I would love any recommendations on the best, most economical wine cabinet for garage storage. It gets pretty warm here in the summer, so need something that will be able to handle the warmer temps. I’d love to get > 400 bottles if possible Thanks in advance.
I’d not put a wine cabinet in a garage that sees big temperature swings. It’s going to significantly decrease the lifetime of the compressor etc.
Personally I just have a small fridge in the house and then several lockers in offsite storage.
Great point Peter, I didn’t think of that at all.
I have a cellar built in a closet under the staircase. But, we’re running out of general storage space in the house, so might need to give my cellar back. Trying to figure out the best option if I have to go that way. The thought of offsite storage bugs me a bit, since I’ve become used to not paying for it. Might just be the best option I guess.
Cheaper to buy an armoir or build a closet than dumping the cellar.
Tim,
There are a few wine cooling cabinets with stronger compressors, said to be up to the task of working in difficult conditions such as garages.
If it comes down to the garage or nowhere, though, you might consider making the garage a bit less stressful: Removing some of the heat or preventing it’s buildup, either through venting or creating a small insulated space inside the garage in which to place your cooling unit. Even better, consider installing a cheap window-ac to keep a small, walled-off and insulated corner of the garage cool.
As for the wine storage unit itself, if you go with the garage where appearance won’t count as much, you might consider looking for a used commercial refrigerator, which can be inexpensively altered to maintain a wine-friendly internal temp; even a used home-grade refrigerator would be less expensive than a new wine specific unit, and it too could be modified with a replacement thermostat that cycled in the 50-55ª range. (The sometimes-cited worries about excess vibration with refrigerators are, IMO, myth rather than reality.)
Tim,
I should have told you my real cost of storing off-site. If my lockers are packed, which they occasionally are, then we are talking $1.50 per bottle per year. I agree that it would be much nicer to have the wines at home, but I would be worried that something could go wrong while I’m away. It’s probably cheaper to have your own fridge. In your case I might suggest that you have more than one in case of of them dies.
Bottle size is a big issue wih most cabinets, very limited storage for sparklers and burgandy, mags or 375’s. I have two cabinets a vinotheque with indivdual bottle storage (400 bottles) you will damage labels on larger cab style bottles and can only store around 40 larger bottles or mags and a vinotemp (166 bottles) with slide out shelves that will not a a accommodate burg/champ.
Thanks everyone for your input
Well, a little negotiation has feed up a space in the house for it vs the garage:-). But that means offsite storage here I come.
It actually happened to me once, my whisperkool died while we were away.
Anyone have any experience with Avanti wine cabinets?
Offsite is the best option. And, it really does end-up being cost-effective, too. You could pay a few thousand for a wine cabinet that will hold 400+ bottles, or you could pay probably $350 - $400 per year to store the same amount. Your wine cabinet would probably have to last for at least 10 years before it starts being cheaper than off-site — and this doesn’t even consider the cost of the electricity required to run your wine cabinet for those 10 yrs. Off-site is the way to go.
Good points, Peter.
FWIW, I store our wine at an off-site facility for less than $1/bottle/year — that’s true of both our 24 cs locker as well as our 36 cs locker. I’m sure the pricing gets even more attractive as one moves up the scale re: # of cs…
Wait, you pay under $300 for a 24 case locker per YEAR?
$300 per 34 cases per year is a quote I just got from a storage space in Chicago. Is that a reasonable rate?
Yes. That’s low in my experience though of course markets vary and an out of the way location will be lower than one in town.
I’d verify things like security (who provides the lock to your locker? Who has keys?), climate control (temp and humidity) and what backups there are for the primary cooling system (i.e. is there a second system that takes over? Is the wine underground?)
I do. Locker is in a bad spot within the facility and is rated for 18 cases but I have 20+ currently stored there, well under $300/yr.
Reasonable?!? I’m moving my wine to Chicago!
At those rates, you guys would be idiots to have expensive home storage. That’s very low pricing. If I could get under $1/bottle/year like that I’d store 2-4 cases in a small cabinet at home and the rest offsite unless ‘offsite’ meant 50 miles away or something.
Houston is outrageous and real estate is cheap here. WTF
three storage unit sizes:
3′x3′x4′ – Holds 300 bottles – $100/month
4′x4′x4′ – Holds 600 bottles – $150/month
4′x4′x8′ – Holds 900 bottles – $220/month
Yes. Both of my lockers are less than a dollar per bottle per year. I’d have to go dig our contracts out of our filing cabinet to get the specific price, but it’s the best price I found in our area, and I’m quite happy with their facility. The only downsides to my situation is their opening hours aren’t great, and they’re located a significant distance (by our local standards) from where I live(d) in that area. Really, though, these “downsides” aren’t a big deal because most of the wine in there is stuff I don’t plan to touch for years.
It’s in a multi-storied concrete warehouse, temperature and humidity controlled, that has been operating as a wine storage facility for awhile (20+ years, I believe). To be honest, I don’t know about their back-up systems, but I’d like to believe they have one (of course, maybe they don’t) – of course, with the thermal mass of having many thousands of bottles of wine stored in there, I’m not too concerned about a temporary loss of power (I’d have no concern with a two day loss, and I’m sure they’d have any such problem resolved within two days). The renters provide the locks, and only the renters have the keys thereto. I am very happy with the facility, and would recommend it to anybody.
Yoikes! So you’re talking north of $1k/year for just 300 bottles…!!!
I spent about $1k, max, on my ~320 bottle under-the-stairs cellar. I’m eyeing the 5th bedroom, but don’t tell the wife - she’d have a cow, man. OTOH, if I used more space-efficient racking I could probably come close to a 50% increase in my bottle count.
This thread made me curious enough to go digging through our file cabinet. I found the following information re: the storage facility at which we store our wines:
2010 pricing (which is the pricing we locked into when we starting renting our lockers; perhaps prices have increased – I dunno – but even if they have I doubt it could be by a lot)
of cases … Yearly rate ($):
12 … 142
16 … 163
18 … 175
24 … 211
30 … 265
32 … 279
36 … 315
42 … 365
48 … 413
54 … 458
60 … 529
80 … 677
90 … 726
92 … 777
100 … 825
120 … 989
135 … 1,116
— Walk-Ins and Custom Walk-Ins
140 … 1,157
150 … 1,239
200 … 1,652
235 … 1,943
400 … 3,305
600 … 4,956
800 … 6,610
1,000 … 8,260
And a hand-out given to us by the storage facility, re: their facility and whatnot:
… The facility was constructed in 1930, of steel reinforced, poured-in-place concrete with foot-thick walls and ceilings, which makes it the strongest and largest wine facility in the [xxx] area, the building has passed all fire and earthquake code requirements of city, county and state governments.
Our security system is all U.L. approved equipment, monitored by [name of security company]. Our system includes closed circuit TV surveillance perimeter protection, motion detectors located strategically throughout the facility, and an intercom system. Random-variation of entry-exit code data, and 24 hour battery backup in case of power failure is to further protect against any unauthorized entry. The Fire Alarm/Sprinkler System by Tyco, Fire & Security is monitored by a U.L. Certified Central Station, which has approved the system’s installation and monitoring.
Access to storage areas is permitted from Wed. through Sat., between 11am and 7pm, and Sun. between 12am and 5pm. Our open hours are supervised by staff, as is the elevator access to all floors. …