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brightm

Does this beverage/wine fridge exist?

brightm
9 years ago

I can't seem to find what I want. I am looking for a tall (5 or 6 ft, appx 24" square footprint) fridge, not built in, to IDEALLY hold wine and other beverages.

In a perfect world, it would be dual zone with a wine storage zone and a regular beverage zone. The problem that's even bigger than differing temperatures is the different shelf types that different beverages should have. Wine should lay down, other beverages should not.

The three possible candidates I've found are:

Summit Wine Cooler. It's dual zone, but has all wooden wine shelves. I confirmed with Summit that they are removable so the spacing could be improved, but they'd still be wooden-slat type shelves. I might be able to line them with something for other drinks.

http://www.summitappliance.com/catalog/model/SWC1875

Summit commercial beverage fridge. (There are a few similar models).
http://www.summitappliance.com/catalog/model/SCR1300

or

Avanti commercial beverage fridge
http://www.avantiproducts.com/products/id/607

The problems I'm trying to solve are:
We currently have an issue with too many beverages in our fridge AND we're going to a slightly smaller one in our upcoming reno. Much of this is stuff for entertaining appx. once a month, and I want it out of my kitchen. There's an office with a door to the kitchen, and I want something just through that door.

We don't keep a lot of wine on hand, but we do keep some. We've never had anywhere to keep it at 'the right' temp, but it'd be nice with this addition to have that ability. Over the years we bounce around to more reds and then more whites and back again.

Beer...don't get me started. We've got a decent selection of craft beers and many different storage solutions at various temperatures throughout the house and garage. But nothing in the 'go help yourself to a beverage' or 'you brought X? go put it in there' arena that's easily accessible.

Soft drinks, there's an ebb and flow with them too. I don't drink them, but DH does off and on, and again with the entertaining aspect, they need to be accessible 'sometimes'.

Anyone have the perfect solution for me?

I do think the wine unit probably wouldn't be the best solution, since (as I typed this) I realized that's the least of our problems. And there's a small beverage fridge with adjustable temp that could be switched to a wine fridge if we solve this larger issue.

I suppose we COULD just go with a 'regular' single fridge. I suppose it doesn't REALLY need to have a glass door (though it'd be nice).

Also, I have a concern with the commercial units re: energy usage. I can't seem to find info (at least not at first glance) on them.

Comments (6)

  • alerievay1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    What about this Vinotemp? It's not cheap.

    Marvel also makes one that has a wine refrigerator on top and two beverage drawers below, but that might not suit your needs quite as well (and it's super expensive).

    I understand your beverage frustration. We are probably only putting in a kegerator, but we have considered putting in both a kegerator and a smaller beverage center, all for craft beer.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Vinotemp

  • plllog
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If you have a full spectrum of beers, there's no way to keep them all at the correct temperature without getting separate units.

    Sodas generally should be cold, like 38° F. The flavor probably comes out more in the low 40's, but people like icy refreshment.

    Sparkling and dessert wines and white wines should be stored in the mid-40's, with the latter served a little warmer, more like 50-ish. Whereas, reds should be stored at 50-55°, but should be served anywhere from 55° - 65°, depending on the wine.

    Thin beers of no particular flavor can be served as cold as soda pop for the refreshment factor, but, as it sounds like you're well away from your stash places, while light and medium beers and ales can be served in the mid-40's-mid-50's, darks and bitters should be served more in the red wine range, with the chewiest at the top.

    But you said your use for soda is intermittent. Any chance of keeping a few in the fridge for the husband (or him liking it over ice)? And putting out an ice chest for parties?

    Then you could maybe compromise between the beers and wines and use a dual temp fridge for mid-40's and high-50's and figure that while not super accurate, it's better than not at all. I know you separated out the wine, but it's the soda that's really making the problem... You could do this sort of rough guess with any dual temp wine fridge that gives you the option to switch out racks for shelves, or even just remove racks. You can always put a bottom on a rack to turn it into a shelf.

    Commercial units aren't a good idea for a proper room in a real house, like you're talking about. They tend to be loud and hot.

    Question: Do you have anywhere very cool to lay down some wine? You said you don't have a lot. Maybe the trick is to find somewhere you can store what you have so that it'll remain in good shape until you drink it. Most normal wines aren't meant to be aged on site, and the optimal storage temperatures are for collections rather than stuff you expect to drink. If you could swap the wines out for some of your cool storage of beer, you could get one of those countertop wine chillers for the bottle(s) you intend to serve on the day. Then get a dual temp fridge with shelves for the beers, and use the little fridge you talked about having for sodas and very cold beers.

