I bought my wife a Danby Dual temp model that we absolutely loved . . . until it stopped cooling. Cost $300 new. Repair bill: $250+maybe more, depending on what was busted.
Replacement - VInoVault. died 13 months after purchase. Runs but doesn't cool. Cost $200 new, Repair Bill: Who knows? No one fixes them. Apparently interghangable parts are so last century.
So, I'm to the point where I'm willing to buy a nice wine fridge to get what I want, but I don't know jack about appliance brands. I see a few brands I know, but upon closer inspection some turn out to be rebranded Haiter or Danby models. What kills me is that I've seen Haiter or Danby models go a decade of regular use, but a barely-needs-to run wine fridge blows up very quickly.
Any suggestions for a good wine fridge brand? I'm hoping not to spend a grand to store 10 bottles, but that'd be better than the $500 I've spent that can't do anything but inefficently heat my house.
Have you considered an extended warranty? I recently purchased a dishwasher and after lots of research came to realize that all dishwashers under $1K have 50% of glowing reviews and 50% "it will break, flood your house, and eat your cat within 2 years" type reviews.
So I got an extended warranty for ~$100 and now I have peace of mind for the next 4 years.
Warranties are usually ripoffs, but in this case it may be adviseable.
My father in law has been collecting wine for 35+ years, and he stores his bottles in VinoTemps and SubZeros. These are full fridge-sized $2500+ units that store over 100 bottles a piece. I think the smaller ones (dorm fridge sized) are all pretty much crap.
Does it need to look nice? If not I'd look into getting a deep freeze and find a local homebrew supply and get yourself a temperature regulator. All new this would set you back maybe $350 and would store a lot of bottles, though you'd have to stack them so getting to the bottom bottles might be a bit of an annoyance. I know guys who've been using that kind of setup for lagering for years.
That's where I was headed - either buying a super long term warranty on a cheap one or buying an expensive one. I was hoping that there was a third option - a reasonably priced one with high reliability.
Oh well. Thanks for the advice; at least now I know my options.
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MichaelLCIn what furnace was thy brain?ChicagoRegistered Userregular
We had a Kenmore that ran for years crammed into a closet. Still is going fine, just had to get rid of it due to incoming baby.
Very basic - Red or White settings, with option to adjust temp. Pretty noisy, though. Looks like this is its replacement.
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So I got an extended warranty for ~$100 and now I have peace of mind for the next 4 years.
Warranties are usually ripoffs, but in this case it may be adviseable.
Does it need to look nice? If not I'd look into getting a deep freeze and find a local homebrew supply and get yourself a temperature regulator. All new this would set you back maybe $350 and would store a lot of bottles, though you'd have to stack them so getting to the bottom bottles might be a bit of an annoyance. I know guys who've been using that kind of setup for lagering for years.
Edit: I'm talking about one of these.
Oh well. Thanks for the advice; at least now I know my options.
Very basic - Red or White settings, with option to adjust temp. Pretty noisy, though. Looks like this is its replacement.