I am considering purchasing a Le Cache 1400 to supplement offsite storage lockers. If you have this unit, I am interested in hearing your perspective about quality, noise, issues, etc. Basically anything you wish you knew before you bought the unit…and if you love it, please do let me know as well.
Also, do you know if any firm sells extended warranties on Wine Cabinets similar to how Home Depot, etc. sell extended warranties on other appliances?
Thank you for your help!
SS - I have a 2400 LeCache, and have enjoyed it very much. It was the only unit that I could use in my house that looked like a nice piece of furniture, rather than a glorified refrigerator, or something with obvious low end wood veneer. Since I have no place to ‘hide’ it, and it is quite prominent in the house with an open floor plan, the cabinet itself needed to be high quality, and LeCache does not disappoint.
I had some issues with condensation around the locks, but the company worked with me to find a solution, and we got it, but there is some damage to the finish around the locks as a result. Their service has been quite excellent.
They have upgraded their cooling units recently as well, but I was not able to take advantage of that, as I ordered just prior to the upgrade.
I doubt you’ll be disappointed - it’s a fantastic piece.
My first post…on something I actually know about 
I have had a Le Cache 5200 (holds 622 bottles) for almost 6 months. It was meant to supplement my off site storage, where I still keep a considerable amount of wine. My wife and I chose it for a number of reasons. First and foremost, my wife did not want a refrigerator looking unit. I wanted something that would hold at least 500 bottles comfortably (Not bulk storage like Eurocave). She wanted a nice piece of furniture, considering that we were building a wine tasting room in our home. I had originally planned to build a refrigerated wine room, but it would have rendered that entire area unusable except for storing wine. The wife didn’t buy off on that. Plus Apex Wine Cellars came in with a design almost twice the budget I gave them. I also looked at price per bottle storage. By the time I fully optioned out an Eurcave 500 with the necessary # of drawers, the price was almost 40% more! Plus once I added drawers to a sample configuration, it decreased the # of bottles stored by a significant #. Price per bottle for a high quality unit was definitely in Le Cache’s favor. I also looked at lower cost models from other wine cabinet makers, but the design was so old it looked like my kids wooden desk (The finishes were awful), or the design was of a traditional design and my house is very contemporary. The Le Cache won out after exhaustive research on my part.
The guys at Le Cache were very helpful and provided excellent data on their product. After 8 months of research of every wine cabinet out there, I decided that I should give in to my wife’s desire for a piece of quality furniture and in that respect, the unit does not disappoint. It is well made , solid cherry doors and it looks high end. We ended up getting the contemporary series in standard cherry. It was delivered last April.
The racking inside is very high quality and I was impressed with how they finished off the racks. I also went with the LED lighting for an extra $100 and I am very glad I did, as I like the “glow” i when do actually turn it on.
The delivery was professional. Make sure you follow the installation instructions and make sure the doors are level at all four corners BEFORE the delivery people leave. Leveling this unit is of paramount importance.
I have the 1800 QT cooling unit. It has worked perfectly since I have gotten it. BUT…they say its SUPER QUIET. I have to respectfully disagree. Maybe compared to other cooling units such as Breezaire etc, it might be much quieter, but I would never call it SUPER QUIET. if this is near a bedroom, you might be disappointed. It is not LOUD, but it certainly is not super quiet as they advertise.
In defense of their position, I have higher ceilings and tile throughout the first two levels of my home and that could add to the “sound expansion”. My foyer entry opens up to all three floors and when the unit kicks on the sound does make it’s way all the way up. If you have carpet, I am sure the sound level is fine, but if you have tile throughout your house, that could have an affect on the overall sound level of the cooling unit.
The one thing I really like about the cooling unit is that you can adjust the humidity and I had to take advantage of that feature.
As we built out the room with a wine bar and other furniture, the sound did get absorbed a bit further. I am not disappointed with the product…I was just expecting SUPER QUIET based on what I read.
If you need something almost silent, then you need to look at refrigerated units, most likely from Eurocave or Transtherm. If a wine cellar that is slightly louder than your refrigerator is acceptable, then you won’t find a better unit out there.
Would I buy this again , if I could start from scratch?..Absolutely yes. The quality and furniture finish is very high end and it showcases my beloved wine collection and is the cornerstone of the design of our overall wine room motif. The built in wine bar (with marvel wine cooler for ready to drink bottles), window shutters and wine tasting table all have wood that perfectly match the wine cabinet.
If I had one thing to change, it would be the addition of a bottle probe that interfaces with the cooling unit, but that is not a feature they offer.
View this as a piece of high quality furniture that by the way, also can store your wine perfectly. Based on my presales support and a couple of questions after the purchase, I believe that they offer superb customer service. They even sent me wood samples before my purchase in order to truly determine which color would work best for our wine tasting room.
One last note: I would ONLY buy this unit from Le Cache direct. No one was able to provide any level of discount that surpassed the price I got direct. They did not discount the unit, but they had a free shipping promotion (I think they still do) and none of the other resellers could provide that, and they really didn’t add any value to the sale (most tried to talk me out of it and into a more expensive Eurocave).
All in all, my six month experience with Le Cache has been wonderful. it is not the lowest cost unit on the market, but I firmly believe its the best in its class. If you want a refrigerated unit, I believe the Eurocave’s are probably the best quality units out there. For undercounter products, I like Marvel or U-Line.
With all this being said…if I only had about 100-150 bottles to store at home, It would come down to a simple question. Do you want a piece of furniture or not? If not, then I would consider the Eurocave very strongly and it is an excellent product. If you want a piece of furniture that compliments the other decor in that area of your house. Then the Le Cache is the way to go.