Storage Recommendations

I am looking for some advice on purchasing a wine cabinet/cellar/fridge (what ever the hell)

Right now I currently keep the bulk of my wine stored in an offsite, and have a cheapo home depot 30 bottle wine fridge for everyday stuff. I am paying way to much for my offsite, over a $100 a month. At the place in irvine I see talked about, i could get a larger unit with racks for less then I am paying.

I don’t have the space to build a cellar. So I thinking of buying a large cabinet.

My questions is are they okay for long term storage, and if so which ones?

Or am a better of biting the bullet and keep paying the insane charge, or other ideas?

Not sure which of the two offsites in Irvine you are talking about, but I know Legend has racks available for purchase - I have no clue how much they cost, but they are well advertised as ‘available’ there. They look cool - I’d love to know how much they are, if it is worth the investment. Would be better than the shippers I have all my wine in currently.

Do you NEED an on-site cabinet? While I like mine, it does use a lot of electricity. Not anywhere close to $100/month worth, of course, but you’d have to ask Charlie Fu how much, as I think he’s actually measured how much wine fridges/cabinets take up in electricity, at the urge of his wife.

WCC offers metal racking in single and double deep for a rental fee. Legends recently started offering permanent wood racking in double deep configuration. A contractor comes in and installs racking. I’ve seen one of the walk-ins with it and it looks nice, but cuts your usable space quite a bit.

I just put a deposit on a new home in Irvine. I’ve been walking around the model trying to figure out where to build a wine cellar or at the very least place a Le Cache 5200 to get rid of my off-site. I can’t figure out a good spot for either. I’m gonna have to think outside the box.

Keeping wine in a cabinet is fine for long term storage as long as temp/humidity is correct. Lots of ppl here do it.

It’s definitely more cost effective to have a cabinet vs off-site in the long run, and more convenient. But, it’s easy to outgrow a moderate cabinet…hell it’s easy to outgrow a giant cabinet. Also, the cooler will break eventually and that will cost you to replace it. I dunno, I’m in the same boat as you, don’t know what to do, but would love to have all my wine at home in an aesthetically pleasing cellar or cabinet.

The conditions are fine for onsite storage presuming you don’t put the cabinet in a hot garage so that it’s being asked to cool from 120F. But if the cabinet can keep mid-50s… mid-50s are mid-50s. HOWEVER… If the cabinet cooler fails, you risk your wine. Mine did (in the process of seeing about repairs), but it’s not mid-summer here. If it was, the wine would be in the 80s. So, consider your backup if the cabinet fails. You could simply buy a cabinet where the cooling unit is straightforward to replace, buy a second cooling unit and keep that on hand as insurance. Or you could move more of your wine onsite, but not all.

I’m thinking of going with the La Cache 3800…waiting for them to send me some wood samples. Anyone have any experience with their products?

I have a 3800. Fantastic cabinets!

Michael good to know! How long have you had it for?

Three and a half years. Flawless performance. On a couple occasions I’ve called customer support to answer a couple questions, and they’ve been very helpful. Even during the great San Diego blackout of 2011, the Le Cache kept my wines safe and sound without power for 18 hours. And their workmanship is meticulous and beautiful.