Shopping for a Wine Fridge

As many of you are aware, I am (aspire to be) a wine geek. Now that I’m getting my own flat, the single important appliance I want to purchase is a wine fridge. A big one, for 100+ bottles. Yes, I have outgrown my teeny 16-bottle fridge!

So I've been doing some research. Here’s sharing my two cents on buying a wine fridge:

Some Things to Consider

1. First of all, you gotta decide how many bottles you want to store. As a rule of thumb, I would recommend more capacity than you think you need. Think about it, most wine distributors only deliver free above a dozen bottles, so the bottles accumulate very easily I tell you.

2. If you enjoy both red and wine wine, you can consider buying a fridge with dual temperature zones. I thought about it but decided this feature wasn’t worth the extra cost. I figure it’s no trouble storing all my wines at red wine temperature and then popping the whites into my normal fridge just before I want to drink them.

3. The experts recommend wooden shelves instead of metal shelves. Something about the former having more vibration control. But anyway most of the wine fridges have wooden shelves, so I wouldn’t be too bothered about that.

4. Another factor is humidity. Most wine fridges (versus normal fridges) maintain the proper humidity level, but the fancier ones still circulate the air within to prevent mold and mildew.

5. Insulated glass panes are important to help maintain a constant temperature but again, most wine fridges come with them.

6. Singapore is hot so if you can, get a fridge with an opaque door. I hear from friends that glass doors tend to have very bad condensation.

7. My vino shifu advises me to get a unit with more shelves so that I need not stack the wines on top of each other. Not only is it difficult to take inventory, it's hard to get out the bottles from the bottom. He’s drunk many bottles, so I say, listen to the man.

Some market intelligence (prices correct as at May 2011). Please note I only listed the (few) brands within my budget and these are the models with many shelves, which is ideal:

Vintec V110 SGESS (110 btls) - Hong Liang (tel: 62736109/ 62783331) $2,000
Kadeka KA 110WR (110 btls) – Hong Liang $1,430

Europace EWC 1108 (111 btls) - Europace (tel: 6457 3678) $1,740

In a perfect world, I would splurge on a Miele 187-bottle fridge without batting an eyelash. Unfortunately, my pockets are not deep enough. In fact, my budget for a 100+ bottle is less than SGD 2K - quite a stretch, considering what’s out there in the market. Luckily for me, I eventually got the manager of Cuba Nueva to sell me his old unit cheap - $500 for a (model to be inserted) is one sweet deal, thank you Trevor.