But knowing which wine refrigerator to buy can feel like a fraught task. There are large and small options, expensive and affordable models, and even features that may seem unnecessary (and depending on whether you’re a casual drinker or a serious collector, some of them might not be for you). No matter what kind of wine you love and what your personal persuasion is regarding collecting wine, there’s a fridge out there for you. Here are the best wine refrigerators for every lifestyle. What We Don’t Love: Single-zone This 52-capacity, single-zone fridge from Frigidaire can be installed either as a free-standing or as a built-in refrigerator. The fridge can fit both cans and bottles, with a variety of sizes of each, over its six adjustable shelves. With 5.3 cubic feet of space, it’s a roomy fridge with awesome benefits to the average wine drinker. An LED digital display helps you set the fridge at an exact temperature between 41 and 64 degrees. The reversible door is slightly tinted to protect your wine from light but is transparent enough to see the wood fronts of the wire racks. One setback is that this fridge is a single-zone unit, meaning that whites and reds will be kept at the same temperature. But considering the capacity, this fridge has an amazing value. Price at time of publish: $999 Dimensions (DxWxH): 23.4 x 23.4 x 34.25 inches | Capacity: 52 bottles | Temperature Range: 41 to 64 degrees What We Don’t Love: Expensive This luxurious KitchenAid fridge holds up to 46 standard-sized bottles and offers a number of bells and whistles to boot. The shelves provide room for 8 Bordeaux-size bottles on each of the five upper racks and 6 Champagne-style bottles on the lower rack. Two temperature-controlled zones allow for a differentiation between storage temperature and serving temperature, and a motion-activated LED lighting system turns on upon approach. The hidden hinges on this under-counter 5-cubic-foot model offer a more customized look for your kitchen, which also will sit flush with your cabinets. Racks are SatinGlide full-extension metal-front shelves for easy use with a luxurious aesthetic. A temperature monitoring system will activate if the fridge reaches 70 degrees for more than four hours, making sure that wines are well protected. Price at time of publish: $2,999 Dimensions (DxWxH): 26.4 x 23.9 x 34.4 inches | Capacity: 46 bottles | Temperature Range: 42 to 64 degrees What We Don’t Love: Only holds 24 bottles, single-zone This affordably priced 24-bottle freestanding wine cooler has an adjustable temperature control with a single-zone range of 41 to 65 degrees. The unit’s see-through door and LED interior lighting make finding what you’re looking for much easier, especially if it’s your one bottle of white wine among 23 bottles of red. Four shelves and extra space at the bottom help to keep the space organized. A mid-sized model, this 2.3-cubic-foot fridge is an ideal fit for people with smaller homes or who are just starting their wine collection, although it’s a flexible unit overall. A couple of drawbacks: the door isn’t reversible for the left-handed, and it’s missing a high-temperature alarm. Price at time of publish: $229 Dimensions (DxWxH): 17.25 x 19.1 x 25.4 inches | Capacity: 24 bottles | Temperature Range: 41 to 65 degrees What We Don’t Love: Small, single-zone Even if you live in a New York City apartment with a truly tiny kitchen, you can still own a wine fridge, so say the clever inventors at Black+Decker. This six-bottle unit fits right on the countertop, and since it only weighs 17.6 pounds, you can easily move it around when needed. Because it’s a stylish option, you can even display this fridge in other parts of the house, like the living room. Two slide-out racks make organizing a breeze, and the fridge has an adjustable setting with a range of 46 to 65 degrees. Instead of having a refrigerant or compressor, it uses a thermoelectric cooling system that’s always quiet. The six-bottle capacity is measured by standard Bordeaux bottles, so you might be able to fit more if you use smaller bottles or canned wine. Price at time of publish: $160 Dimensions (DxWxH): 19.8 x 9.7 x 14.9 inches | Capacity: 6 bottles | Temperature Range: 46 to 65 degrees What We Don’t Love: Single-zone, expensive A serious wine collection requires a serious wine fridge, and this Vinotemp model is nothing if not serious. Holding an astounding 188 bottles, this single-zone fridge ranges in temperature from 41 to 64 degrees. It can be used as a freestanding fridge or installed as part of a built-in kitchen. The fridge’s patent-pending lighting has three settings: Heliotrope, Amber, and Vinotemp BioBlu, a trademarked light that helps reduce the growth of bacteria and mold. The 21.2-cubic-foot wine fridge also stands out with its racking, which differs in aesthetic from most other fridges. It holds the bottles so that they are front-facing and visible from the outside. Both the top rack and bottom storage section can be used to hold larger wine bottles like Champagne and magnums. The temperature controls are part of an LED display that is easy to use and easy to read. Price at time of publish: $4,499 Dimensions (DxWxH): 27.1 x 29.5 x 74 inches | Capacity: 188 bottles | Temperature Range: 41 to 64 degrees
What to Look for in a Wine Fridge
Installation
There are two kinds of installations when it comes to wine refrigerators, freestanding and built-in. What you buy will matter when it comes to installing it in your actual home. For a custom look, go with a built-in, which will fit into cabinetry and look like part of your kitchen’s design. Freestanding fridges, on the other hand, may not blend seamlessly into your layout, but they have more flexibility when it comes to placement.
Extra Features
One of the most important “extra” features of a wine fridge is dual-zone cooling. In models with a dual-zone, you can cool two separate sections separately, keeping white and sparkling wines at a colder temperature, which is preferable for serving, and red wine a little warmer. Typically, the colder section of a dual-zone fridge ranges from 40 to 50 degrees, while the warmer section runs from 50 to 65. Other features include LED lighting, digital interfaces, and adjustable shelves.
Interior Shelving
Shelving can differ from wine fridge to wine fridge. The most common materials used are wood and metal. Metal shelves, which are curved to accommodate bottles, can be tricky when it comes to large-format bottles, so if you have a lot of large bottles in your collection, wooden shelving may be a better fit for you. Some wine fridges do not have adjustable shelving, which makes it difficult to maximize the fridge’s space. Adjustable shelving is definitely a quality to look for when shopping.
How should I organize my wine fridge?
The best way to organize your wine fridge is by designated use. Bottles that you intend to save for special occasions (or that you’re in the process of cellaring, even) need not be as accessible as everyday bottles, so consider placing them in areas that are less convenient to reach. Separate whites, reds, and sparkling wines and keep like wines and grape varieties together so that you can access them quickly when you need them. Sparkling wines, white wines, and rosés should be kept in the cooler section of the dual-zone, should you opt for one, while reds can remain in the warmer section, along with fortified wines.
How long does wine last in a fridge?
Wine fridges can extend the life of average bottles and keep exceptional bottles alive for a very long time. As long as the bottle is not opened, has not ever been kept in a warm environment, and has always been kept horizontal and in a space with neither too much moisture nor too much aridity, it can be held for pretty much as long as you need it. Opened wines, on the other hand, typically oxidize after a few days.
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Hannah Selinger has written about food and drinks for local and national publications since 2015. A former sommelier, Hannah has worked for some of New York’s top restaurant groups, including Laurent Tourondel’s BLT group and David Chang’s Momofuku group. Her work has appeared in Eater, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Wine Enthusiast, and more. Hannah is also a graduate of the International Culinary Center. Read Next: The Best Food Processors
