whats your opinion on this one from Best Buy…seems to have good reviews for 500 bucks
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/GE+-+Profile+29-Bottle+Wine+Cellar+-+Stainless-Steel/5435111.p?id=1093386296645&skuId=5435111" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
FWIW, I keep a wet sponge in a small dish of water in the smaller kitchen unit to increase the humidity. It dries up so I suspect its doing something. ![[scratch.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/4/42a16863a8714da3c1604419e3eb9206bb87aa50.gif "scratch"){kind=small}
Truthfully, I’m not sure the Eurocave does anything more to control humidity. It seems to follow the ambient humidity in my basement. I use the little beads in the bottom in the winter - but remove them in the summer when the humidity is high.
My 42ish bottle Frigidaire gave out last night after only 1.25 years. Looking for an affordable replacement, and I see some good recommendations in this thread, but was curious about feedback on these brands:
Danby
Wine Enthusiast
Avanti
Those are the brands that seem to be similar in price and capacity (but hopefully more durable) as the Frigidaire. If there are any others, I would love to learn about them.
Thanks,
Nick
I just bought the NFinity 170 bottle (yeah right) unit from Wine Enthusiast through Costco. $1400, delivered. Hold between 135-150 bottles. Runs quiet and looks very nice. I ran out of room in my regular wine cellar and now am using this as my on deck circle.
This may be a silly question, but I just wanted to check since y’all have much more experience with wine fridges than do I.
Is it okay to use a wine fridge that is designed to be “built in” as a freestanding unit? Is the only difference that it vents from the front? I just wanted to make sure before I buy a unit, and am unhappy with it because I am not using it as intended.
Here is a link to the unit I’m considering purchasing and using as a freestanding unit since my other fridge just burned out.
http://www.homedepot.com/Vissani/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ4rj/R-100597196/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
Thanks in advance for the feedback.
Bump for advice
The unit you’re looking at says: “Suitable for built-in or freestanding installation”, so you should be just fine. The reviews are hit and miss, so it looks like they have some lemons, but Home Depot is good on returns.
Thank you very much for the response. In store, they push it as a “built-in” unit, so I just wanted to double check with the WB’ers, but you and the website are probably more accurate. It seems that all units with this bottle capacity and price range have mixed reviews, so it’s tough to pick one out based on reviews alone. That is good info to know about Home Depot returns though.
My Whirlpool 35-bottle unit just went down yesterday. Ran over to Costco and picked up a $200 VinoTemp to use in the interim (thankfully they have a generous return policy). Debating whether or not to go used on a higher-end model via craigslist or to spend about a grand on a 166-bottle Avanti.
There is an interesting Trantherm Ermitage unit for sale locally. Seller says it is about 6-7 years old and hasn’t been run in about 2 years. Wondering if anyone has any longevity estimates for such a unit.
+1
good friend of mine has two of these and been going strong for two years now…and honestly at that price and size, they are more or less disposable. If I got 5 years out of it, I would be more than happy.
I just saw this thread. I think I am 9 years into this cooler now from Home Depot. It has survived at least 3 moves and it still is quiet and keeps perfect temp. Its about $60 more than I paid for it back then, but its still cheap.
I just bought the France Cave by EuroCave and have had it plugged in for about a week and a half. I’ve been really impressed so far. It’s pretty quiet even when cooling, is aesthetically pleasing, and most importantly, had a lot of the bulk storage-like capacity that I was looking for. We’ll see how it lasts going forward - count me as a EuroCave convert thus far.
I’ve got the Summit SWC902D. One listed on this page Gimmu | Finding stuff made easy. Pretty happy with it, 62 bottle capacity with dual zone. It is quiet but that wasn’t a consideration when buying it. I also like the aesthetic but know that is a personal thing.
Either wait for a used eurocave to popup on marketplace of craigslist, or the nfinity 170 is solid.
As noted elsewhere, quality can be a crapshoot. I got a ‘great deal’ on a $3500 retail scratch amd dent that worked wonderfully for 3 years until it crapped out and actually started heating things up to about 75 degrees. I fortunately noticed within a few days and unplugged the thing.
I now use a wireless temperature and humidity monitor. I use Flo, made by Moen. I have a few around the house to monitor for water leaks. I get a notification if the temp ever goes outside of 52-59 or humidity drops below 50%. I’m 300 miles away and can tell you I’m at 56 degrees and 62% humidity. It’s cheap insurance!
Here’s my Summit Wine Refrigerator story:
I bought a Summit SWC1380D in May2019 from Appliances Connection for $1100; it stopped cooling in late May2021, gradually rising in temp until it achieved unity with room temp, with the compressor running continuously (I think). Out of mfgr’s warranty . . . but, I’d bought the offered 5-year extended warranty – offered by Consumer Priority Service, a third-party warranty agent – because wine fridges in this class are notoriously short-lived.
Opened a claim with CPS on 02Jun2021. They “found” a service facility, Mr. Appliance of Olympia, and emailed that Mr. Appliance would handle it. Of course, it took several phone calls to actually get a visit calendared: nobody calls you, because if you give up, they make more money.
24Jun, Mr. Appliance shows up. Two hours later: evaporator leak, no refrigerant left in the system, and Mr. Appliance does not service R600a systems (what!? The most popular modern residential refrigerant in the world?!), and I was told they would pass that info back to CPS, so CPS could decide how to proceed.
Fast forward another, oh, nine phone calls to CPS, trying to get an answer about when they’d fix this. It got to where I was calling them every morning. I’d get different answers, “We haven’t received info from Mr. Appliance,” but I’d call Mr. Appliance and get the name of the person they’d emailed the info to, then I’d call CPS back and give them that info, “oh, she’s not in the office right now, but she’ll get back to you tomorrow”. Nope, nobody ever calls you back. And like that.
Then, “Compressor has a 5-year mfgr. warranty, and we’ll need one of those to repair eventually, so we’ve reached out to Summit about that part.” Ugh.
Yesterday, CPS emails me a survey, asking how my experience has been with them. Imagine how that went. I filled it out.
This morning, I got what looks like boilerplate email, “we’re so sorry about your experience, blah blah, and please let us know how we can contact you to discuss this, blah blah.” But no call.
Today, on my morning call to CPS, different story: Summit no longer mfgrs this model, so CPS offers me a new replacement Summit refrigerator of a different model for “free”, “just pay shipping and tax.” $350. I took the deal. But, I asked: what is the disposition of the old, non-cooling two-year-old unit? I was told it’s on me to dispose of it.
Well, that thing is not going to magically levitate out of my mudroom and to the transfer station, where in this area I will be charged $35 due to having once-upon-a-time contained a non-GWP refrigerant (R600a is isobutane, which while mildly flammable has NO Global Warming Potential – and, besides, before it all leaked out, it only contained 48 grams (that’s less than two ounces) of refrigerant). Moving appliances of this size isn’t something I do for fun-and-profit anymore.
I think I’ll invest in some R600a + sealant (“magic sealer in a can”) and recharge this thing; I’m willing to bet it’ll run another couple of years fine. I am not terribly concerned about the potential harm to the environment of 2 ounces of isobutane possibly leaking over that timeframe, when I see folks at gas stations splashing fuel all over when trying to fill their lawnmower cans.
But, what a hassle these “cheap” units can be. Pictures below are from the delivery/unpacking in late May2019. I like the unit, it was quiet though it never really regulated temperature as well as I thought it should:
