Can someone help me with remembering the name of the company that make the big wine cellars with commercial cooler that come packed for home assembly, i think they were Canadian
Thanks
I think you want to google vintage keeper: Wine Kooler
BILD by Le Cache
I have no experience with it.
Its not la cache
They have been discussed here though
Alan - Vintage Keeper is now known as Koolr, I believe. Largest is 500 bottles +/- but is flat packed. New units are reputed to better than those in the past, thanks to an improved design.
If he’s asking about 800 bottles, he should buy two 500s. We all know how storage estimates go in this game…
Koolr has an 800 bottle unit, which is listed on their website.
I own the 500 bottle unit.
Thanks
Any feedback on these, how are the rack sizes, ok for bigger pinot bottles ?
How do they compare to the la cache bild
Alan, are you talking about the “wine room” like the Bild that you can physically walk into, or just a wine cabinet like the ones that Koolr makes?
Both, trying to figure out what to do. My 170 bottle unit packed up and i got a warranty refund.
I currently have about 300 bottles offsite and while that is good for the wine its a pain when you want something so im debating what to do. Just buy a new 200 ish unit and keep offite, buya 800 room or koolr or build a cellar room from scratch.
Alan, here is the thread that you may be thinking about where the Koolr is discussed:
My unit was quite a good deal (around $1,200 for 500 bottle storage). I agree with Charlie’s comments in the above-noted thread that the cooling unit they provide probably isn’t big enough. I find that there are too many temperature fluctuations within the cabinet, particularly at the bottom and the top. Mine is only about 75% full, so this may change when it’s full. But I have put a temperature sensor in the bottom of the unit and seen the minimum to maximum temperature go from 50 to 58 degrees in a day. Temperature in the middle (where there are a lot of bottles packed together), tends to stay a bit more uniform.
I also worried about light, as the glass/lexan on the doors seemed quite transparent, so I bought a “window blackout” kit and tinted the outside of the glass/lexan.
There is bulk storage at the bottom and top of each side, so given that I have two sides, I have four areas for over-sized storage. I’ve had difficulty fitting in large bottles of burgundy or cali syrah into a few of the regular sized racks in this cabinet.
All-in-all, I was initially leaning towards building a small cellar, but thought I would save some cash and go this way. I wish that I had just built a small cellar in the small space that I have. If I had to do it over again, that is what I would do. So my vote would go with “build a cellar room from scratch”.
I just bought a house last July. Initially I was going to build a small wine room out of a closet. I’ve been bouncing back & forth between that decision and buying a cabinet. I think the problem I run into is that choosing a cabinet keeps me thinking I’m throwing away a few grand in 1-2 years…reading this thread reaffirmed that I need to build. Thank you to all that have shared.
I have two Koolr units (500 + 800) and am very happy.
I like that I will be able to replace the cooling unit when it reaches end of life. I also moved and was able to disassemble/reassemble.
It is not furniture grade, and I find the smaller unit performs better than the larger unit (I think it’s the same cooling unit being taxed a little less)
I do love seeing everyone’s cellars and dream of that someday, but these units are a fraction of the cost
+1. I have the 500 on our main floor in my home as I don’t have room for anything more than this along with a passive crawlspace cellar for long-term bottles.
I’m not far from their HQ, so I can easily replace a faulty unit in a few hours. I’m on my 3rd in 9 years. Initial unit from '06 lasted until '09, next lasted until '12 (although will probably work in all but the warmest/ most humid months) and the current one I’ve had 3.5 years. Current is a newer design and appears to be a bit more robust, so maybe I get an extra year or two. I’m sure if this was in my basement I’d get longer life out of it due to the lower ambient temps.
Replacing the cooling unit is inexpensive and the are easy to replace, so it’s only a minor inconvenience.
I used their in-wall cellar cooling unit in my previous home where we had a walk-in cellar and it had no issues.
Chris
3-4 years does not sound like a good product to me
This whole wine storage thing just seems like your buying crap product and just hoping for the best, it is begging for a quality company to come into the market
The prices for those units are unbelievable! It is impressive the people of had good experiences with them, as well. I think that might be a fine overflow resource.
I understand your position & agree if I didn’t know going in I would be pissed.
I believe the company has moved to a more durable product with some new engineering in the past few years. That’s what I’ve heard through the grapevine anyway.
I knew what I was getting into. I equate it to something similar to using synthetic vs. conventional oil in your car. Synthetic costs more, but you can go further with it. Conventional is cheaper, but you replace it more often.
Cost of ownership is miles less going my way vs. a Eurocave or Le Cache which I looked at and couldn’t see the benefit of.
The design makes it easy to replace (I have the cellar on quality furniture sliders, so I can access the rear of it without taking out bottles. Given my location I don’t have to wait for days for a replacement to arrive. I just go pick one up, cheap.
Agreed about the market, but all the quality products are cost prohibitive unless you require it due to your climate.
What is the cost of the replacement cooling unit?
An important question, to me, do the units have to be vented to the outdoors?
A few hundred from memory. They give you some sort of extended warranty discount vs. new cost