Wine fridges otherwise known as wine coolers are specially designed to store your wine in your home. Unlike conventional fridges used to store your other groceries and beverages, a wine refrigerator can be set to the perfect temperature for wine, for the optimum storage solution for short or long term wine storage.
When it comes to wine fridges, there are a few different types that you should be aware of if you are considering purchasing one for yourself for your own home. Once aware of the different variations of wine fridges available, you will be able to make the right decision on which wine fridge to go for and which one will work best for you and your available space.
There are three main types, freestanding, fully integrated and built-in wine fridges. Read on to learn more about wine fridges.
Freestanding
Freestanding wine coolers are as the name suggests, designed to stand freely and on their own without the need for support from kitchen units. This type of wine fridge is good for mimicking a wine cellar for the support of long term wine storage. Because they are designed stand-alone, they must not be fitted into a unit or small space. Good ventilation should always surround a freestanding wine cooler as heat leaves the cooler and cool air enters the cooler at the rear, so this must always be clear for it to function correctly.
Built-in
A built-in wine cooler sits on the floor as a freestanding wine cooler would. These coolers have vents to let cool and warm air pass through and out of this type of wine cooler. Because of this, built-in wine coolers require approximately 0.25cm to 0.5cm around for correct ventilation and depending on the capacity of bottles in each fridge, this will determine how much ventilation space is needed.
Built-in wine coolers are generally made to be built under kitchen countertops. To do so, they come in a variety of sizes to cater to all possible kitchen counter sizes and for every type of wine connoisseur and their collection. Some of the largest built-in wine refrigerators can hold up to 200 bottles of wine.
Fully Integrated
Fully integrated wine coolers are designed to be fully fitted into a kitchen cabinet space for a seamless finish and luxury feel to any kitchen. These can be shown off as a luxury feature in your kitchen or can be hidden away by your kitchen cupboard doors for a seamless finish and without disrupting the overall look of your kitchen cabinets.
It is important to remember that unless an integrated cooler has a built-in ventilation system, then a ventilation channel should be mapped out when planning the installation of this type of cooler, to make way for sufficient airflow. Blocked ventilation could overheat your wine cooler causing it not to work properly, meaning your wine will not be stored at the correct temperature and it could cause permanent damage to your cooler.
Temperature Zones
Wine coolers can operate at different temperature zones depending on which wine fridge you go for. They are often available as a single zone wine cooler, dual-zone wine fridge or multi-zone wine fridge.
Single zone operates as one temperature zone throughout, these are good for those who preference one type of wine which they like to enjoy, as red and white wine for example have different storage temperatures. So if you do like a mix of white and red wine then perhaps invest in a wine cooler that has a dual temperature zone feature, this means a wine cooler can operate cleverly at two separate temperatures within one cooler, the perfect solution for storing different types of wines.
Then take it one step further and we have multi-zone coolers for even more separate temperature compartments, for those avid wine drinkers and lovers out there. This would be good for the storage of different wine types such as white, red or rosé and then champagne and prosecco too, as they all have different storage temperatures for perfect serving.
A wine fridge will cater for each individual and their wine storing needs. Hopefully, you will have found the information here you need to decide if you are here to help guide you on a decision of which wine fridge option is best for you, your space and your wine collection.