I am a big fan of home improvement shows on HGTV. I’ve been through a lot of home renovations myself over the years, so I can both commiserate with the challenges and also enjoy the completed project reveals. They have also had the very much intended effect of giving me kitchen envy or otherwise introducing me to products that I want to add to my own next home renovation project.
Over the past few years, it seems like every larger renovation has involved adding a little under-counter beverage fridge to a kitchen, butler’s pantry, bar, or living room. Every time my wife and I watch a show and a beverage center ends up in the final reveal, I turn to her and ask half-jokingly “They get a beverage center. Where’s my beverage center?” We laugh, but we have also tried to find a good place to put one in our house forever. Well, we finally decided to convert a sunroom into a butler’s pantry, where we can easily incorporate a beverage fridge into the design.
Thus began the arduous process of finding a good beverage fridge for our house. I thought I would include some tips and info we learned from our research.
First off, a few things to consider to make sure you get a product that fits your needs.
Wine Fridge or Beverage Fridge?
Think about what you want to put in your fridge. Is it mainly for wine, beer, soda, or a mix of items? There are a lot of options for dedicated wine fridges, beer/soda fridges, or combination products where they incorporate both.
Dual Zone or Single Zone?
This tends to come down to the mix of beverages you want to keep cool. If they are all fine to stay at the same temperature, then a single zone option should do the trick. But, if you are a purist who wants your wine chilled at 45 degrees and your beer at 38 degrees, then a dual-zone option might be your answer.
What Size do you Need?
Are you looking for something small to just sit on your kitchen counter or bar, a larger under-counter product, or a full-sized unit that could be as tall as your standard refrigerator?
How Much do you Want to Spend?
The ultimate question. How much do you want to pay for your fancy new beverage center? Maybe it should be more about how much you are “willing” to spend since most of us would rather spend less, everything being equal. It’s a key thing to consider because much like regular refrigerators, beverage fridge prices can range widely. You can find a budget-friendly 24-inch under-counter option for under $200 or easily spend $2,000+ if you want more bells and whistles or a more well-known brand name.
Some Options
Frigidaire - 138 Can Beverage Center
While you are likely to come across some brands you have never heard of during your research, there are definitely some recognizable brands in the mix as well. Frigidaire produces a number of beverage centers at fairly reasonable prices that will fit into either the wine, beer/soda, or multi-purpose categories. The 138 can beverage center is a pretty straightforward option if just storing soda or beer is your main purpose. It also runs for under $500 at Best Buy.
Monogram ZDBI240HII
This beverage center can hold up to 126 cans and fits into the more expensive tier at around $2,000. For that added price, you get the upgraded quality of a Monogram product, with a wooden surround, which makes it stand out from the more typical stainless steel options.
KitchenAid KUBL304ESS - 24-inch Stainless Steel Beverage Center
The KitchenAid brand delivers some established brand quality, along with two temperature zones to easily accommodate wine and soda. It also fits into the upper middle pricing tier at around $1,500.
Zephyr Single Zone Beverage Cooler
This option also fits into that middle pricing tier at around $1,200 and offers the ability to accommodate up to 7 bottles of wine and 112 12 oz cans at the same time. The configuration is also somewhat customizable to add more or less of either type of bottle. Like many of the options, you get interior lighting with the ability to change the color of the LED lights to several options.
What did we go with?
After a lot of shopping around online and in a few showrooms, we ended up going with the Zephyr Single Zone Beverage Cooler. We found it in a local specialty appliance store and were able to check out the model they had in their showroom and demo kitchen. Today, it is sitting in our sunroom, waiting for our contractor to finish up a few other projects before he starts demo at our house.
