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What’s the Best 15-Inch Wide Wine Fridge? – Wine Cooler Reviews

best-15-inches-wide-wine-cooler

Looking for the best wine fridge to fit into a 15-inch wide space under your counter top? Let’s review all the top 15-inch width wine cooler models.

Often it’s easy to narrow down your home appliance choices simply based on the amount of room you have available. A wine fridge is a great addition to any kitchen, especially when you install a built-in model under your counter top to fit seamlessly with your cabinets. When remodeling your kitchen, you might decide to remove an old trash compactor unit, for example, and find yourself left with exactly 15 inches of horizontal space to fill. Naturally you’re only going to focus on the wine refrigerators that fit to your specific size requirements.

Luckily for you, fifteen inches is a popular size for wine fridge manufacturers to use, and there are a number of quality models available. These range in capacity from 23-30 bottles and include both single-zone and dual-zone configurations.

(If you’ve got slightly more space, check out these 18-inch wine fridges.)

The 6 models that we’ll review here all belong to the compressor cooling technology group of wine coolers. As opposed to thermoelectric coolers, these compressor models can reliably chill down to temperatures as low as 40 degrees F without any risk of fluctuations due to increases in ambient room temperature.

Powerful cooling doesn’t exactly come cheap. It’s worth a small investment for something you can trust your precious wine collection to. The least expensive of these models comes in at just under $600, and the priciest is a bit over $900. Is the most expensive one worth the extra $300? Or would you be better off going with the cheapest of these 15-inch wide options? Let’s look at these 6 cooling units in detail so that you’re informed and better equipped to make a purchasing decision.

Allavino VSWR30-2SSRN 30 Bottle Dual-Zone Wine Refrigerator w/ Towel Bar Handle

Allavino VSWR30-2SSRN 30 Bottle Dual-Zone Wine Refrigerator w_ Towel Bar Handle

Product Details

Allavino gives us the most expensive of the 15-inch wide wine fridges, but it’s also possibly the most attractive of the lot. It features a 30 bottle capacity with special shelving that is designed to achieve this amount of storage while accommodating a wide range of wine bottle shapes. Only larger Pinot Noir and Champagne bottles are going to cause you to lose out on storage capacity.

Dual-zone cooling compartments allow temperature ranges of 41-60 degrees Fahrenheit for the upper zone and 45-64 degrees Fahrenheit for the lower zone. Unlike some other dual-zone coolers, the two zones can’t be set to the same temperature in this model. Rather the lower zone must be at least 4 degrees warmer.

Aesthetically, the Allavino looks good in stainless steel with a towel bar style handle. To be perfectly honest, all of the wine fridge models that we’re looking at here have a similar appearance with stainless steel and black exteriors to be par for the course. It’s mostly the style of the handle and details of the shelving that set them apart from each other.

The main advantage of this model is the flexibility of bottle shapes and sizes that the shelving can accommodate without sacrificing storage capacity. On the other hand, the fact that the lower temperature zone must be set warmer than the top zone can prove limiting. This is especially true when you consider that the shelf intended to hold champagne sized bottles is in the bottom zone. One would think that you’d want to chill these to a cooler temperature, so I would call this a major design flaw that could probably have been avoided with a little bit more thought.

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Pros and Cons

Accommodates many bottle shapes/sizes
Stylish handle
Dual-zone cooling
Lower zone must be warmer than upper zone
Most expensive model

Avallon 23 Bottle 15″ Dual Zone Built-In Wine Cooler

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Product Details

The Avallon 15-inch wide dual-zone cooler is also a bit more on the expensive side. You can see from the construction of the shelving where some of the extra cost is factored in. The wooden shelves have stainless steel trim and smoothly roll out supported by telescoping braces.

The manufacturer only claims that it has a 23 bottle capacity. This is the smallest amount of all of the models here, but in fairness some of the other wine fridges can only get their advertised 30 bottle capacity when using all regular Bordeaux shaped wine bottles.

The upper cooling zone has a temperature range of 54 – 65°F, while the lower zone can be set to 40 – 54°F. This configuration makes a little bit more sense than the Allavino unit because the lowest shelf, which can accommodate wider bottles, is in the cooler zone, where you’d naturally store champagne. And if you are the type to drink only reds, you can still set both zones at the same temperature of 54 degrees.

