Whynter 100-Bottle Stainless Steel Wine Refrigerator

Purchased one, let it sit for 24 hours upright (just in case it was ever stored on its side) before plugging in. Tripped the breaker, after about 30 seconds. Called Amazon, they were great, sent me another one no questions asked, and arranged pickup of the original unit. The second unit, did the same thing, same problem, tripped the breaker within 10 seconds. I tried multiple outlets, different circuits – same issue. They must have a bad batch of compressors in these models. No wonder it was so cheap.

When it comes to wine fridges, there are many options, going to very expensive. But look no further than this Whynter 164 bottle unit! Looks nice, works great and is a bargain comparatively.

It came very well packaged, no transit damage. Has adjustable feet which I found useful since it was going to be placed up against a wall and on carpet.

Shelving slides nicely for this price point, and wines in pinot bottle format fit without issue. The dual zones work great; one for whites and one for reds. The blue lighting is pretty cool too, although I think every model has this. The door opens with a quality feel and the glass is smoked which adds to the luxury appearance.

One small observation – the top display shelf wouldn’t quite fit some heavy duty 750 ml trophy bottles; I had to remove a shelf in order to accommodate. I’m fine with this as I wanted my trophy bottles to show!

My unit runs near silently, and I’m pleased with its operation. Overall I think this is an outstanding value, looks great, runs perfect and we’re very happy with it. Highly recommended!

This is what I would consider a no-frills unit, but it meets its purpose at a great price. I bought two of these as an alternative to a wine storage unit. 3 months in, I’ve updated my initial 4-star rating to 5 stars because of the value.

Pros: Replaces a wine storage unit. As far as I’m concerned, wine storage units are a scam in terms of the number of cases they say you can fit, and which also suck because, to maximize the space, you have to store all your wine in boxes, so you have no visibility as to what’s in there and it’s pain to find anything, i.e., stacks of cases of wine (who has the time to inventory your wine collection, update labels on each box with the contents, etc.). You also have to drive to your unit, decide what you want to bring home, drag the cases out, load them again at home in your wine fridge, etc. I’ve probably lost days of my life to my wine storage unit.

So having these units at home solves all that for me. It’s keeping the wine at proper temp and making the wine easily accessible with the shelving, and it’s IN MY HOUSE. And the price — I’m not sure there are any other brands producing this style unit in this price range. Additional of electricity is de minimis. I hooked up a meter to test this, but based on my pre-existing wine fridges, I don’t think the cost is more than $5 a month (you’d spend that on gas just to get to the storage unit).

Neither pro nor con: Shelving – I have very similar fridges from an older brand that are no longer being made, which were a notch nicer in terms of the roll-out shelving but which cost $150 more five years ago (so would probably be more like $300+ more expensive with inflation).

The shelving on these is a thick metal wire, with a wood front (as clearly provided in the description, which I appreciated). The wire shelving works fine and actually might allow for a bit more space between the shelves, so that they pull out more easily (vs. all-wood shelving). The all-wood shelves on my older model have bowed down over time, which is a significant hassle in terms of pulling the shelves out and pushing them back and frequently damages the labels. I’m hopeful that the metal wire won’t bow, but we’ll see. The shelves slide on plastic grooves that are built into the inside of the unit. Not super smooth but they’re fine. There are two downsides to these shelves though.

Cons
1) They don’t really have any side support that would keep a bottle from falling off the edge. Twice while I was trying to squeeze a bottle to the back of a shelf, the front edge bottle got bumped and it felt as though it might fall off.

2) Metal is obviously a conductor of everything, including vibration, so I have a slight concern that the rumbling of the fridge motor, as conducted through the wire shelving, could over years impact the quality of the wine. How realistic or noticeable this is, I’m not sure, but high-end fridges do have vibration damping technology.

The other critique is that the fridge is a bit noisier than my current fridges. I don’t think I’d want this in my kitchen or TV room, but it’s not terrible and locating it there wouldn’t be a deal breaker. I’m putting this in the basement, so that’s kind of a non-factor for me, although if it had been quieter than my current fridge, I’d probably have it located in a more convenient/prominent position in the house.