I'm on the verge of making my first wine cabinet purchase! I'm both excited that my wines will finally get a decent resting place compared to the wine racks currently in our living room and scared that spending thousands on a wine cabinet is in my wife's opinion, 'nuts'...
Thanks to the search button on this forum and google, i have read a ton about wine cabinets, the good, the bad and the ugly! I hope I'm as well informed as I can be for such an inexperienced wine drinker.
I've narrowed my focus to the Kitchener Peltier range given some positive comments i have read and the competitive pricing for their wine cabinets compared to the European brands. Also the cooling technology in this model seems different to the typical compression driven models which apparently has its negatives/positives. I'm in Melbourne which has a lower overall average temp compared to the northern and western states so I hope this cooling method will be okay. I plan on only cellaring red wine so a single zone, solid door type (hide it in the back room) cabinet is fine with me
Before i pull the trigger, am i missing something?!?!
I have a proper cellar (too small!), but if I was buying a wine fridge it would almost certainly be a Kitchener Levanter 380 (bigger capacity and more shelves, so easier to get to your wine) or the Peltier 284 (better insulation which shouldn't really be an issue in Melbourne though). I have a mate with a Kitchener and while it did break down (due to being near the beach and it had a corrosion issue, which everything and I mean everything, does in that environment), Kitchener customer service was good and because it is such a simple device, it could be fixed by the owner. I've heard way too many horror stories about Vintec to go near one with my money. Sadly, they are about the most attractive fridge if you are going to have it on display.
I don't think you will be disappointed with your purchase.
Cheers Ian
If you had to choose between drinking great wine or winning Lotto, which would you choose - Red or White?
Glad to hear more good stories re the kitchener product. I too agree that Vintec produce good looking fridges / cabinets and a friend who works in Harvey Norman mentioned he could source a good discount, but some of the feedback i have seen has deterred me somewhat.
We have no space to display something that large in any room of our house, so this thing is going to be tucked away in a back room.
welcome to the forum. I found this place exactly the same way as you......looking for wine fridge guidance, with plenty of excitement & anxiety, and hoping to mitigate risks due to potential cost and possible problems. I've also heard nothing but good reports on Kicthener, however as i wanted one for display, went with a Vintec S190, which i'm very happy with so far (3 years later). I actually got an email from Vintect yesterday saying that they are releasing new deisgns today.... Given the cost of a new fridge, dont ignore 2nd hand fridges either...you can buy reconditioned ones directly from Vintec ,which come with a 12month warrenty.
The only drawback with the Peltier (from memory) is you need to stack and sort alot, as getting to wines can be challenging. But in terms of 'breaking down' issues, they seem to be very reliable.
Hope you continue to post here when you buy the fridge, plus some notes on the wines you put in it/take out.
Fatboy, My peltier is now 6+ years old and going strong. It's big and chunky, but extremely well insulated (hardly runs for 8 months/year in Sydney) and handles the hot summer well.
I have no reservations in recommending them and it would be my preferred choice if I were to buy another. I also have a Liebherr and the Kicthener is clearly superior in my opinion (though it doesn't look as attractive).
Another satisfied kitchener cabinet - 464 bottle - buyer - now 3 years old and going as good as the day i got it. Can be a bugger getting wines out if they are in back stalls but if you ensure that those wines to be seriously cellared are put to the back, then not a problem.
Thanks guys! appreciate the welcoming messages as well as support for the kitchener cabinets. I can't wait to have my purchase sorted by the weekend. From what i understand, the Peltier range is 'made on order' so there is some wait time of a few weeks...
Glad to hear more good stories re the kitchener product. I too agree that Vintec produce good looking fridges / cabinets and a friend who works in Harvey Norman mentioned he could source a good discount, but some of the feedback i have seen has deterred me somewhat.
We have no space to display something that large in any room of our house, so this thing is going to be tucked away in a back room.
For my two cents I'd like to add that the after sales customer service at Vintec is inspiring.
Last edited by retireland on Fri Nov 16, 2012 2:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
My 252 bottle Kitchener is about 8/9 years old and has performed superbly. Main complaint is that in the model I have burgundy or champagne bottles are a bit of a test for the shelf spacing and sometimes you have to really jam then in/out. One of these days one is going to get squished.....
So it's been about 1 month since my cabinet was delivered and switched on. So far, the performance has been very good. I have a couple of wireless thermometers in the cabinet just to initially validate the stability of temperature and cooling performance, which has been very consistent.
Given the current weather conditions in Melbourne, i'm thanking my lucky stars!
A couple of regrets have been: - should have catalouged my wines before i excitedly jammed them in (now i have no idea what is where!) - should have brought the bigger cabinet
'fatboy' wrote:- should have brought the bigger cabinet
Where did you bring the 284 bottle cabinet from?
sorry to mislead - i meant 'purchased'. When i inspected the Kitchener range they also had a larger version which i decided against mainly as I wanted to limit my expenditure.
'fatboy' wrote:I have a couple of wireless thermometers in the cabinet just to initially validate the stability of temperature and cooling performance, which has been very consistent.
I'd be interested to know what these are & how they work
I've got a couple of cheap "indoor/outdoor" thermometers, one in the wine fridge & one in the cellar - the indoor/outdoor part just measures the temps at top & bottom of the fridge - it keeps min & max temp & humidity, but unfortunately there's no way to remotely monitor them - as an IT geek I want them online & able to email me if my fridge overheats
After too many years, I gifted myself 4 x De Longhi wine cabinets (compressors) over Xmas. (Was only approved by the boss to get 2 but I got 4.)
My considerations in contemplating fridges were as follows ; 1. Smaller units - if one goes down then I'm not sweating as much on ALL of my wine getting the heat treatment. Also needed 1 for champagnes/stickies (8 deg C), 1 for whites (12 deg C), and 2 for reds (15 deg C) 2. Smaller units = more expensive per bottle overall price. To combat this I bought De Longhi returns that had gone back to the shop after initial buyer issues (had been repaired and came with full 6 month warranty). They are attractive enough for the other half to allow me to keep them in our dining room ! (and not out in the garage). I've actually had a culvert shaped bar bench made of silestone (manufactured stone) made to go over them and the boss is estatic with the extra serving space etc 3. No 2 zone units - more to go wrong. For smaller units doen't make sense anyway unless there are cost contraints and you want to restict in my case to e.g. 2 units to service the 4 storage temp requirements 4. Compressor units a must - I live in QLD. I read a lot about thermoelectric units but for my environment I discounted them. Only locate on internal walls (heat & running noise). The debate around longer term storage with negative effects as a result of vibration were to a degree assuaged by the dampening fitted to the units eventually purchased 5. Humidity control an important consideration - not so much for champagnes and whites, but certainly for older reds with corks vs screwcaps 6. Location - the outcome of gaining permission to have in the dining room was a wonderful outcome. The units came with LED internal lighting and the boss now calls the dining room the "wine palace" - lovely lights, shiny stainless etc etc. 7. The units were NOT replacement for temp and humidity control storage used up to this point for my "good stuff". Rather a SUPPLEMENT for transient storage within the home
The post install grump is as pointed out earlier in this thread - variations in bottle shape / size. Its a bit wierd but it is now subconciously steering me away from making purchases of certain wines that I really enjoy based on the "non-easily-fit" bottle shape ....