If you want the two zones set to different temperatures, then keep in mind that the upper (red wine) zone can only hold a maximum 8 bottles.

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Pros and Cons

Available in Left or Right hinge model variations
Smallest capacity at 23 bottles max
Dual-zone cooling
Roll-out stainless steel trimmed wooden shelves
Upper zone 54 – 65°F, lower zone 40 – 54°F

EdgeStar 30 Bottle Stainless Steel Built-In Wine Cooler

Product Details

This is the first single-zone cooler that we’ll look at. These are generally nice to have if you’re the type of person who predominantly drinks only red or white wine, but usually not both.

The temperature can be set within a range of 40-65 degrees F. With this model, though, you will usually need to set the temperature to 2 degrees lower than the actual temperature you want to achieve or it will never get down that low. This seems to me to be an engineering flaw. If the device consistently fails to reach the desired temperature then the manufacturer should have calibrated the difference into the temperature controls to eliminate confusion.

This is the lest expensive of the six models that we’re looking at. The wooden shelves simply slide out, rather than rolling out like on the Avallon model. If you have any wider than normal bottles, you’ll need to remove shelves to accommodate them, and this will reduce the fridges total capacity. If you’re not using all standard Bordeaux bottles then 26 would probably be a more realistic capacity, assuming none of the bottles are wide enough to warrant removing a shelf.

The bigger issue is with the quality of the product. Some users have reported that the compressor begins to fail after 8-12 months of use. Repairing it typically entails a bill nearly equal to the price of the fridge. So remember that when you buy the cheapest model, you’re not always getting the best value. If it needs replacing after a year, then it suddenly becomes the most expensive model in relative terms.

EdgeStar 30 Bottle Stainless Steel Built-In Wine Cooler-door-open

Pros and Cons

Can run noisy
Single-zone cooling
30 Bottle capacity
Least expensive model
Compressor durability issues

EdgeStar Dual-Zone Stainless Steel Built-In Wine Cooler

Product Details

EdgeStar has a second wine cooler model that fits the same 15-inch wide size category. The main difference between this one and the previous model is the dual-zone cooling configuration. Two separate refrigeration compartments allow you to chill various wines to different temperatures. The obvious use for this type of model is in order to cool red wines to a modest 54-65 degrees F while chilling white wines down to the 40-54 degrees F range.

The ability to control temperatures in two different cooling zones comes with a small price to pay. The overall cost of the unit comes out to approximately $100 more expensive than EdgeStar’s single-zone model. In addition to this, the divider between the two cooling zones takes up the same height as one row of shelving. This leaves you with space for six fewer bottles, so that the total maximum capacity is 26 standard sized wine bottles compared to 30 bottles in the single-zone model.

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One limitation of this model when compared to other dual-zone wine fridges is the relatively small capacity of the upper storage zone. The configuration of this EdgeStar dual-zone fridge is such that the upper zone can hold a maximum 8 bottles, and that may be generous. Five bottles in the upper zone is more likely based on the design.

If you tend to drink white wine more frequently, then this might work out well for you. But many wine collectors will feel that this model doesn’t provide ample space for their red wine.

Pros and Cons

Runs on the louder side
Reversible door
Dual-zone cooling
8 bottle upper zone, 18 bottle lower zone
More expensive than the single-zone model

Kalamera 15″ Wide 30 Bottle Built-In Wine Cooler

Kalamera 15" Wide 30 Bottle Built-In Wine Cooler

Product Details

Kalamera makes a number of great wine refrigerators, and this 15-inch wide model with a 30 bottle capacity is no exception. Like the others here, this unit features a stainless steel and black exterior look. Inside, we have 6 slide-out beech wood shelves. There’s a bit of extra space on the bottom row for wider bottles if you choose.

The shelves seem a little lightweight, but the overall operation of this wine fridge is quite reliable.

Like many wine refrigerators, you are only going to reach the maximum bottle capacity under ideal conditions—using all standard sized Bordeaux shaped bottles. Using bottles with a mix of shapes and sizes will cause you to fall short of the 30 bottle maximum, but you should still have enough space in this unit for a modest collection. The fact that this is a single-zone cooler means you get a little extra space too.

