Compare the Best Wine CoolersFebruary 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.

Wine Cooler Prices

Coolers range in price from £61 to £4,599 and in total we found prices for 139 coolers. A new cooler costs on average £979 and 80% of coolers are priced between £175 and £2,460. The Hostess HW02MA is the cheapest wine cooler at only £62, and Miele KWT 6722 iGS is the most expensive at £4,599.

Wine Cooler Brands - Price Range

Siemens wine coolers start at £3,800 and their most expensive wine cooler costs £3,800. The average price of Siemens wine coolers is £3,800 which is the highest average price of all wine cooler brands.

The average price of Miele wine coolers is £3,276 which is the second highest average price of all cooler brands. Miele wine coolers start at £2,000 and their most expensive cooler costs £4,599.

Liebherr wine coolers start at £750 and their most expensive cooler costs £3,999. The average price of Liebherr wine coolers is £2,045 which is the third highest average price of all cooler brands.

Wine Cooler Brands - Average Ratings

We have checked 2 expert reviews and 615 user reviews for coolers and used these reviews to evaluate the average rating for each brand of cooler.

Biggest Cooler Retailers

The biggest wine cooler retailer by number of products currently for sale is Appliance City. We found 52 current wine cooler offers from Appliance City. The second biggest retailer is Home Source 4u with 32 offers. That means Appliance City is much bigger than Home Source 4u when it comes to wine coolers. Amazon UK is the third biggest retailer with 29 current offers.

When Are Most New Coolers Released?

We couldn't see any evident pattern in the release dates for new wine coolers over the last 3 years. In 2018 most new coolers were released in March, with 17 new coolers released that month. The biggest month in 2017 for new cooler releases was July, with 30 new wine coolers released that month. 28 new coolers were released in September 2016 making it the biggest month that year for new cooler releases.

How Fast Do Cooler Prices Drop After Release?

On average, in the first 6 months after release, wine coolers drop in price by 1%. That means that on a typical wine cooler costing £979 you could save on average £13 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.

The bottle capacity of coolers range from 1 bottle(s) to 592 bottle(s). The bottle capacity of the majority of coolers range from 0 bottle(s) to 30 bottle(s). The wine cooler with the biggest bottle capacity is the Caple WF1548, which is a 592 bottle(s) bottle capacity wine cooler and can be purchased for £1,667.00. The cooler with the smallest bottle capacity is the Hostess HW02MA, which is a 2 bottle(s) bottle capacity cooler and is available at £61.95.

Temperature Zones

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

Across the range of coolers, the temperature zones range from 1 to 3. The temperature zones of the majority of coolers range from 1 to 2. The cooler with the most temperature zone is the Miele KWNS 28462 E, which is a 3 temperature zone cooler and is available at £3,999.00. The Baumatic BW28BL, which is available at £149.00, has the least temperature zone and is a 1 temperature zone wine cooler.

Noise Levels

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

Across the range of coolers, the noise levels range from 25dB to 55dB. The noise levels of most wine coolers range from 39dB to 41dB. The Amica AWC300, which can be purchased for £239.00, has the loudest noise level and is a 47dB cooler. The cooler with the quietest noise level is the Husky HUS-CN215, which is a 30dB cooler and can be purchased for £249.00.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Wine Coolers?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying coolers. For each retailer it shows the total number of 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 Appliance City. 23 of their cooler prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of 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. The cheapest retailer that we found using this approach was Appliance City. 44.2% of their cooler prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.