The 6 Best Wine Fridges of 2024

First Things First

We love the Wine Enthusiast 32-Bottle Dual Zone Wine Cooler, and think it’s a great option for new and seasoned collectors thanks to its two temperature zones, touchscreen controls, and freestanding design.

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For wine lovers, creating a dedicated space to store and protect your favorite wine bottles is an important part of building a collection. While installing a personal wine cellar isn’t exactly feasible for most of us, adding a wine cooler to your home can be surprisingly attainable, depending on your needs. Wine fridges, which can hold roughly six to 600 bottles (or more, if your collection requires it) in single or dual zones, give you a luxurious and specialized experience that a non-dedicated fridge is not capable of.

Wine refrigerators can also be a bit of an investment, so to help you narrow down the best wine cooler for your home (or for your best friend’s), we surveyed hundreds of wine cooler owners and channeled our inner sommeliers as we poured over their responses. We then researched dozens of top models and brands, like Wine Enthusiast, Cuisinart, and Black+Decker, and assessed individual refrigerators for effectiveness, capacity, durability, and value.

Our Three Favorite Wine Fridges

Our survey responses showed that Wine Enthusiast fridge users tend to be especially pleased with the interior space and temperature consistency. The dual zones of the Wine Enthusiast 32-Bottle Dual Zone Wine Cooler allow you to store 32 of your favorite whites, rosés, and reds (in zones sized for 15 and 17 bottles), each at their perfect temperature – or set everything to the same temperature if your collection requires.

The Cuisinart CWC-800CEN Private Reserve 8-Bottle Wine Cellar is a wonderful choice for a more compact, single zone option. It's not too expensive in comparison to other wine fridges you can buy, and can fit into a variety of spaces. One of our editors owns it and has it set up next to a kitchen cart in her dining room. Cuisinart wine fridges also came highly recommended during our survey for their cooling abilities, as well as their user-friendly designs and easy maintenance.

Frigidaire wine refrigerators were a popular pick among our survey respondents, receiving praise for their reliability, ability to keep temperatures consistent, and attractive yet practical designs that also happen to be super user-friendly. Our pick, the Frigidaire 45-Bottle Two-Zone Wine Cooler, has very attractive rustic-chic wooden shelves that are visible from the outside of the fridge, thanks to the transparent door.

How to Shop for a Wine Fridge

Whether you're diving into the world of wine fridges for the first, second, or third time, a little extra time and research upfront will ensure you’re setting yourself up for the best-case scenario for your home. Here’s what we recommend considering before clicking "add to cart."

Know Your Temperature Zones

The interior of a wine fridge is called a "zone." The model you choose can either have one zone that you can set (single temperature), or two separate zones (dual temperature) that can be set to the same or different temperatures to accommodate different wine varietals or storage preferences. One of your most important buying decisions when shopping for a wine fridge is whether you want one or two temperature zones.

Dual-zone fridges, while more flexible, tend to be larger and pricier. If you’re unsure which is right for you, know that, while a dual-zone fridge can moonlight as a single-temperature fridge if you opt to set both zones to the same temperature, the same can’t be said for a single-zone fridge.

In general, specific temperature zones are what make wine fridges a better place for your wine than a standard refrigerator. Jessica Randhawa, owner and creator of The Forked Spoon, notes that not only does storing large amounts of wine and Champagne bottles in your standard kitchen fridge take up a lot of space, but also "the temperature in a kitchen refrigerator is too cold for most wines.” The standard kitchen refrigerator is ideally set to 35 to 38 degrees Fahrenheit—a whopping 10 degrees or so cooler than a wine fridge—for the most optimal storage of produce, dinner leftovers, and dairy.

The zones can also be more reliable, keeping their internal temperature consistent on every shelf and no matter what the weather. Mari Jones, the president of Northern California's Emeritus Vineyards, stresses that she likes knowing that her wine is in a constant environment and “not fluctuating with the seasons.” That consistency ultimately helps with long-term preservation, too.

What’s the best temperature to store wine at?

Common knowledge around wine storage tends to suggest that whites and reds should be stored at different temperatures, but there’s some wiggle room here, depending how long you intend to store your wine, when you plan to serve it, and other factors. A good rule of thumb is that wine refrigerators should be set between 45 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on your varieties, with 55 degrees often cited as most preferred.

