​The 8 Best Wine Refrigerators ​(Review & Buying Guide) in 2019

How we selected products to test

When searching for a wine fridge to purchase, a quick search can reveal an overwhelming amount of results. When choosing which coolers to test, we spent hours researching how they work, where to store in your home or office, how to properly store wine bottles and best practices for cooling and serving wine.

For this review, we focused on freestanding and countertop units to test the best variety of wine coolers.

Once fully educated on wine coolers we took to top appliance retailers like Amazon, Home Depot, Sears and Best Buy to research all the options available. Online reviews from users are a huge help when looking through all the options, but in some instances, we had to read between the lines for what was a user error (based on our research) and what was a real concern. Most reviewers had questions or comments surrounding the specifics on where and how to store the wine fridge, rather than about the wine they were about to store.

Why and how to chill wine

Preservation

The majority of the wines you will find at your local store are best enjoyed within a few years of the label date. Is it realistic for the average wine drinker to store bottles of wine for more than a year? The short answer is no. If you are looking to store wines for maturing or expensive fine wine, it’s best to invest in a professional grade wine cellar.

When storing wine for preservation (even if just a few days or weeks), the following best practices are recommended:

Cooled, not chilled: Ideal storage temperatures for white wine are between 49-55 °F and for red wine between 62-68 °F. Going lower in temperature can increase the risk of wine freezing, which can also push the cork out. Going higher can risk aging the wine more quickly, which may result in flat flavors.

Secure and steady: Keeping the temperatures consistent and not allowing a quick drop or rise is best for preserving your wines. Also, be sure to set the feet on the base of the wine fridge so it doesn’t rock or shake the wine.

Lights out: Natural and artificial lights can be harmful to prolonged storage. Try to find a naturally dark area in your home for your wine fridge.

Humidity: For those who store wine long term, they need to ensure the cork doesn’t try and spoil the wine. As long as the room has a humidity between 50-80% (which most homes do) and you store your wine on its side, this won’t be a problem for your short term storage.

Benefits of a wine fridge vs regular fridge

Some may ask why they can’t store wine in their normal refrigerator. In doing our research, we were surprised to find the lengthy list of reasons why other than simply lack of storage space. We found that fridges don’t have the humidity control that’s best for wine storage. Additionally, they vibrate when running, have a quick drop of temperature and lower internal temperatures. The biggest shocker was that it could affect the taste of the wine.

​Compression vs. thermoelectric technology

To keep temperatures consistent, you will want to keep your unit in a colder room if you can. This is due to the internal range of temperatures inside the units. Single zone units are typically designed to have a choice of internal temperatures with a range of about 20 degrees (45 °F – 65 °F degrees) and dual zones can be as low as a 10-degree difference per zone. If the room is warm or humid, you will probably not be able to reach those lower temperatures for properly storing your white wines (depending on the technology the unit uses).

The Best Wine Refrigerators

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