Wine Cooler Recommendations

Troytempest

We have a Lamona 300 wine fridge. Picked it up for £60 about 5 years ago - still going strong and big enough for our needs.

Rosa_Damascena

FreeBear said:

Doozergirl said: Refer to my comment about fizz bottles not fitting well!!

Even a bigger concern if you are buying Jeraboam or larger bottles

Or a Melchizedek! (40 bottles or a right PU, for the uninitiated).

silvercar

Put a spare fridge in your garage or utility room. Transfer a couple of bottles to your main fridge as and when.

Ballymoney

silvercar said:

Put a spare fridge in your garage or utility room. Transfer a couple of bottles to your main fridge as and when.

That’s the setup I had in my current kitchen and, whilst good for the daily step count, I’m looking for a solution to keep more bottles indoors.

I appreciate a wine cooler isn’t very MSE friendly but we’ve accepted that the wine cooler is all about vanity/parties/convenience than making financial sense.

FreeBear

Ballymoney said: I appreciate a wine cooler isn’t very MSE friendly but we’ve accepted that the wine cooler is all about vanity/parties/convenience than making financial sense.

Not always about vanity. If you are buying wine with long term storage in mind, it needs to be kept in the right conditions. Constant temperature & humidity, away from UV and bright lights.. A cool cellar is usually ideal, but not everyone has one.

I likes my vintage Port, but don't have space to store a pipe or two, so make do with a small wine cooler. Set at 14°C, it is just the right size for laying down a few bottles with the intention of keeping some of them for 25+ years.

Sandtree

When we were looking we were recommended Caple wine cooler... ended up going a different route though. The flat did originally have a 150mm fridge that was terrible as sparkling wine bottles wouldnt fit, even some non-sparkling couldnt, the door didnt fully open because of the downstand and temps fluctuated significantly from what it was set to. 

ComicGeek

We have a Caple wine cooler, though we didn't pay anywhere near the retail price on it - couldn't justify £500-£600 on it, ended up paying less than half price on a barely used one.

Shelves are flimsy, but temperature control is really good and it gets well used! 

Ours is 300mm wide, and you can only get 2 bottles comfortably per shelf, with perhaps a small beer bottle between. Anymore and it gets awkward to get bottles in and out.

FreeBear

Sandtree said: and temps fluctuated significantly from what it was set to. 

The temperature in mine bounced around a lot more than I thought acceptable. Fitted an industrial thermostat and it now maintains the temperature to +/- 0.25°C of the target.

Rosa_Damascena

FreeBear said:

Sandtree said: and temps fluctuated significantly from what it was set to. 

The temperature in mine bounced around a lot more than I thought acceptable. Fitted an industrial thermostat and it now maintains the temperature to +/- 0.25°C of the target.

That to me seems like a big investment in Bacchanalian pursuits!! Each to their own

coffeehound

FreeBear said:

Sandtree said: and temps fluctuated significantly from what it was set to. 

The temperature in mine bounced around a lot more than I thought acceptable. Fitted an industrial thermostat and it now maintains the temperature to +/- 0.25°C of the target.

Interesting, FB, can I ask is that a simple setpoint thermostat or a clever PID predictive one? How often does the compressor come on?

Rosa_Damascena said:
That to me seems like a big investment in Bacchanalian pursuits!!

I learnt a new word today