I am in the process of building a “guest house”, but more like a man cave. Total Square Footage is around 500 square feet
I want to build a nice bar inside and also finally eliminate some of my offite storage. I have been looking at Cabinets and Coolers, but the biggest concern I have is the noise of the unit.
Le Cache seems like a strong option, but I’ve heard it may be a bit loud for the space. Eurocave is great in theory, but for 500+ bottles, which is approx the number I plan on keeping on site, a double Euro will run $10,000 or more based on what I’m seeing and that’s a bit much for me to spend I think. I’ve seen N’Finity, Wine Enthusiast and others, but not sure which direction to go. I currently have a smaller VinoTemp in my home which has worked very well for me over the past 10 years, but I know there is some customer service issues from reading the VinoTemp post on WB from a while back.
What units to folks around here use that are somewhat quiet, aesthetically pleasing and will last?
I can say without hesitation that any economy vino temp unit wont work. They are just too loud. mine 450 bottle vinotemp much louder than a loud washer. Loud whiring noise from the cooler. mine is a in a garage.
Curious to learn which large units work in living spaces as well…
Buy one with bare bones appearance and put it in the garage if you can. When I was married with a big garage I had a six foot cube that held 1300 bottles of all sizes. I really liked walking out to the detached garage to get bottles more than I would have liked handier access. I’d sometimes go get an additional bottle with a buddy and we’d complain about things in private.
Mine is in the garage as well. The car hasn’t complained one bit about the noise. My concern with it being in the garage us that it is warm out there and the cooling unit runs extensively.
I have a Vintage Keeper 500 in my living/ TV room. You can hear it if it’s quiet in the room when it kicks on (every 20 minutes or so), but it’s not loud enough to disrupt conversation or even distract someone if they haven’t heard it previously.
Not advocating for the brand - It works for me as I’m close enough to pick up a replacement unit same day if I need to (they last about 5-8 years on average). Ambient room temp needs to stay well below 75 as well.
If I was further away, I wouldn’t risk the time between breakdown and shipping delivery (plus the cost to ship). Needless to say - they work much better if kept fully packed.
You might want to check on exactly what type of cooling unit is going in the cabinet you are preparing to purchase. I have a 400+ bottle cabinet and a couple of years ago I needed to buy a new cooling unit. Went with the CellarPro 1800XT. While I’m totally happy with it’s performance, it is LOUD and not acceptable for a living area.
At the time my cabinet was in the living room. I would have to turn it off at night if I was watching TV. Now I have the cabinet in a spare room where I can keep the door closed. It’s OK in there.