Bulbs & Fittings Ideas

For those of you who are conflicted and confused about what the distinctions are between a “wine cooler” and a “wine cellar”, let this reviewer be clear about this Danby model: it is a mini refrigerator that has a tinted glass door instead of a solid door, and a black interior instead of a white interior, and has wire racks spaced to accommodate wine bottles instead of groceries. Other than those styling differences I am sure that it is made on the same factory line as Danby’s mini fridges, has the same mechanical guts and thermostat, and is otherwise not in any way made especially for wine. It’s a mini refrigerator styled to make you feel good about putting your wine in a “wine cooler” instead of a refrigerator.

That is not a bad thing, in itself. But don’t expect too much beyond that. Many people feel that the ideal temp for wine storage is about 55F. I was able to get the Danby to maintain a roughly stable temp of 55F with the temp dial turned to barely a fraction above OFF. With the thermostat turned higher (stronger) it is likely that the unit would achieve a temp much like a regular fridge, of about 40F. Several reviewers have noted that their units ran “cold”. One thing I did notice, using a digital thermometer, was that there was about a six to seven (6-7) degree difference between the top rack and bottom rack of the unit. If it was 55F on the top rack then it was 49F or even a little colder on the lower racks. Someone thinking about paying a premium price for a cooler model advertised as “dual zone” might want to contemplate this. It may be that wine coolers of this type are “dual zone” by nature, no need to stress and worry and pay extra for this “feature”.

Some people have expressed the opinion that leaving wine in a unit like this for extended periods will dry out the corks. I left a digital humidity meter inside for a day, and noted that the humidity level was 60%. Hardly desert like.

The unit seems well built and solid. It certainly weighs enough at about 70 pounds. It is slightly noisy, as others have noted, making a noticeable whine when cycling for a few minutes every so often. But I tend to think that the sound levels are more a product of a unit like this being placed in living rooms or dens, where this kind of noise is unusual and calls attention to itself, more than it is due to the system being more noisy than average.

It does in fact hold 36 standard sized bottles. Adding one broad shouldered bottle per row didn’t cause any problem. But if your whole assortment of wine is all broad shouldered bottles then you might wind up with only four bottles per row rather than five. But standard 750ml bottles were no problem.

I am basically happy with my Danby wine cooler for what it is: an inexpensive unit that is mostly for convenient wine storage close to the dining table, at a temp that is approximately the right temp for storage, that protects wine from big temp swings and excessive heat. It’s not a system for long term aging or preservation. For the price, about 0.00 from Amazon with free shipping for Prime members at the time of this review, it is certainly the cheapest unit of this type on offer. It seems to be a great bargain, even with the features that it lacks. It does not, for example, have a digital temp readout, or the ability to maintain warmer temps up to about 60F, or humidity control, and although the racks are removable they are not slide out trays, you have to pull each bottle out to see what it is. For the money I am a happy buyer. At higher prices one should be more critical, and might think harder about the system’s characteristics before buying.

Arrived on time. Works as advertised. Great value. It is not perfectly quite, but not loud either. This is not the cooler for you if you are looking for precise temp control given the analog temp control on the back. It would be nice if the light control were on the outside. Given the price, these are small complaints.

UPDATE: After a year I noticed it would stop cooling from time to time. I would move the temp adjust knob around and it would start working again. Had to have the module replaced that has the temp adjust knob. Everything was handled under warranty by a local service company. Been working great ever since. Knocking it down from 5 to 4 stars. Overall still very satisfied.

I did a bit of research before deciding to purchase the Danby. The price was right and reviews of other makes tended to say things like “stopped working after n months”. Also, the thermoelectric technology on many of the other makes doesn’t seem to be able to keep things cool if the temperature reaches above 85 or 90, which is quite easy to achieve in NY during the summer. The Danby has an old tech compressor which is time tested and should be reliable for years. The major problem is vibration. When it’s running the thing vibrates the wine bottles excessively. This is bad for long term evolution of wine. But, if you have bottles for long term this thing is way too small to begin with. My long term stuff is in a wine storage facility. The other problem is the temperature control. Wine shoud be stored at 53-55deg. At the very, very lowest setting (knob turned to just above where it turns off) it varies between 49-53deg, as tested by a Taylor 1458 wireless temp/humidity gauge. A little too low but acceptable for short term, at least it’s not too high which will ruin wine faster than anything. Humidity is also diffcult to maintain and is too low (30-40%) even with a bowl of water and wet paper towel. These faults make it useless for long term storage of wine (several years), but for short term (months) it should be fine.