How To Choose The Right Wine Cooler For You

Some people like to collect wine to drink, and some like to store it and make an impressive collection. People like to enjoy many different kinds of wine, but the one thing that everyone has in common is the need for a place to store it.

If you’re considering purchasing a wine cooler, it might be a little bit confusing trying to choose one that is going to suit your individual needs. No need to worry though, as we’ve created a guide to finding a wine fridge that is perfect for your home.

What Is A Wine Cooler?

First of all, a wine cooler is a refrigeration unit that is designed to store bottles of wine at any preferred temperature, and comes with multiple feature to ensure the highest quality preservation of wine.

As far as storage goes, wine fridges are the perfect place to keep your collection in, whether you want to use it for serving or storage. Coming in a range of different sizes, there is a fridge for any collector - but we’ll talk more about that later.

What Are The Benefits?

Wine coolers come with a variety of different benefits, from preserving the quality of wine to simply looking fantastic.

A major benefit to purchasing a wine fridge is the ability to keep wine at the correct serving temperature. Serving wine at the right temperature will bring out the flavours, aromas and body of the wine.

Keeping wine in a wine cooler is also a great way of displaying your collection, coming with beautiful finishes and adding a sense of elegance to any kitchen.

If you’re planning on building a collection, a wine fridge is absolutely essential. As far as size goes, we recommend opting for a cooler that will hold roughly your entire collection, plus another half of it.

It is a good idea to set your limits and know roughly how many bottles you want to store beforehand, as some wine coolers will have restrictions as far as space and storage goes.

What Are The Different Types Of Wine Coolers?

The kind of wine cooler you’ll want to invest in will depend on two things, the size of your collection and the value of it.

There are 4 different types of wine coolers - freestanding, built-in, integrated and countertop. Each of them come with their own benefits, and we’ll go into a little bit of detail about each one.

Freestanding coolers are unit that stand on their own, and tend to be cheaper than integrated and built-in fridges. They are one of the most popular options as there are no restrictions to where you can place them around the house, and can hold a large amount of bottles.

Built-in coolers are perfect for those looking for a neat and tidy finish to their kitchen, allowing the unit to be fitted out of the way. The luxury of being able to slot the cooler into your kitchen comes with a bigger price tag than freestanding models, and can be restrictive as far as bottle storage.

Integrated wine coolers are similar to built-in coolers but tend to be fitted around chest height, installed into the walls. They are definitely one of the best looking options, but may require a kitchen renovation to get the full experience.

Countertop coolers will usually hold up to 12 bottles and are ideal for anyone who is limited for space. If you’re more of a casual one collector, a countertop fridge is an ideal option.

What Is The Difference Between Temperature Zones?

Most wine coolers will either have single or dual temperature zones, with some of the higher range coolers offering 3 separate temp zones.

A single temperature zone cooler is ideal for anyone that prefers one kind of wine, as you will only have the ability to have one temperature setting throughout. This is perfect for a collector of one kind of wine, and allows you to keep the serving temperature consistent.

A dual temperature zone cooler is perfect for people who like variety in their collections, being able to have 2 separates temperatures going in the same cooler. When you’ve got a mixture of wine in your unit, it is a great option to be able to operate it almost as 2 different coolers.

While dual zone coolers tend to be more expensive than single zone, you have much greater flexibility in terms of storage and temperature options. A dual zone will allow you to keep some wine at serving temperature and bottles you plan on keeping for a while at the optimum storing temp.

What Is The Price Range?

As wine coolers can be used to store a lot of expensive wine, it needs to be treated as an investment. Spending money on the bottles but buying cheap for the wine cooler is never a good idea, and you’ll essentially be buying twice if you go for a cheap option.

On average, wine coolers from a company like ourselves will range from £300 to £3,000, with the quality and features reflecting the price tag.

For a better idea of the kind of wine cooler you’ll get for your price range, here is a quick breakdown.

For around £300 to £600, you can expect to find a countertop cooler that will hold up to 12 bottles, or a freestanding unit that holds around 20 to 30 bottles. From £600 upwards to £1,000, you can get a range of freestanding coolers that will hold up to 50 bottles, and even some built-in units closer to the £1,000 point.

In the price range of £1,000 to £1,5000, you can find a range of freestanding, built-in and integrated coolers with large storage options. From £1,500 to £3,000, you’ll get the best of the best, the “elite” fridges with up to 3 different temperature zones and storage facilities for 200+ bottles.

If you’ve spent time and money investing in your collection, a high quality wine cooler is a must have.

What Features Should You Look Out For?

It would be another article in itself to go through all of the many different features you can enjoy with various wine coolers, but we’ll give a little overview to some of the main features and benefits.

• UV resistant glass on the doors to protect the wine from damaging UV rays, essential if the cooler will come into contact with any sunlight.

• Humidity controls to manage the amount of moisture contained in the cooler and to prevent any air getting in, preserving the quality of the bottle.

• Anti-vibration systems to minimise any vibrations, stopping any effect on the bottle’s colour, flavour or body.

• Digital display for an easy to use interface with a modern and sleek look.

• Reversible doors to provide greater flexibility in terms of positioning of the fridge.

• Adjustable shelves to again provide flexibility as far as storage goes. Most coolers will fit a standard Bordeaux shaped bottle, but having adjustable shelves will allow for different shaped bottles.

If you’d like us to go more into detail about the features, let us know.

Summary

Finding the right wine cooler for your individual needs can be a process, but hopefully it has been made easy by this article. Whether you’re looking for a large freestanding unit to display your expensive collection or a countertop unit to keep a couple of bottles in the garage, it’s important to know what you’re looking for.

We recommend you take a look at our Avintage under-counter wine coolers, all of which are available in an array of different sizes. We provide a variety of under-counter wine coolers in all sizes, making sure each of our customer's requirements are met.

Avintage is well-respected in the world of wine cooling units, known for their reliable designs and expert wine storage. 

If you’d like to learn more about Avintage, feel free to contact a member of our team today. We are always happy to give additional information about the leading brands that we stock as well as the sizes we offer across our site.

We have fridges to suit any budget and can help you to find the perfect cooler for your collection. As always, keep an eye out on the Elite Fridges Blog for more interesting and insightful articles about everything wine related.