How to choose a wine fridge?

So you want to buy a wine fridge?

But all this technical jargon is making what should be a simple, enjoyable purchase really complicated and frankly, boring!?

We sympathise. Here at CoolerSoom we talk (and write!) all day about kWh/annum, noise emissions, convection cooling systems, climate classifications and active carbon filters and we've lost all our friends.

But don't lose heart, it's actually a simple case of asking yourself a handful of questions.

The best way to choose a wine fridge is to understand what really matters to you about your purchase and then use the filters on our full range of wine coolers page to shortlist a handful of wine coolers. In the end, there's only a few questions to ask yourself about what type of wine fridge you want to get down to a handy shortlist.

All our wine coolers protect against the four horsemen of the wine apocalypse; heat, light, vibration and humidity. They all come with a minimum 2 year warranty. Some of them offer a higher discount than others and some have a member £50 off voucher redeemable against them (sign up to our newsletter to get your £50 off voucher if you're new to CoolerSomm).

Let's start to narrow down your wine cooler choices with a few easy questions. Take a breath, pour a glass, let's do this!

What space do you have earmarked for your wine cooler?

If you want your wine cooler to fit into your kitchen design, stood on the floor but with shelving or cupboards flush to the cooler then you should choose "built-in" from the cooler type filter. These are front venting wine coolers and you will need to ensure you don't obstruct the ventilation grille.

If you want your wine fridge to blend totally into your kitchen, keeping clean lines and fit into an aperture, raised off the floor like an integrated oven, for example or hidden behind a kitchen unit door, you should choose integrated wine fridges from the filters.

If you want a freestanding wine cooler to place in the kitchen, or anywhere in your home, office or restaurant, then choose "freestanding" from the filters.

We've already taken away over 50% of the choices right there! Let's narrow this down even further.

Does your wine fridge need to fit inside a certain space that is height or width limited? Use the filters for height and width.

How many bottles does your wine cooler need to hold?

Think about your wine collection, are your bottles all for long term storage, if so, you probably just need a single zone wine fridge or even a wine storage cabinet which can hold over 300 bottles at a lower price than a dual temperature zone wine fridge.

If your collection is partially for ageing and partially for service/shorter term drinking you should look at the 2 and 3 temperature zone filter options.

You can filter for temperature zones and bottle capacity to really narrow down on the ideal fridge for you.

Great! We've got to be into the single digit options by now. One more question.

How much money do you want to spend?

The old adage, "you get what you pay for", is really quite true in the world of wine coolers. We have wine coolers that store almost 200 bottles for £1000 but a similar capacity model can cost £4000+ from the most prestigious brands. The differences are subtle, but may be very important to the individual. 

What are these differences? The more expensive freestanding wine fridges come with extra features like winter systems, child locks, audible alarms, locking doors, higher quality finishes and more. These wine coolers also come with improved functionality. The temperature ranges fluctuates less, the humidity is more accurate and held in a narrower range, the light resistance via the UV protected door is even higher, for example. 

Once you've filtered for what is essential in your wine fridge purchase, it is then a matter of personal taste and budget as to whether these quality extras in finish and service are worth the money to you.

In conclusion, if you're going crazy with too much choice then use the filters, remember your budget, check if there are any special deals or discounts to get you up to the next quality level wine fridge and this should help you choose. 

Cant decide

Alternatively, hit the chat button and we'll help you pick the ideal wine cooler for you. We love to chat!

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Sarah newtonWine coolers

Author - Sarah Newton

Sarah Newton has worked in the wine industry for two decades holding senior positions at some of the UK wine industry's leading brands. The MD of Coolersomm, Sarah is WSET certified and our lead wine buyer too.