Help Needed On Wine Cabinets

[andyc]

A sad day for me on the horizon as the parents are about to sell their home and with it the underground cellar that I have used for the past ten years. As a result I'm looking for a temperature controlled cabinet that:
Holds 150 -200 bottles
No need for every row to be able to be pulled out ie. I want to fit as many bottles as possible!
No need for dual temp zones as I just want to set and forget at a good cellar temp
Is suitable to be displayed in the living room (wood finish)
Looking to spend up to $2000.

Any feedback on the following that were advertised GT Wine Mag:
Quaff (Qld)
Barrique (Vic)
Kitchener also from Vic
Cellarwine (NSW)

[Rudy]

IÂ’ve had a Liebherr WKSr5700 cabinet for about three years, which holds (allegedly) up to 267 bottles. Have a look at this link for a summary of some units around with indicative costs.

The unit has worked well, and kept an ambient +/- 0.5 from the set temperature.

[Bill]

IÂ’ve also got a Liebherr WKSr5700. ItÂ’s probably a bit out of your price range though at about $3200, but for the quantity it holds I reckon itÂ’s pretty good value. Anyway, thereÂ’s always the option of buying it during one of those 24 month interest free deals from DJÂ’s or Myer like I did, and just paying off a small amount each month. ItÂ’s just like paying for professional storage, but you have a wine cabinet to show for it at the end! ItÂ’s quite an attractive looking unit, finished in a nice burgundy colour. It keeps the temperature very stable and is very quiet. ItÂ’s also the only unit I know of that has an active carbon air filter in it to remove odours from the air inside the cabinet.

My only criticism though is that I donÂ’t think theyÂ’ve put enough thought into the design of the shelves as they bend considerably under load and can collapse if you have 4 -5 rows deep of bottles on them (I found this out the hard way, but luckily nothing broke). Liebherr mustÂ’ve realised this and I think thatÂ’s why the new units are specified as only holding 230 bottles instead of 267. The unit is identical though, theyÂ’ve just changed the recommended stacking arrangement in the manual. IÂ’ve still managed to get around 260 bottles in it, but I needed to strengthen the shelves so theyÂ’d handle the extra weight.

[The more the better]

What are these units like on power consumption ? Do they use as much electricity as an average fridge ?

[Wine Owl]

In Americaa we convert refrigrators or even better stand up freezers with a intermediate thermostat that takes over control of the unit. It's called a "WIne Stat", U can review info at, http://www.winestat.com/. I have two units and they work great. Good luck, Wine Owl

[manning]

Hmmm... how about a winestat combined with this:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/4-door-fridge_W0 ... dZViewItem

Could be an idea if you live in Victoria.

[manning]

Hmmm... how about a winestat combined with this:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/4-door-fridge_W0 ... dZViewItem

Could be an idea if you live in Victoria.

[andyc]

Thanks all. I think I might stretch the budget and go for a greater capacity as my previous form shows I consistently buy more than I think I will. I would imagine this is a common issue for the members on this forum....