Plan Ahead for Bottle Capacity

The capacity of a wine refrigerator is often measured in the number of Bordeaux bottles it can hold, while the size of your fridge is going to be listed in standard area measurements—and both of these numbers are important buying considerations. You know your collection (and your plans to expand it) best, so consider both the number of bottles you intend to store and the available space you have in your home for your wine fridge.

For those buying their first wine fridge, a unit that holds roughly 24 bottles is typically a good place to start. This capacity has a balance of airflow and storage space, and it doesn't give the appliance a bulky exterior, which can be hard to place in your home. It also leaves room for larger bottles that aren't a standard shape and size. We’ve compiled options that range from eight bottles up to 45, but know that some of our favorites come in various sizes so you can level up or down depending on your needs.

Narrow Down Your Price Point

The price of your wine fridge is going to be determined by a combination of factors including bottle capacity, temperature zones, customization options, technological features, and brand. In addition, the installation options for your fridge can also affect its price.

Freestanding, or standalone, wine fridges, which all of our picks are, tend to cost less and require less effort to install. Our favorites start in the $150 to $200 range, with the Cuisinart Private Reserve 8-Bottle Wine Cellar and Black+Decker 8 Bottle Wine Fridge: two wine fridges with an eight-bottle capacity and single-zone storage. Once you add a second zone, however, your price will go up. Our favorite dual-zone picks start in the $500 to $600 range (both the Newair 15-inch Built-in 29-Bottle Dual Zone Wine Fridge and the Wine Enthusiast 32-Bottle Dual Zone Wine Cooler are in this ballpark) and increase from there.

Freestanding fridges are ultimately more flexible than built-in options, though, and often feature reversible doors to further expand where –and how– you place them.

If you’re opting for a built-in or under-counter model to be installed in a new home or for a kitchen remodel, two of our picks can also be positioned this way, the NewAir Built-in 29 Bottle Dual Zone Wine Fridge or the Café Bottle Wine Cooler. Our favorite built-in or under-counter options do tend to cost between $500 and $3,500 (not counting installation fees) - but know that if you are opting for this style of wine fridge, you’ll ultimately give your kitchen a higher level of cohesiveness than you would with a freestanding model.

Design Details to Look For

Larger details aside, sometimes these seemingly smaller details can make a big difference in your wine fridge’s functionality. As you’re narrowing down your top choices, keep an eye out for some of these standout features.

Safety and Child Locks

A safety lock gives you the option to secure your wine fridge on a daily basis, or while entertaining. If your household includes children or frequently has guests, it prevents unwanted entry and can ease your nerves. The NewAir Built-in 29 Bottle Dual Zone Wine Fridge, which we cover more thoroughly below, is an example of a fridge that includes this feature.

Customizable Hardware

The Spruce's Home Improvement Review Board member Johnathan Brewer suggests incorporating your wine fridge into the design of your space - with a custom door that matches your cabinets, for example - for an elevated finish. A fridge we like that’s so easy to customize is the Café Bottle Wine Cooler (which we cover more below). This fridge has different hardware options that you can match to your cabinet handles and other major appliances.

Smart Features

Some wine fridges, like the aforementioned Café Bottle Wine Cooler, let you control settings from your phone or with your voice (through a voice assistant like Amazon Alexa). If your plans change at the last minute–say, you bring home an extra bottle of white wine that needs chilling, or you host a happy hour–that means you can get prepared! These features can also come in handy if there’s a power outage or if the door has been left open. You can swiftly handle any temperature fluctuations that may alter your collection.

Mistakes to Avoid

When reviewing our survey responses, we noticed some common themes in the answers shared by our trusted wine fridge owners—so, take heed to make your buying experience as smooth as your favorite red or white by avoiding a few mistakes.

Buying Too Small

Wine fridge owners were quick to point out that running out of space in your wine fridge can be worse than sour grapes. Just like when you’re buying any storage or organizing container, you want to make sure your wine fridge accommodates your collection at its current size, plus room for any potential growth (as your budget allows).

For those buying their first wine fridge, a unit that holds roughly 24 bottles is typically a good place to start.

Now, our favorites range from an eight-bottle capacity (both the Cuisinart Private Reserve 8-Bottle Wine Cellar and the Black + Decker 8-Bottle Wine Fridge), up to a 46-bottle one (the Café Bottle Wine Cooler), but larger units can be found on the market, too. The sky–or rather, your home's ceiling and available space–are really the limit on what you can stock in a wine fridge or cellar.

Picking the Wrong Number of Zones

When it comes to temperature zones, the wrong choice–specifically, opting for a single-temperature fridge when you could really use