How To Choose A Wine Cabinet

If you’re a wine lover, or have guests over frequently, then a wine cabinet can be one of the best solutions for both storing and displaying your wine.

Aside from looking great, you can get wine cabinets that keep wines at optimal temperature for long-term storage or for serving.

But what do you need to look out for when shopping for a wine cabinet? And what’s the difference between wine cabinets and wine coolers?

Keep reading to learn more about wine cabinets and how to choose the best one for your needs.

 

What Is A Wine Cabinet?

If you want to make the most out of your wine, it needs storing correctly.

A wine cabinet is the perfect place to store your bottles of wine - it’s a piece of furniture that can store wine effectively for in both the short term and the long term.

Factors such as light, temperature, humidity, and vibration can all have an impact on how good the wine tastes, so choosing the right wine cabinet is important.

Most wine cabinets give you some form of control over the temperature, whether there’s one temperature zone or several to choose from.

For optimal storage, wine cabinets contain space for multiple wine racks. Some wine cabinets will also provide room for glass holders, stemware, and other wine accessories.

There are various different sizes, designs, and temperatures, and brands when it comes to wine cabinets, so it can be tough knowing which one to pick.

Some wine cabinets can fit around 15 bottles, and others can store over 150 bottles.

A good wine cabinet will take into account the 5 main rules of storing wine - a regulated temperature, blocking out light, providing the perfect level of humidity, eliminating odours, and eliminating vibrations.

Click here for our selection of quality wine cabinets!

 

Are Wine Cabinets The Same As Wine Coolers?

There’s often confusion over wine cabinets and wine coolers, but to clear this up - they are two separate things.

Wine coolers tend to be more compact gadgets that are perfect for shorter term wine storage, and can often accommodate fewer than 50 bottles.

Wine cabinets are more sophisticated units that are more suitable for larger wine collections, that can be used on a short-term basis and a longer term basis.

People love wine cabinets are you can use them for serving wine as well as long term storage.

Some wine coolers will have different temperature options, as do wine cabinets. The storage temperature is the temperature that will encourage the wine to mature while staying fresh.

If you don’t have a wine cellar, a wine cabinet is your next best option - as they’re made to withstand years of long-time storage.

Did you know that you can build a wine cabinet yourself? It's not as difficult as you may think - click here for our guide on how to build a wine cabinet!

 

How Do I Choose A Wine Cabinet?

There are so many different designs of wine cabinet that offer different things, so it can be tough knowing which wine cabinet is best.

The main things to look out for are the temperature options, and the design of the wine cabinet.

If you want to learn how to personalise your wine cabinet click here.  

Temperature

 

Single Temperature

Single temperature wine cabinets offer just the one regulated temperature, which is perfect for storing wine bottles in the long term.

You can get single temperature wine cabinets that have different designs, prices, and sizes, so you’re sure to find the perfect cabinet for you and your home or business.

There are options that can fit under your kitchen cabinets, that can be fitted into your home seamlessly, or that stand alone in your kitchen or dining room.

 

2 or 3 Temperature

If you have a larger wine collection, you may want to opt for a wine cabinet that has 2 or 3 different temperature zones to choose from. This is perfect for red wines, rose, champagne, and white wines.

In a 2 or 3 temperature wine cabinet, you can choose a different temperature for 2 or 3 different sections of your wine cabinet, which means you can have wine ready to be served, and wine storing uninterrupted in the long term.

This also means that you can store a variety of wine types appropriately, in the best conditions possible.

 

Multi Temperature

A multi temperature wine cabinet offers multiple different temperatures for storing your wine collection, which is perfect for anyone with an extensive wine collection for storing in both the long term and the short term.

Multi temperature wine cabinets are generally more expensive due to the fact that it offers more than a single temperature wine cabinet.

You can store your red wine in the top, white wine in the middle, and sparking at the bottom, and each will have their own set temperature zones for optimal storage.

This type of wine cabinet is the next best step down from a wine cellar in terms of quality and convenience.

 

Location

Before purchasing a wine cabinet, it’s important to consider where you’ll be placing the unit. There are three main options - stand alone, fitted, or built-in.

Stand alone wine cabinets will stand feeling in the room, whether you choose to place it in your kitchen, living room, or dining room.

Fitted wine cabinets are better for smaller collections, as they tend to fit snugly under kitchen cabinets or bars.

Built-in wine cabinets can be any size, and can be made into its own custom unit. These tend to be more expensive, and can accommodate larger wine collections.

 

Shelves

Shelves are something you should look out for when choosing a wine cabinet. There are a few main types of shelf, including sliding shelves, fixed storage shelves, serving shelves, and display shelves.

Sliding shelves are shelves that slide in and out in a drawer-like manner, so you can arrange your bottles horizontally rather than standing up.

Fixed storage shelves provide you with a stackable space to store your wine bottles lying down. Serving shelves enable you to stand your bottles upright, which is perfect for opened bottles.

Display shelves also allow you to store your bottles upright, so you can display the labels of your favourite or most expensive wines.

On display shelves, you can often display other objects such as wine glasses and other stemware.

 

If you're a wine collector and you want to optimise your wine storage, we've got you covered. Click here for some tips!