Why Are Wine Fridges Expensive?

In the landscape of household appliances, there seems to be a never-ending shortage of covetable things required to live a good life. For wine lovers, the item at the top of the list is a wine fridge. No regular fridge will protect your valuable collection from temperature swings and ensure your glass of bubbly is served just right. But when shoppers finally decide to enter the market there’s often a common reaction: sticker shock. Why do wine fridges cost so much more than a fridge for food?

Short answer: Beyond keeping things cool, they’re very different. It’s sort of like comparing a sports car to a sedan. Both have four wheels and can get you from point A to B, but they’re different under the hood. Below, we dive into the differences.

Wine Fridges vs. Regular Fridges

Essentially, wine fridges guard against the five enemies of wine—temperature, light, vibration, odor and humidity—while a regular fridge only slows the spoilage of food.

To better understand the premiums wine fridges command, we chatted with Mahrukh Syed, senior product manager of Danby Appliances, a manufacturer of both specialty and conventional fridges. He says wine fridges are priced higher because of the array of features required to properly chill wine.

“If you are storing wine, you want to know that your wine investment is protected in the best way possible, and that when you open and serve your wine it will be optimal,” Syed says.

The biggest difference is that “a wine fridge will provide an ideal environment to store, protect and showcase your wine,” Syed continues. “A regular fridge will not be able to ensure temperature, humidity or safe storage for bottles.”

The Big Chill

One of the primary factors in wine fridges is cooling. In appliance speak, this is known as “temperature capability.” 

“A normal fridge is typically too cold and is not meant for wine storage,” says Syed, who notes that many wines require temperatures that are too specific for a regular fridge. 

Typically, wine should be stored between 45 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit, pending varietal. A regular fridge is typically around 37 degrees Fahrenheit, which is too cold for most wines. 

Marshall Tilden, Wine Enthusiast’s chief revenue & education officer, agrees. “Wine refrigerators are made to not go as cold [as regular refrigerators],” he says. “Some of them can, because you’re setting it down for white wine service and Champagne and things like that. But right around 55 degrees is ideal for everything. So they’re made to not cool at such a low temperature as a regular fridge.”

The fine-tuned temperature control comes courtesy of specialized cooling mechanics, which are not only more expensive to build, but also more expensive to repair. The differences include compressor vs thermoelectric cooling. 

Compressor cooling, which uses chemical refrigerants, is often used in everyday refrigeration and air conditioning units.

Thermoelectric cooling results from electricity passing between two conductors, often alongside an inner fan. “There’s no refrigeration, there’s no refrigerants, there’s no real coils,” says Tilden. “It’s basically like a cooling pad.” 

Wine Enthusiast’s 18-bottle Slimline wine cooler uses this technology. “Thermoelectric really is only available for small wine coolers these days,” says Tilden. “It used to be for some of the bigger ones, but they aren’t the most energy efficient.” 

Compressor wine fridges are more popular with shoppers and those looking for long-term storage, and there are different levels of compressor technology. 

“Your basic refrigeration units do work like your fridge where there’s a compressor, there are cooling coils that get cold and then a fan that blows the cold air off the coils through the units,” Tilden explains. “They’re called fan coil or fan cooled units.”

He notes that as you get more high-end or high-priced, these units tend to be using inverter compressors, like that used in the VinoView units and Prestige units. 

“Inverter technology will cool more consistently, they might stay on longer, but they’re running at a much lower speed, so it is more energy efficient as well as better at keeping a consistent temperature,” he says. “Those will cost a little bit more than, say, your basic compressors that sort of just kick on and off, like in [regular] fridges.”

An Ideal Environment

Beyond precise temperature tuning, wine fridges often have other specialized features, including specialized lighting systems, humidity control and UV protection. 

“The enhanced features that a wine fridge provides require additional production time, high-quality components and advanced technology,” Syed says.

Dual-zone or multiple-zone temperature ranges—meaning parts of the wine fridge can be one temperature, while another part can be a different one, great for storing and aging different varietals—is another popular feature. 

Tilden notes that all wines require the same temperature for aging, so a single-zone fridge is all you need if that’s your goal. 

However, if you are putting your fridge “somewhere where you’re going to be entertaining or you want to be able to have white wine ready to pull out at the right temperature, that’s when you have a need for a dual zone,” he says. 

Wine fridges can even reduce vibrations, which also helps with aging. 

“Regular fridges have fluctuating temperatures and humidity, which can spoil wine, and their vibrations and light exposure can degrade it over time,” says Callum Dooley, director and UK sales manager of Elite Wine Refrigeration. “For wine enthusiasts, a wine fridge ensures proper aging and preservation, while a regular fridge is best for general food storage.”

Another thing to consider is ambient temperature. Where are you installing this fridge? Most regular fridges do not account for temperature of the environment, but wine fridges can, or at least, the higher-end ones can. 

This is an issue in areas with higher ambient temperatures. Tilden has seen people in Florida, who don’t have basements, put their wine fridges in their garages where it can regularly be 90 degrees. “The wine cellars aren’t working unless you have a really great one,” Tilden says. 

Lastly, the design elements of a wine fridge are usually a bit more high-end than many run-of-the-mill fridges. Things like pro-style handles, seamless finishes, front and rear ventilation for built-in units, zero-clearance hinges, soft-close doors, LED lighting options and charcoal or carbon air filtration all contribute to the higher cost of these units.

Storage Space

Another differentiating factor is the storage component, and in particular, the shelving. While a regular fridge may have just a couple of shelves, a wine fridge has many more. These shelves are also designed to cradle wine bottles, keeping them at the proper angle to maintain contact between the wine and the cork (reducing the risk of oxidation or spoilage). They also minimize vibration. Products like the EuroCave Main du Sommelier or the VinoView Coolers are developed with storage considerations in mind. 

Some shelving is also oriented to allow you to see the labels on a bottle. Tilden points out that shelving is one of the biggest considerations (and costs) when it comes to a wine fridge. 

“Shelving is a cost because it becomes one of the most important features for collectors who have bigger bottles,” he says.

How Much Should I Spend on a Wine Fridge?

Not all wine fridges are made the same or have all the bells and whistles, so deciding what makes sense for you will require balancing your budget with the features you desire.

A wine fridge can range in price, starting as low as a couple hundred dollars (like the Wine Enthusiast 6-Bottle cooler at $129) and climbing as high as thousands for a top-of-the-line EuroCave. You can also find exceptional wine fridge options in the mid-range of pricing. 

That being said, if you want to age your wine for a number of years—10, 15, 20—you might want to invest in a fridge that is going to last that long. 

Tilden notes that the more basic units will last anywhere between four to six years, while mid-tier cellars and fridges will last the better part of 10 to 15 years. 

The higher-end ones? Those should last decades.

 “When you’re putting more of your investment dollars into it, and because you have more wine that you’re possibly looking to collect and looking to age longer, you want to make sure that the wine cellar can last as long as the wine,” Tilden says. “So what I always say is, if you can store something for 15, 20 years, your wine cellar better last that long.”

The important thing to remember is that if you’re into wine and want to store it properly, a wine fridge is worth it—even at its most basic level.  

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Published: August 29, 2024