The bottom is shelf less so you get creative. I also put 2 bottles facing each other perpendicular to the ones on the shelf. Yes, I have stacked them in the past w/o issue.
I’m really down on home wine fridge cabinets, with my WhisperKOOL having died and the repairman telling me it can’t be fixed. 6 years after purchase, my $1,600 A/C unit is toast. I’m moving all of my wine to offsite with the exception of a small kitchen under counter unit that holds 30 bottles. Yes, PITA to now have to go to offsite more often, but the peace of mind is worth it for me. I’d definitely consider if and how easily you can replace A/C before you buy.
Use the racks. Cardboard invites mold (I know from personal experience). Cramming too much in there reduces air flow and leads to too much temperature variation within the unit, plus you can get problems with condensation and mold (again, experience). A 300 bottle unit will typically hold a little over 200 in reality.
Any tips on how to maximize storage with the racks (shelves) ?
There are plenty of drawbacks to offsite storage too, especially the farther away you are, and the less frequent you visit. Explore what the laws are covering storage facilities in your state as well. It can be a headache when a site is sold and redeveloped, and you have to move your stuff. I’ve had anywhere from 1-4 offsite storage units (for a variety of stuff, not all wine) over the last 23 years and there are plenty of annoyances with that too.
Bottom line: there are lots of costs & aggro involved in cellaring wine, so make sure it makes some sense to begin with. or only buy the bottles you cannot find later on, and go to secondary market for mature available items (letting someone else bear the carrying cost for a decade or two)
Organizing by bottle shape can help, especially if there’s a bottom shelf for stacking several rows. Beyond that, getting creative has mostly given me problems (mold or bottles falling out) with minimal gain in capacity. I think the best approach is to accept what the reasonable capacity is and not try to increase it.
[quote=“Michael Martin” post_id=3042603 time=1596064417 user_id=9244
I have had one of these for 9 years now without issue. At $450, I would buy a bunch and stack them. They will hold close to 60 each if you pack them right. The temp top to bottom is far more consistent. They are quiet and trouble free https://www.homedepot.com/p/Magic-Chef-23-4-in-W-50-Bottle-Wine-Cooler-in-Stainless-Steel-HMWC50ST/300509607
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I wonder if they’ve crapped out on the design/quality of the racks on these Magic Chef 50’s over the years. I bought two of them from Home Depot in mid 2019 and unless I removed all the racks and just stacked bottles, I couldn’t get close to 60 in each, more like 40 and barely that in the Pinot/Chard one. I had to remove a few of the racks to even get any of the modern sized or Pinot/Syrah/Chard bottles in there at all. The racks are also poorly designed with a straight front edge (instead of round like a wine bottle), flimsy and even with the smallest oldest school Bordeaux bottles the labels will scrape as the rack above sags (not double stacking either).
I am seriously thinking of tossing the racks out or getting a few sturdier racks fabricated that I could mega-stack on. I will say that the temps are rock solid in both units (just set it 5 degrees lower than your target) with no label soaking or even any fluctuations in temp. I have remote sensors on the bottom of each to keep an eye on the temps.
Lowe’s has a comparable model for $500, that I discovered later, that has much better designed racks that I think one could get 60 in.
I love this ![[worship.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/9/99a8907a1d5b3c023582052741dc72dc9823c044.gif "worship"){kind=small}
Like cutting a pizza into more slices, when extra hungry.
My 165 bottle Wine Enthusiast fridge has been almost a perfect 55 top, and 55 bottom for 2+ years running. 600 or so bottle Le Cache has about a 2 degree differential. 9 degrees for anything is definitely some kind of a malfunction.
And, to answer OP’s question, don’t buy Turley;). Love their wine, but drives me nuts trying to shelve them.