Compare the Best Wine CoolersAugust 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

Coolers range in price from £59 to £3,999 and in total we found prices for 125 coolers. On average, a new wine cooler costs £930 and 80% of wine coolers are priced between £199 and £2,299. The cheapest wine cooler that we found is the Essentials CWC8B15 at only £60, and the most expensive is the Liebherr WTes5872 at £3,999.

Cooler Brands - Price Range

The highest average wine cooler price out of all brands is Siemens coolers with an average price of £3,840. Siemens coolers start at £3,840 and their most expensive wine cooler costs £3,840.

Miele coolers range in price from £1,649 to £2,799, and the average price of Miele coolers is £2,282 which is the second highest average price of all cooler brands.

Liebherr coolers range in price from £1,020 to £3,999, and the average price of Liebherr coolers is £2,149 which is the third highest average price of all cooler brands.

Cooler Brands - Average Ratings

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

Biggest Cooler Retailers

The biggest wine cooler retailer by number of products currently for sale is Marks Electrical. We found 47 current wine cooler offers from Marks Electrical. The second biggest retailer is Appliance City with 39 offers. That means Marks Electrical is significantly bigger than Appliance City when it comes to wine coolers. Amazon UK is the third biggest retailer with 32 current offers.

When Are Most New Coolers Released?

We looked at the release dates for new wine coolers over the last 3 years, but couldn't see any obvious trend. 17 new coolers were released in March 2018 making it the biggest month that year for new wine cooler releases. In 2017 most new wine coolers were released in July, with 30 new wine coolers released that month. The biggest month in 2016 for new cooler releases was September, with 27 new wine coolers released that month.

How Fast Do Wine Cooler Prices Drop After Release?

New coolers drop in price by an average of 1% in the first 6 months after they were first released.

That means that on a typical wine cooler costing £930 you could save on average £12 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 wine coolers range from 0 bottles to 30 bottles. The wine cooler with the biggest bottle capacity is the Caple WF1548, which is a 592 bottles bottle capacity cooler and can be purchased for £1,725.00. The New World 150SSWCMk2_SS, which is available at £169.00, has the smallest bottle capacity and is a 7 bottles bottle capacity wine cooler.

Temperature Zones

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

Across the range of wine coolers, the temperature zones range from 1 to 3. The temperature zones of the majority of wine coolers range from 1 to 2. The Caple WF1548, which is available at £1,725.00, has the most temperature zone and is a 3 temperature zone cooler. The Liebherr WKR 3211, which currently retails for £1,549.55, 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).

Comparing all coolers, the noise levels range from 25dB to 55dB. The noise levels of the majority of coolers range from 39dB to 41dB. The cooler with the loudest noise level is the Amica AWC300BL, which is a 47dB wine cooler and currently retails for £269.00. The cooler with the quietest noise level is the Husky HUSCN215, which is a 30dB cooler and is on sale for £228.99.

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 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 Appliances Direct. 18 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 wine coolers by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of wine cooler prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's wine cooler prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers. The cheapest retailer that we found using this approach was Appliances Direct. 69.2% of their wine cooler prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.