One really helpful feature of this model is a temperature memory function. This means that, in the case of a power outage, the wine fridge can return to the temperature you had it set to rather than a default temperature. With many other wine fridges, people have run into trouble because the fridge defaults to a factory-set temperature after a brief power outage rather than the cooler temperature that the owner had it set to. In some cases it has caused people’s wine collections to get ruined. But you won’t have that problem with this Kalamera model.

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kalamera-15-inches-width-wine-cooler-shelving-detail

Pros and Cons

Temperature memory protects wine after a power outage
Single-zone cooling
30 bottle max capacity
Reliable cooling
Slide-out wooden shelves slightly flimsy

NewAir AWR-290DB 29 Bottle Compressor Wine Cooler

Product Details

The last model that we’ll look at is another dual-zone cooler. In this case, NewAir has put the section intended for white wine on the top. The upper section can be set to 40-50 degrees Fahrenheit. It can hold a maximum of 10 bottles with 5 on each of two shelves. The nice thing about the design of this model is that there is extra space above the top shelf, so that it would be able to accommodate wide bottles for Champagne or Chardonnay, etc.

Meanwhile, the lower section can be set to 50-66 degrees Fahrenheit. It is a little larger with regular sized selves and a third shelf on the bottom with enough vertical space to stack up two rows of bottles on top of each other. You could also use this lowest shelf for wide Pinot Noir bottles, etc. At most, you could fit about 19 bottles in the lower zone.

I think this configuration is one of the best in a dual-zone wine fridge as it gives more space for your red wines, which you’d typically want to collect more of.

newair-wine-fridge-in-kitchen

Pros and Cons

Dual-zone cooling
Most logical dual-zone arrangement
Least expensive dual-zone model
Reliable compressor
Runs very quietly

Summary

My overall recommendation depends on whether you want a single-zone or dual-zone cooler. If you’re in the market for a single-zone wine fridge, then I recommend buying the Kalamera 15″ Wine Cooler. It’s attractive, reliable, and rather affordable at under $600 currently.

If you’re looking for a dual-zone cooler, I think the best value is with the NewAir AWR-290DB Wine Cooler. Not only is it the least expensive of the dual-zone coolers, but it also runs quietly and reliably, and the two cooling zones are arranged in the most logical manner.

On the other hand, if you want something a little more fancy looking, the Avallon Dual-Zone Wine Cooler has slick roll-out shelves with stainless steel trimming. If the relatively small red wine zone is not an issue for you, then you just have to determine if the extra cost for the fancier shelves is worth it to you.

Best Wine Refrigerator Under $500 – Kalamera 12-Inch 18-Bottle Built-in Wine Cooler Review

Are you looking for the best wine refrigerator under $500? Many people can see the value in purchasing a wine fridge to keep their vino cooled to the right temperature, but at the same time find their budget limited to around $500. If this sounds like you, then you should take a good look at the Kalamera 12-Inch 18-Bottle Wine Cooler which can be used either built-in under a counter or freestanding. in my opinion, this is the best wine fridge you’ll find for less than five Ben Franklin’s.

Just have a look at this compact, gorgeous, and highly-functional thing of beauty…

As you can see, this is a very slick, modern-looking model that will complement just about any kitchen decor. Now let’s get a rundown of the Kalamera’s features and functionality.

Fits in 12-inch wide space. Exact dimension are 11.6″ wide x 33.9″ high x 22.4″ deep (without handle). The handle is designed to protrude another 2 inches from the front surface of your cabinets.
Built-in or Freestanding. It was designed with a built-in under-the-counter use in mind. But you could just as easily set it up somewhere in your home as a freestanding unit.
Compressor cooling. This model makes use of a compressor cooling system that can reliably cool down to 40°F regardless of ambient room temperature.
Easy to use single-zone touch controls. This single-zone cooler model chills the interior to an even temperature, which can be precisely controlled using the digital touch controls. A temperature range of 40-66°F is possible.
Attractive styling. The Kalamera has a stainless steel door, a double-layered tempered glass window, and beech wood sliding racks.
Temperature memory function. When you have a brief power outage, the cooler remembers the temperature it was set to, saving your wine from going to a default temp that may not be ideal.
18-bottles capacity. This model holds up to 18 standard-sized Bordeaux 750ml wine bottles. There are six beech wood shelves, each holding three bottles.
Accommodates some larger bottles. Without removing any of the shelves to accommodate wider shaped wine bottles, there is some extra space above the lowest shelf to fit a few of these larger sized bottles in.
Security lock. So the kiddos won’t raid your wine collection.

kalamera-12-inch-wine-refrigerator-18-bottle-built-in-freestanding_open_door

Who is the Kalamera 18-Bottle Wine Cooler for?

