Compare the Best Wine CoolersSeptember 2019

A wine cooler is a specialist fridge specifically designed for storing wine bottles, to allow them to be stored safely at the optimal temperature. They are a step up from a bottle store in your fridge - if you find your bottle collection taking over much of the fridge, or if you want your wine cooled to a very specific temperature, it may be time to invest in one of these appliances.

Wine coolers vary dramatically in their bottle capacity, and how much wine you want to store at once will large dictate your buying choice. Our coolers range from very small 2-bottle coolers - effectively very efficient ice buckets - to enormous cabinets that can hold 300 bottles at once. Coolers also vary enormously in their shape and the number of shelves/baskets they contain - some will allow wine to be stacked closely on top of each other for maximum storage room, others concentrate on less storage, but display the bottles in a more aesthetically pleasing way.

Temperature Control

One of the biggest benefit of a specialised wine cooler is that you can set the temperature to whatever you want - allowing you to keep your wine stored at a different temperature than the rest of your food in the fridge. This is helpful, because certain types of wine favour different temperature ranges, both for storing and drinking.

More advanced (and therefore, expensive) wine coolers also have separate temperature zones. You can set the temperatures in these zones independently of each other, allowing even more flexibility in storing your wine.

The top-range coolers may even have a humidifier unit installed - this allows a high degree of control as to the storage humidity for your bottles. Humidity control is important to keep expensive wines in top condition for long periods of time: too much humidity, and mold may form on the bottles. On the other hand, too little humidity could cause the corks of your bottles to dry out. While humidity control may substantially increase the price of a wine cooler, it may be worth the extra investment if your wine collection is particularly rare and expensive.

Built In Freezer

Some wine coolers also have a separate freezer section - this can be helpful for storing ice and whiskey cubes to chill the wine while you drink it, or a sneaky carton of ice-cream!

Alarm System

Higher-tier wine coolers may have an alarm system - either a visual or aural alarm that goes off when the temperature strays outside it’s set boundaries. This can be very helpful for warning you if the door is ajar, there is a power failure, or some other problem that could threaten the climate of your cooler.

Cooler Prices

We currently list 4 coolers ranging from $87 to $250. On average, a new wine cooler costs $165 and 80% of coolers are priced between $87 and $250. The NewAir AW-280E is the most expensive wine cooler that we found at $250, and the Magic Chef MCWC6B is the cheapest at only $87.

Cooler Brands - Price Range

The highest average wine cooler price out of all brands is NewAir coolers with an average price of $250. NewAir coolers range in price from $250 to $250.

Avanti coolers start at $197 and their most expensive wine cooler costs $197. The average price of Avanti coolers is $197 which is the second highest average price of all wine cooler brands.

Magic Chef coolers range in price from $87 to $125, and the average price of Magic Chef coolers is $106 which is the third highest average price of all wine cooler brands.

Cooler Brands - Average Ratings

We have evaluated 2 expert reviews and 712 user reviews for wine coolers and used this data to evaluate the average rating for each brand of cooler.

Biggest Wine Cooler Retailers

We found 4 current offers for coolers from Overstock making it the biggest wine cooler retailer. That is over 4 times bigger than the second biggest retailer, Walmart for whom we found 1 current offers for coolers.

When Are Most New Coolers Released?

Over the last 3 years we couldn't see any noticeable pattern in the release month for new coolers. 17 new wine coolers were released in March 2018 making it the biggest month that year for new wine cooler releases. In July 2017, 30 new coolers were released making it the biggest month that year for new cooler releases. September was the biggest month in 2016 for new coolers, with 27 new coolers released that month.

How Fast Do Cooler Prices Drop After Release?

On average, in the first 6 months after release, coolers drop in price by 37%.

That means that on a typical wine cooler costing $165 you could save on average $60 by waiting 6 months before buying.

Bottle Capacity

'Bottle Capacity' denotes the maximum number of bottles the wine cooler is capable of holding at once.

Comparing all wine coolers, the bottle capacity range from 1 bottles to 592 bottles. The bottle capacity of the majority of coolers range from 0 bottles to 30 bottles. The cooler with the biggest bottle capacity is the NewAir AW-280E, which is a 28 bottles bottle capacity wine cooler and is on sale for $249.95. The cooler with the smallest bottle capacity is the Magic Chef MCWC6B, which is a 6 bottles bottle capacity wine cooler and is priced at $87.49.

Temperature Zones

'Temperature zones' are separate parts of the wine cooler, which can all be set to differing temperatures.

Comparing all wine coolers, the temperature zones range from 1 to 3. The temperature zones of the majority of coolers range from 1 to 2. The wine cooler with the most temperature zone is the Avanti EWC18N2PD, which is a 2 temperature zone cooler and sells for $197.49. The wine cooler with the least temperature zone is the Magic Chef MCWC6B, which is a 1 temperature zone wine cooler and is priced at $87.49.

Noise Levels

The noise level of the wine cooler, measured in decibels (dB).

The noise levels of coolers range from 25dB to 55dB. The noise levels of most coolers range from 39dB to 41dB. The cooler with the loudest noise level is the Magic Chef MCWC12B, which is a 39dB cooler and is available at $125.47. The cooler with the quietest noise level is the NewAir AW-280E, which is a 25dB cooler and is available at $249.95.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Coolers?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying wine coolers. For each retailer it shows the total number of wine coolers where they currently have a market leading price. The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying wine coolers. For each retailer we took all of their prices and looked at what proportion of those prices where the cheapest on the market. The cheapest retailer that we found was Overstock. 4 of their wine cooler prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Wine Coolers for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

Assessing how cheap each retailer is for coolers by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of cooler prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's cooler prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers.