In Search of the Perfect 12 Bottle Wine Cooler
I spent a lot of time finding the right 12 bottle wine cooler for me, and I’ve been through many reviews along the way. For those of you that are letting out a little sigh of “here we go again”, I feel your pain. It’s often hard to make a decision because everyone has a different opinion and, what they want isn’t necessarily what you want.
So, for all of you that are looking for a wine cooler that will simply cool wine, do it quietly and won’t take up much space on your counter-top (not your floor), please feel free to read on. During what seemed like a mega journey through cyber-space I came across the Wine Enthusiast 12 bottle wine cooler. What compelled me to read more was the name, (I fancy myself as a wine enthusiast as our website no doubt proves).
My collection had just started to grow and I don’t mean just for drinking. I had actually begun to invest in wines that needed time to mature and hopefully would one day be worth a little more than I paid for them. The trouble was, the fridge was no longer an option, hence my research.
At first glance, this cooler looks pretty practical in that it’s nicely designed but doesn’t go overboard. The main cabinet is black with a silver edged trim to the door. The inside housed 3 chrome style shelves with plenty of space for 12 bottles of wine. However, upon reading further I noticed this cooler will only hold standard sized wines if you want to take up the whole capacity. The shelves are easily removed if you want to store something larger but, obviously this will reduce the number you can keep cool.
This cooler uses a thermo-electric system which means noise and vibration is minimal, the last thing you need is for your coffee cup to go travelling across the countertop first thing in the morning! It also has a pretty good temperature range for a cooler of this size (50-66F) which is great for people who enjoy both reds and whites.
Overall, I thought this was a pretty good buy and was on the edge of purchasing it when I noticed a couple of things that didn’t quite fit the bill for me. This cooler is not designed so it will fit into a recessed area and it can’t be stored under a countertop because it needs plenty of ventilation. I also realized that you can only store your wines on their sides. Personally, I often have open bottles hanging around so the idea of resorting back to the fridge wasn’t really ideal.
Instead I went for the Avanti EWC1201 which does have vertical storage space. However, if your need doesn’t include this, I would recommend this model. You can read more on it here at Amazon, there are quite a few customer reviews!
Other options I can recommend are the Spt Thermo-Electric 12 bottle or the dual zone Haier 12 Bottle wine cooler (just follow the links to read my reviews on both). Basically, there are plenty of good and trustworthy options, and in the end it often comes down to taste.
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