The Kalamera 18-Bottle Wine Cooler is a great choice for a regular wine drinker or casual wine collector. If you frequently drink wine you’ll want to be able to store a modest amount at home. This way you can have your choice of wines to go with whatever meal you happen to be in the mood for.

If you don’t have a lot a space in your kitchen to dedicate to a wine fridge, this model should do nicely. At just 12 inches in width, it can fit into all sorts of places, including a small slot under the counter.

If you live somewhere with a warm climate, then a compressor type of cooler might make more sense than a thermoelectric one. You can probably find a cheaper thermoelectric cooler with a similar capacity as this one, but the cooling power of such a model may be limited by the ambient temperature of your home. Compressor coolers aren’t at the mercy of external temps in the same way, and they can easily maintain cooling down to 40°F.

Who is the Kalamera 18-Bottle Wine Cooler NOT for?

If you’re a very serious wine collector, then a capacity of 18 bottles might be a serious limitation. Maybe Kalamera’s 30-Bottle Wine Cooler would be of more interest to you.

Likewise, if you’re shopping for a wine fridge to furnish a busy restaurant, then you’ll want something much bigger.

Those who really strongly desire a dual-zone wine cooler would be another group that will not be totally satisfied with owning this single-zone model. It is great for keeping all your bottles at one standard temperature for storage or ideal drinking temperature for your favorite type. But it won’t be the model to get if you want to keep reds and whites at two different temps, for example.

Should you buy it?

If you’ve made up your mind to get a smaller sized wine fridge, you should definitely consider this one. It quickly and quietly cools down to the set temperature. It looks beautiful in your kitchen. It won’t take up much space, especially with only 12 inches of horizontal space. The temperature memory function can save your precious wine collection if the power goes out temporarily during a thunderstorm or some similar event while you are away.

18 bottles will last you two whole months of drinking a couple of botles of wine per week. If you keep wine for the purpose of actually drinking it—and not just collecting it for some rainy day that never comes—then you’ll find this capacity to be more than sufficient. The bit of extra space on the lowest shelf to hold wider bottles such as Pinot Noir is a nice bonus feature of this model. All-in-all, I’d say it’s a great value and a sound investment for anyone who really enjoys wine drinking.

And this Wine Cooler sells for less than $500

EdgeStar 36 Bottle Built-In Dual Zone French Door Wine Cooler Review

Like many people, I enjoy a nicely chilled bottle of wine occasionally. It is also nice to have a variety to choose from because I don’t always like to drink the same thing. It can depend on the time of year, the type of food I am consuming the wine with, or even what my guests prefer. If you want to have ready access to a large variety of red and white wines, you should consider getting a dual-zone wine cooler. I decided to give the EdgeStar 36 Bottle Built-In Dual Zone French Door Wine Cooler a try to see if it lives up to my needs and expectations.

Features

I gave the cooler a through inspection upon buying it. The first thing I noticed was the modern design. The stainless steel and glass construction has the ability to blend into just about any decor. This EdgeStar wine cooler has a 36 bottle capacity which is plenty of room for storing a wide variety of both reds and whites.

It has french style doors and two different zones for greater temperature control. If for instance, you wanted to chill red and white wine at two different temperatures then you could do it with no problems.

The glass that forms the front doors is a tempered glass that has a black dot pattern. The cabinet part of the cooler is black with the stainless steel featured on the front. There are locks on each of the doors and matching stainless door handles. The dimensions for the cooler are 34 1/8″ H x 23 1/2″ W x 22 5/8″ D.

Inside of the cooler, there are wooden shelves that feature stainless trim. There is a total of ten slide out shelves for the unit.

