7 Best Wine Coolers in 2024

Purchasing wine two or three cases at a time has become the norm for the average consumer, rather than just serious connoisseurs and collectors. Wine clubs give the common wine enthusiast access to the best reds and whites available at reasonable prices. And, websites like Woot.com provide a way to get different wines to your door at a fraction of what you would usually spend. So what do you do with all of this wine when it shows up at your door? That’s where the best wine coolers come in.

We’ve found some of the best wine coolers out there to protect your investment. They range in prices, but all provide a different quality level to help fit your home and lifestyle. At the top of our list is the Frigidaire 38-Bottle Duel-Zone Wine Cooler. This is a stylish and freestanding, large-capacity compressor cooler that offers storage for two separate temperature zones. It will satisfy the enthusiast who wants to store more than three wine cases but isn’t quite ready to invest in a full wine cellar.

Our Top Picks: Best Wine Coolers

In the end, the best wine cooler for you is one that mirrors your needs and budget. Here’s a quick look at our favorites — happy sipping!

This stainless steel wine cooler will look good in most kitchens and stores over three wine cases. It comes with designer lighting and five natural wood shelves that roll out to make access and visibility easier. The two temperature zones will also offer you the flexibility of keeping both red and white wines at their proper temperatures. This model even comes with a key to keep your collection safe. 

This wine cooler will store more than two and a half wine cases and has two temperature zones accessible through side-by-side doors. This thermoelectric cooler is vibration-free and is quieter than its compressor counterparts. It has digital display controls for monitoring each zone and interior LED lighting. The wire shelves are adjustable to make it easier to fit awkwardly shaped bottles. Also, because thermoelectric cooling works without chemicals or coolants, these types of coolers are significantly safer for the environment.

Ivation’s freestanding cooler creates a stable environment that will consistently keep your wine at the correct temperature. Its thermoelectric cooling system offers zero vibration to protect your wine, and its dual-paned, mirrored glass will protect against UV lights. Although this is a smaller single-zone unit, it’s one of the best-priced coolers for amateur wine enthusiasts or anyone looking for a wine cooler that won’t take up too much room on their countertop.

The Aobosi stainless steel cooler, with its classy, beechwood shelves, can store over two cases of wine. There’s dual-zone refrigeration so that you can have your red and whites both chilled to the perfect temperature. It also comes with upgraded shelving that will easily fit larger bottles like your proseccos and champagnes. 

Aobosi also has a 46-bottle capacity cooler if you want something that will hold a bit more — it’s another one of the best under cabinet wine coolers that we’ve seen.

This 6-bottle wine cooler is a perfect solution for storing wine in small spaces. Its mirrored-door design will blend in with other kitchen appliances and protect your wines from UV light. It has a touch-control panel with a temperature range of 46-66 degrees that allows you to keep your red or white wines ready for drinking or stored for more extended periods. And, because this unit uses thermoelectric cooling, it’s another eco-friendly option for storing your wine.

Here’s a compressor wine cooler from Ivation that can keep a full case of wine chilled from 41-64 degrees. This freestanding cooler comes with double-paned UV-resistant glass, LCD touch controls, soft LED lighting, and removable racks to accommodate non-standard bottles. It even comes with a lock and two keys — in case you want to share.

For under $2,000, this is one of the best wine and beverage coolers that offers a large enough capacity for a serious collector. It has triple-pane glass, gliding beechwood shelves, a dual-zone compressor, and gold interior LED lighting. This cooler will keep your wine safe from the environment, and it comes with keys so that you can keep it safe from everything else.

What to Look for in the Best Wine Coolers

One of the challenges with wine is that it’s a living product. This means that what’s in your bottle evolves according to its environment. This is the reason why exposing a bottle to too much heat or cold can completely ruin it. Aging wine in a carefully, temperature-controlled environment improves its flavor over time and can help mitigate deterioration. 

Many wine enthusiasts turn to Electric Wine Cellars and Wine Coolers to store their bounty at optimal aging or serving temperatures.

Here are a few things to consider when looking for the best wine cooler to suit your needs. And, while we’re talking about wine, keep in mind that aerating your wine and using the correct glassware for specific varietals can make a huge difference in your imbibing experience. 

Thermoelectric vs. Compressor Cooling 

Wine coolers typically feature one of two different cooling technologies:

• Thermoelectric Cooling tends to be quieter, more efficient, and vibrate less than compressor cooling. However, thermoelectric cooling requires a temperate environment to function correctly and doesn’t get quite as cold as compressor cooling.
• Compressor Cooling is refrigerant-based with noise levels equivalent to a standard refrigerator. This type of cooling is less affected by the ambient temperature and gets colder than thermoelectric cooling.

Wine Coolers vs. Wine Cellars

Before you even start shopping, defining the differences between wine coolers and wine cellars is essential.

1. Wine Coolers

Wine coolers are a convenient and affordable wine storage option designed to keep wines at optimal serving temperatures (49-55* for whites, 62-68* for reds). Despite their convenience, wine coolers are not intended for long-term aging. Even though we’ve featured some of the best-rated wine coolers on the market, the longest most professionals recommend you should keep wines in these is a year.

2. Wine Cellars

A ‘wine cellar’ is a high-end, high-tech wine cabinet intended for long-term storage and is designed to keep wine at its optimum aging temperature — which is widely considered to be 55°F for all wines. Good wine cellars will minimize temperature fluctuations (to +/- one degree of where you set it) and maintain a relative humidity of about 70%. They should also protect against any vibrations, as well as ultraviolet light.

Cellars like these are pretty spendy — all over the map from a mere $2,000 as a base price to well north of 5K for units that hold hundreds of bottles. Obviously, products like Vinotemp and Wine Enthusiast are for serious collectors, who buy dozens of cases at a time, intending to store bottles that will taste better in 5, 10, or 20 years.

Our Process

For this guide on the best wine coolers, our team spent 9 hours researching the most popular options from over 17 brands and manufacturers, big and small. We then read about one hundred user reviews (both positive and negative) to discover what shoppers thought about each unit. After comparing this data, we narrowed our list down to the top 7 wine coolers on the market. You can count on this research to guide you to a mindful purchasing decision.

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