Freestanding Wine Fridges and Wine Coolers

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What is a freestanding wine fridge?

A freestanding wine fridge is a stand alone wine fridge that is used for either wine service or wine storage or both. They come in a variety of heights and widths. All freestanding wine fridges will protect your wine from the five elements that can cause wine to prematurely age or spoil, including UV light, heat, bad aromas, vibration and humidity. However, some wine fridges are designed to protect your wine over the longer term into wine maturation. For wine maturation you need a freestanding wine fridge with a carbon filter and potentially, if your wine are very valuable and may be sold at a future date, adjustable humidity controls.

Freestanding wine fridges or standalone wine coolers are designed to stand alone, with at least 2-3 inches of space around them and 30cm on top to allow them to vent hot air produced in the act of cooling your wine. Unlike built-in or integrated wine coolers, they are not meant to be part of your kitchen design and are commonly placed around the home, outbuildings, garages, conservatories, restaurants and bars. See our wine fridge buying guide for help choosing your ideal wine fridge.

All freestanding wine fridges will come with at least one programmable temperature zone, typically able to set between 5-18°C but many will have premium features like dual temperature zones (or even multi-zones), automatic humidity settings, carbon filters and other wine cooler technology that will make the freestanding wine fridge ideal for either service, storage or both.

Freestanding wine cabinets are the tall units that can typically accommodate anywhere between 100-300 bottles. These are for the serious oenophile who will want to cellar some of their selection over the longer term. Freestanding wine cabinets tend to include a lot more technology and are more energy efficient and cost effective per bottle typically than their cooler equivalent.

What’s the difference between a built in/integrated and freestanding wine fridge?

The differences in these types of wine fridge related exclusively to their position around the home and how the vent and expel hot air.

A freestanding wine fridge needs 5-10cm of space all around it and 30cm on top to allow ventilation. This means it can not be placed adjacent to walls or carpentry and must stand freely around the home, cellar or garage.

A built in or under-counter wine fridge vents from a panel at the front of the wine fridge so can be built into carpentry.

An integrated wine fridge sits off the floor and is integrated into a kitchen like an integrated oven might be. Typically it needs space at the back to vent although there are now some self-ventilating integrated wine fridges which can just be plugged in.

Why choose a freestanding wine fridge?

Freestanding wine fridges are chosen by wine lovers who don't want to put their wine fridge in the kitchen, or, whose collection is so large and potentially expensive, that it would not suit being in an undercounter wine fridge.

Restaurants, wine bars and premium wine shops often have freestanding wine fridges to showcase their wine whilst keeping them at the ideal service or storage temperature.

Those with large wine collections who wish to place their wine fridge in a garage or conservatory or cellar often opt for freestanding wine fridges as they have winter systems to battle low external temperatures.

Choosing the right freestanding wine cooler?

What features should I look for in a freestanding wine cooler?

This will depend entirely on what you want your freestanding unit to do. If you want it to hold Champagne then look for wider shelving gaps, if you want it to hold a mix of bottles, look for MIX shelving, if you want to mature your wine, look for carbon filters, if you want to serve wine of all varieties look for a dual zone. Common features of freestanding fridges include;

• Single, Dual or Multi Temperature Zones
• Alarm systems to notify of temperature dips
• Winter System - Ideal if you wish to place your wine cabinet in a colder room like a garage.
• Lighting on/off or changing coloured LED lights
• MIX shelving systems and space for Champagne bottles
• Carbon filters - you will find these in wine coolers with the potential to age wines
• UV protected doors - all units will feature UV protected doors to prevent your wine from sunlight damage

Considerations when choosing a freestanding wine cooler?

Every wine collector has different needs and considerations when choosing a freestanding wine fridge. It's important to consider;

• The space you can allocate to your wine fridge and its ambient temperature
  
• The number of bottles you need to store
  
• Is this wine fridge for storage or service or both - how many zones do you need?
• The budget you can allocate to wine storage
  
• The long term running and maintenance costs
  
• How might your wine collection evolve over time
  
• What shape and size are your bottles, what type of shelving will you need.
  

Which are the best brands for freestanding wine fridges?

The highest premium brands for freestanding wine fridges are EuroCave and Swisscave, followed closely by Liebherr and Dunavox. Other high quality brands include Dometic, Climadiff and La Sommeliere. Vestfrost is an affordable brand with high quality engineering along with mQuvee.

All of these brands come with at least 2 years warranty and fast delivery.

There are also freestanding wine walls, these can offer great narrow depth for those with special space requirements.

How to install a freestanding wine cooler?

The most important thing to remember about your freestanding wine cooler is that it will need to expel hot air and it also needs to be a kept in a place of moderate temperature fluctuation unless it has a ‘winter system’. Freestanding wine fridges need 2-3 inches of space around the back and sides and at least 30cm above. The top of the freestanding unit should never have anything place upon it as this impact the units ability to vent. If you buy a unit and surround it with cabinets, like a built-in unit, the unit will eventually overheat and break and you will also invalidate the warranty.

Place your freestanding wine cooler in a room where the temperature doesn't go frequently below 14°C or above 25°C, the exceptions to this are units with a winter system (which can heat up the internal environment so can cope with cold conditions) or wine coolers than have a large ambient temperature rating and are designed to cope with extensive warm temperatures.

Which are the best freestanding wine coolers?

Our three top selling freestanding wine coolers are listed below.

Best small freestanding wine cooler - La Sommeliere SLS34DZ

Our most popular freestanding unit is the La Sommeliere SLS34DZ. This well priced dual zone can hold 33 bottles and also has space for Champagne too. From premium producer, La Sommeliere, this wine cooler comes with a 2 years parts and labour guarantee. Benefitting from two temperature zones which can be set between 5-10°C in the upper compartments and 10-20°C in the lower, this wine cooler is designed for service and will keep red, white and sparkling wines at the ideal temperature. The upper zone holds 15 bottles while the lower zone holds 18 bottles.

Best full height freestanding wine cooler - Dunavox DX-166.428DSK

Supremely attractive in a stainless steel frontage, a piano black version of the same wine fridge is also available. This full height wine cooler is stylish as well as being ultra durable with our longest manufacturer warranty of 5 years on the compressor. This dual zone wine cooler has full stack shelving meaning there is no need to stack your bottles as every bottle will have its own shelf. It also benefits from wide gaps between shelves allowing Champagne to be stored on any shelf. The bottom section provides space for larger wine bottle formats too.

Best freestanding wine fridge for long term maturation - Swisscave WL455F

Our most popular freestanding wine cooler of all is the ultra-premium Swisscave WL455F. A single zone wine cooler designed for freestanding or built-in use, this unit vents from the bottom so you can place items to the side, back and on top of the wine cabinet. With a winter system, carbon filter and temperature alarms as well as a lock and key. This classic edition Swisscave will keep your wines safe and perfectly protected for the next decade or so.

Need Expert help Choosing a Freestanding Wine Fridge?

At Coolersomm we have 15 years of wine industry experience in fine wine and wine maturation so for any questions please email info@coolersomm.com, call 020 3627 2644, speak to us via Live Chat or visit us in our London store in Wandsworth.