  • Annette Holbrook(z7a)
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Summit makes a dual zone 2 door unit. They also make a beverage center. I would contact Summit and see if you can get some of the beverage center shelves and trade out some of the wine racks in one of the 2 sections. I have a similar issue in that I would like to have one section (higher temp) for red wines and would like to store a few whites and the rest beer in the other section. This is what I'm considering doing.

    Here is a link that might be useful: dual zone unit

  • joeboldt
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    One thing to consider, if you don't keep red wine long term, you probably don't need a wine fridge.

    As for craft beer, again, you are not storing these long term. I'm a big craft beer drinker but rarely have a beer stored longer than a month. I keep a few different varieties in my fridge for when I want to drink one. The other 12-24 live in the garage until moved to the fridge.

  • brightm
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The email notification system here has been quite wonky. Thanks for all the replies.

    In no particular order:
    bocron - That was the unit I linked to first too. I actually emailed summit. Here's my email and their response.

    I'm looking for a tall half wine cooler/half beverage fridge. There doesn't seem to be one. (Maybe one over $3k, but that's not an option).

    I'd like a way to store beer, wine, and soft drinks in one unit. The SWC 1875 seems to be a possibility, but I have a couple questions.

    Are the wooden racks/shelves flat or tilted?

    Can the wooden racks/shelves be removed?

    I don't need to store much wine, just a a shelf or so of white. I'd like to stand up soft drinks and 'regular' beers in that section as well. I'd like to store some red wine along with dark beers that are supposed to be stored at a similar temperature (stouts, etc.). The wines should lay down, but the beers should stand up.

    If you can think of another unit that would better fulfill my needs, please advise. Either way, I look forward to a reply.

    Thank you for contacting Summit. The shelves are flat and removable. However, there are gaps on the shelves themselves, so you would have to keep the beer in their containers, or the bottles could potentially slip through the gaps. Unfortunately, we only offer undercounter beverage center/wine coolers.

    I didn't quite ask if they can be swapped out, but I'd gather not based on the response. If you find they can, let me know.

    joeboldt - IPA's and the like, no. But barrel-aged stouts, yes, they'll be stored longer. Up to several years. But you're right, for those, they can continue to live in the chest unit that's thermostat controlled in the garage.

    alerievay - Yeah, the vinotemp and marvel are both more than I'm willing to spend.

    plllog - Yes, you get the storage of the different beers. Reading your post and the reflecting I did at the end of mine, I think I've figured I really just need a fridge. And we'll probably just make due with what we've got, since the perfect solution isn't out there. I could just get a standing fridge only, but the idea was the cool looking beverage fridge with the glass door and multiple zones all right there.

    What we've got now is:

    In the garage chest freezer with separate thermostat to keep barrel aged, etc. stuff. I don't go in there.

    Also in the garage, a freezer on top/fridge on bottom that was always supposed to be my extra freezer space, and is now kept 'normal' so I can store my extra freezer goods out there. But the fridge (which I hoped to be extra fridge storage) is all beer. I'm not quite as scared to pull something out of there as from the chest freezer. It's where the extra 'more normal' or 'to be consumed quickly' stuff goes.

    Small beverage fridge in DH's office. No idea what's in there and how it differs from the other two. I think I need to request that he empty it from stuff that could go into either of the garage pieces and use that for the sodas/friends 'normal' beers that they bring and leave. It's smaller than what I'd like, but we HAVE it.

    We'll see what I think when we get our new regular fridge with the kitchen reno. Maybe I shouldn't have offered our SxS Samsung to the inlaws? And if I change my mind, they'd understand. Well, they probably wouldn't understand four 'fridges' for two people, but they'd be fine with it.

  • xedos
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You're looking for a unicorn, awesome if you can get one - but it doesn't exist in the real world.

    You are also asking a lot of a single unit with regard to temps AND storage arrangements. And , then you'd also like to have a certain look. Add your pricing criteria and your are chasing a dream now.

    I think the only way to get close to meeting your needs is to get two different units. You may be able to stack a dual zone wine cooler above drawer fridge unit and accomplish what you seek in a 24" wide x 72" tall footprint, along with a glass front wine unit.

    But.......................the tickets to the cheap seats at that game are gonna run $4000 and likely push close to $5k ! You'll also have to figure in a few bucks for your cabinet man to build a housing for this stuff. SO, it's still a stretch.