I see a lot of discussion of Euro Cave and Le Cache on these forums. What do people generally think of the Sub Zero line of wine refrigerators?
I would vote for the Le Cache because they look great and are fairly quiet. Plus they make them HUGE which I accept as a challenge to fill!
What do they go for 7-8k? Major league overpriced. You could get a Le Cache with double the capacity for thousands less. Only people with money to burn and wanting to match their SZ/Wolf appliances would get a SZā¦and definitely not a wine geek. In my experience, Le Cache is second to none in customer service.
All makes sense. Was just curious what the opinion was.
You can spend a boatload of money on a fancy wine cooler, however theyāre all essentially refrigerators with the sole purpose of maintaining a consistent temperature and humidity. I have an unfinished basement, so right now Iām not concerned about the looks of a wine cooler, I just want to get my wine in a temperature controlled environment. My strategyā¦ go to Home Depot and buy their inexpensive wine coolers. I have three of them and havenāt had a single issue with any of them.
I bought a Sub-Zero wine cooler to replace my older Danby one. I originally purchased the Danby wine cooler just to keep my white wine and sparkling wine cold, what started as a small test to see if having a wine cooler at home was worth it then turned into a hobby of collecting and tasting winesā¦
So naturally if I am going to be storing expensive bottles, possibly for an extended duration more than 2-3 years I needed something of quality that would keep my wines at a constant temperature and zero vibration. My choice ended up being Sub-Zero which are a bit pricy, but I was not disappointed one bit. The Sub-Zero wine cooler that I bought at Goemans appliances was a great investment to keep my expensive bottles of wine safe and cold.
Today my Danby wine cooler sits in the garage to store our cheap bottles that we drink day to day, while the Sub-Zero sits nicely in our kitchen for special occasions.
All in all, I am very happy with my Sub-Zero wine cooler.
Iām very happy with my Eurocave, it can hold around 200 bottles with the bottles stacked very carefully. I used to have this in conjunction with an off site storage locker. I would keep my newest purchases at the locker and the ones ready for drinking at home in the Eurocave. The locker was pretty reasonable, just about $75 a month. I really miss having the locker because it was very cool place where they hosted social events with other locker owners. It was like being in a discreet wine club. The generosity of the other locker owners and the real interest in the culture of wine was a great experience to be connected to. It was the only time I had the chance to taste DRC wines as they are pretty far outside of my budget. Sadly I moved and had to close out my locker. Yes, I miss my locker and my old friends.
Sub-Zero is a nice option for built-in purposes where a free standing canāt be placed anywhere, albeit at a crazy price, ~$7500 for 147 bottle storage, not exactly qpr. Compare that to Le Cacheās new built-in, $1700 for 153 bottle storage.
But, both are straddled with the same problem. Unless you cellar only Bdx style bottles, capacity goes way down. That racking system is a non-starter for me cuz I have so many Burgundy and Champagne bottles.
The double deep wood racking on the regular free standing Le Cache cabinets can fit everything except the extremely fat Champers.
Seeing this post right on time, I am actually considering buying one in December, will check out all the options here.
Williams-Sonoma has a relatively inexpensive 32 bottle from Cuisinart.
Stainless steel, i dig itā¦Heres a link http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/6689780/?catalogId=52&sku=6689780&cm_ven=Google_PLA&cm_cat=Shopping&cm_pla=default&cm_ite=default&gclid=Cj0KEQiA7NyiBRCOhpuCm9Dq6b4BEiQA9D6qhdDyQ1xhwIzmyjrUvbZahH2DOwclFi8UGzcj2cc5Dc8aAk-P8P8HAQ&kwid=productads-plaid^82946571223-sku^6689780-adType^PLA-device^c-adid^42817962943
Are any of these Energy Star rated?
I ask bc I just bought a 144 bottle Vinotemp unit from Costco and I notice it constantly seems to want to run more than our regular fridge.
And reliability seems to be a problem across the board with wine fridges and I donāt understand that. Regular fridges last 20 years, also have a compressor and are constantly being opened and shut. I bought from Costco to avoid reliability issues. Price was good too. $1000 and a good looking unit.
Any one have experience with avanti.
Thinking of buying the 149 bottle free standing model.
My very first wine storage unit was an Avanti thermoelectric one. Best and worst feature was that it was silent. Never knew it stopped working until it was too late. Not knocking the brand but will never ever buy anything thermoelectric again.
My three 50 bottle units from Home Depot/Vassani-Magic Chef just keep going and going. Aside from moisture issues on the lower shelf of one I have no complaints. Couldnāt beat the price.
Thanks might look into a few more brands.
Iām also looking for a wine cooler but a smaller one. Anyone have any advice for a small wine cooler that stores a large variety of bottles in terms of sizes? I have done a fair amount of research and the two brands that seem to be coming back and back again are NewAir and Haier, with some getting mixed reviews. I actually like one of the 18 Bottle fridge from Wine Enthuisiast ones best in terms of aesthetics but I read some reviews (like the one here) that itās not meant for all bottle types. It claims that itās not designed for Bordeaux-style bottles. You guys have any recommendations?
I have 3 coolers varying from 300 bottle capacity down to 50. The 50 bottle one has shelves that āfloatā to accommodate sizes from mags to Turley. It has been going strong for over 6 years without a problem. Here is the model at Home Depot.
http://t.homedepot.com/p/Vissani-50-Bottle-Wine-Cooler-MCWC50DST/100597196/
I have 3 of those. Work great.
The hidden secret on the Vissani is they actually will hold more than 50 bottles if you are a little creative in how you arrange the bottles. Iāve fit in up to 60.
I have a vino temp thatās great for everyday stuff. Long term, eurocave.
I have a Eurocave and two U-lineās that Iām very happy with.