sunbeams because of this. I can always get 24 in the Kenmore however.
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Steve Slatcher

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Re: Small Wine Refrigerators

by Steve Slatcher » Sat Jan 11, 2014 8:01 am

Regarding Vinotemp... you might like to consider this if you are thinking of buying one

http://scotchtape.ductwhisky.com/2013/1 ... sumer.html
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Tom Troiano

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Re: Small Wine Refrigerators

by Tom Troiano » Sat Jan 11, 2014 9:39 am

Steve Slatcher wrote:Regarding Vinotemp... you might like to consider this if you are thinking of buying one

http://scotchtape.ductwhisky.com/2013/1 ... sumer.html


That's interesting. I wonder if that's legal in the US?

I shop exclusivley online for things other than food, wine and Home Depot type items. 100% of clothes, shoes, books, electronics, kitchen items, Christmas gifts, etc. bought online and I see negative comments all the time about products on company owned web sites.
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Re: Small Wine Refrigerators

by Steve Slatcher » Sat Jan 11, 2014 12:47 pm

Tom Troiano wrote:
Steve Slatcher wrote:Regarding Vinotemp... you might like to consider this if you are thinking of buying one

http://scotchtape.ductwhisky.com/2013/1 ... sumer.html


That's interesting. I wonder if that's legal in the US?

I shop exclusivley online for things other than food, wine and Home Depot type items. 100% of clothes, shoes, books, electronics, kitchen items, Christmas gifts, etc. bought online and I see negative comments all the time about products on company owned web sites.

The view on a UK forum was that it could not be enforced in there. But whether it is legal or not, it could involve you in a lot of hassle, and the overall effect would be to suppress negative comments so the reviews you see would be biased.
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Brian K Miller

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Re: Small Wine Refrigerators

by Brian K Miller » Mon Jan 13, 2014 12:48 pm

My Haier failed miserably after about five years.
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Re: Small Wine Refrigerators

by Tom Troiano » Mon Jan 13, 2014 1:21 pm

Brian K Miller wrote:My Haier failed miserably after about five years.


Is that good or bad? From what I can see this brand tends to be toward the bottom of the price range so I might not expect more than 5 years. Am I too lenient?
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Bill Buitenhuys

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Re: Small Wine Refrigerators

by Bill Buitenhuys » Mon Jan 13, 2014 1:34 pm

I've had 2 small Danby's....30ish bottles, single zone. (DWC350BLPA)
First one lasted 9 years. 2nd one is currently on year 9.
No complaints.

I use it mostly for keeping near term drinking whites and sparklers close to serving temp.
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Re: Small Wine Refrigerators

by Tom Troiano » Mon Jan 13, 2014 4:39 pm

All,

Thanks for the feedback!!!
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Brian K Miller

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Re: Small Wine Refrigerators

by Brian K Miller » Mon Jan 13, 2014 7:17 pm

Tom Troiano wrote:
Brian K Miller wrote:My Haier failed miserably after about five years.


Is that good or bad? From what I can see this brand tends to be toward the bottom of the price range so I might not expect more than 5 years. Am I too lenient?


Good question. Only wine fridge I have ever owned, so....
...(Humans) are unique in our capacity to construct realities at utter odds with reality. Dogs dream and dolphins imagine, but only humans are deluded. –Jacob Bacharach

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