kids out of college, sold our place in the suburbs, moved back to NYC this week and need to store about 300 bottles of wine that were previously sitting in our cellar. Thinking we will purchase a eurocave or something similar, we’re in a pre-war apt so sleek/modern might not work. Would much appreciate suggestions!
best,
I would make sure an engineer vets the weight load.
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This! Seriously those cabinets are about 200-300lbs empty.
So no problem in a stick built suburban house, but let’s worry about floor loads in a high rise?
I just took delivery of a Eurocave Pure L one month ago. No hole in the floor and no one vetted it engineering wise, but the building I am in currently is very thick concrete walls/floors etc. so pretty sturdy… it struck me as just another fridge? But this single unit is half the capacity you are looking for. Jeff, you are welcome to swing by anytime to see what the Pure L looks like (or more importantly, what it sounds like). Another consideration is to pair your wine fridge with an offsite that delivers to you. E.G., Domaine will deliver generally in under a week, so you can pull stuff as you need to fill your fridge.
A pre-war highrise, when they overbuilt everything because they didn’t have the computers to engineer it down to the absolute minimum needed for spec.
The issue with the pre-war buildings is also going to be hallway / elevator widths. Even if something might appear like it could superficially fit, getting it around all the strange bends on those floors or building access points might be tricky. Talk to your super/building staff over what size fridges have worked. Unless you are looking for a built in, I suspect a boxy 168 btl Eurocave is in your future…
Also check your electrical situation. I was in a postwar (1960’s era whitebrick) building and had to have my units wiring gauge upgraded for all the wine fridges, regular fridge, etc. that I needed.
Edited for politics
^ I’m my experience all the major appliance stores in the city will send someone to your apartment free of charge and in advance to make sure it will fit (that’s with regular refrigerators - I’ve never tried it with a wine fridge). Hopefully eurocave is better than sub zero from a timing perspective. I just got quoted 2023 delivery on a model I was looking at.
My 3 Eurocaves are on the base level of my house built on a concrete slab. I wasn’t willing to risk my floors upstairs…maybe you’re comfortable with it, I wasn’t. Maybe it’s because I come from a family of engineers (electric, civil, & mechanical)?
I would do the same in your house.
Definitely shouldn’t be any structural problems with putting a Eurocave in a NYC apartment, I’ve had mine in 3 different apartments. The challenge is finding the room to fit 1-2 in a non obtrusive fashion unless you have a very large space.
Personally, I will have at most 1 eurocave and rely on Domaine Storage for the rest.
That’s what I did when I lived in NYC
As long as you have room for a Eurocave or two you can easily fit 300bot in your apartment. If you need storage go offsite, Domaine is the most expensive there are other options.
I know several people in NYC with cabinets in the 300-bottle range in pre- and post-war buildings. No problems. Since the units of necessity sit next to a wall, the joists (which typically are wooden in pre-war buildings) are transferring the weight more directly to the walls than they would if the unit were in the middle of the room.
Arv is right about checking the electrical.
And forget about the electrical in a rent controlled building (or so it used to be).
Lol. I kept two 164 bottle Eurocaves in a 9th floor pre war on the UWS for a decade. Put it in my walk in closet. Was fine. Back in those days there was a wine storage place on west 64th between the park and columbus where i kept deeper storage. Liberty Storage? not sure if it is still there.
Liberty went out of business a long time ago. Maybe in the 90s? I had friends who used to store there. There hasn’t been any storage in Manhattan since the place under Chelsea Market priced out the individual customers a few years back.
but there are places in the Bronx and LIC and Jersey City at least. I store at Mana in Jersey City now.
If you think Eurocave looks too modern maybe look at Shop Wine Cabinets | Le Cache
the NYC equation is basically whatever size fridge physically fits and your significant other will allow, and then offsite storage, many of which deliver within 24 hours. Don’t blame me when you realize that this means that you functionally have infinite storage capacity…