My wife and I were contemplating building a wine closet in our house, but we are not certain we will stay in the current house for much longer. Therefore, I am looking for a storage option that could move with us. I would like something in the 250-400 bottle range and would like to stay in the sub $3000 price point if possible. Prefereable a cabinet style that looks like a piece of furnature.
I have done a lot of research and have read plenty of reviews, but I would like some options from the board members.
Le Cache has worked well here. Racking and design preferences aside, the cabinet is really just a big insulated box; the cooler does the heavy lifting, and LC’s seems reliable. Good customer service, which can be important.
If you and your wife has been thinking of building a wine closet, perhaps you will get the ‘itch’ again in the new house. At which point, investing in wine cabinet at this stage may be
not a good idea. Perhaps you can look into off site storage in meantime? Moving with wine cabinet and wine are quite difficult, speaking from experience after all . I bought a wine cabinet, then moved and moved again. Quite tedious, and ‘nerve wrecking’ ensuring these precious babies survives the transition, so to speak. Then permanently got a place, and straight build a cellar, at which point the wine cabinet is useless for me. Just my 2 cent worth
I was looking for a second cabinet and watched Craigslist for several months, and finally found a 400 Bottle Vinotheque that has served me well. I think if you are patient you can find a very good deal I would avoid the one (can not remember the brand name) that ship in pieces and require home assembly I read many issues when researching. And definitely buy one with a self contained cooling unit so you can replace it when it dies (and it will at some point).
Anything over 5 years old and you can figure the warranty period is over. That said, if you are patient Craigslist, Want ads, used furniture, even Goodwill are places to look. I picked up a 400 bottle VinoTemp with a working breezeaire for under $500. It looked like the dog had tried to dig a hole in both sides, but 2 sheets of LUAN, half a gallon of wood glue, and some stain later and I still keep all my reds in it.
VinoTemp has 1 major drawback. They use a metal and wood racking system that will eat your labels alive espcially double deep. So if you are one of those people that will pull a bottle, think about, and often put it back, these types of racks will score the labels.
Other than that, unless the cabinet is customized, they all have issues with handling oversized and large format bottles.
I know it isn’t the glamorous choice, but I’ve had the 440 bottle Vinotemp for a number of years, and it’s worked fine for me. No reliability problems and hold temps just fine. It’s not a work of art, but since I have it in the garage that doesn’t matter. Bought it at Costco (watched for the sales and it should be about $2k):
. I bought a wine cabinet, then moved and moved again. Quite tedious, and ‘nerve wrecking’ ensuring these precious babies survives the transition, so to speak. Then permanently got a place, and straight build a cellar, at which point the wine cabinet is useless for me. Just my 2 cent worth