Pros

This is a very stylish and sleek wine cooler. I love the way it brings a touch of sophistication to the area that you will be using it in.
It has a compressor but it runs quietly and smoothly.
It also gives you the option of using it as a built-in unit or a freestanding unit.
There’s also a double digital thermometer on the front so that you can see the exact temperature on each side.
The blue interior light gives the unit ambiance.
It also does a good job of keeping the temperature stable on both sides once it is filled.

Cons

The few drawbacks to this unit are quite minor.

If you want a completely quiet unit then I would suggest looking elsewhere. Even though it is quiet compared to other coolers with a compressor, it still makes some noise.
The light looks great inside but it does little to give you visibility when looking at the labels on the wine bottles.

Overall

If you are looking for a versatile and stylish wine cooler with plenty of features the this is the wine cooler for you. You will, however, have to be willing to look beyond the dim lighting and the slight noise that the compressor makes but if that is something that you can live with, you will be delighted with this purchase. It’s especially good for those who want a built-in model to go under the counter with dual-zone chilling for a collection of reds and whites.

Kalamera 30-Bottle Built-in or Freestanding Wine Refrigerator Review

The aroma and flavor of wine is way more enhanced when it’s served chilled properly. The trick, however, is in achieving the right temperature. Before I knew any better, I used to put all my wines in an ordinary refrigerator—and the results were always disastrous. Either the wine was too cold or too warm.

I realized I needed more precise control—to find that threshold where the temperature is just perfect, so I decided to buy a wine refrigerator. A wine refrigerator is not like an ordinary refrigerator—it’s specifically designed to store wine. Not only does it keep your wine cool but it also ages it to bring out its true characteristic and full flavor potential.

After reading a few reviews online, I decided to purchase the Kalamera 30-Bottle Built-in Wine Refrigerator as my first wine fridge.

Kalamera 30-Bottle Wine Fridge

This is a versatile unit that you can set up in any activity area in your home such as the living room as a freestanding wine cooler. It is also designed so that it can be used under the counter as a built-in refrigerator. It keeps your wine perfectly chilled to your desired temperature thanks to a proficient single-zone system. The product has an elegant look what with the interior being illuminated by a soft blue light and a gleaming stainless steel frame. This wine cooler basically has everything you need to benefit from the best, perfectly chilled wine.

Features

The refrigerator can hold up to 30 bottles of wine on slotted beech wood shelves. It’s made of a stainless steel frame and it has two layers of tempered glass. This ensures that the temperature inside doesn’t fluctuate and it also prevents fogging.

It’s not as noisy as an ordinary refrigerator and the vibration levels are very low thanks to the pre-installed advanced compressor technology.

The LED control display lets you set the temperature very easily so you can always rest easy knowing that your wine is cooling at the perfect temperature at all times.

You can install it anywhere. It does not take up a lot of space so you can store it in the bar or kitchen area.

Pros

First, it’s very easy to install and easy to use. Installing the door handle was a breeze. All I had to do was peel back the seal on the interior side of the door to reveal two screw holes.
Also, I like how the compressor is very quiet and cools very fast. I thought the reviews online had exaggerated this feature but it appears that this wine refrigerator is actually very reliable. I still bought the four year extended warranty even though it appears to be a far much more reliable unit than most of the other wine coolers. Many other inferior models seem to fail after one or two years.
Another wonderful feature is that this unit will cool all the way down to 40 degrees F. I personally don’t set it that low since I mainly drink red wines. However, if you’re a big fan of whites you should be happy to know that this model will chill your vino down much cooler than thermoelectric models typically can.

Cons

It’s a little more expensive than some other models with a similar capacity. However, as with all things, you usually get what you pay for. The quality in this unit is really top notch.
One thing I noticed when the unit arrived was that the glass door was cracked. it must have gotten damaged during shipping. That said, the company sent me a replacement door immediately, and the Kalamera representative was very helpful and friendly.

Summary

Overall, this wine cooler is really well made. It’s not noisy, it cools wine very fast and the temperature inside remains constant at all times. It’s solid and a little hefty at 72 lbs, but doesn’t take up much floor space and can practically fit anywhere. I’d say it’s rather attractive and provides good value. I would definitely recommend this unit to anyone looking for a mid-sized wine cooler who plans on storing more than 20 bottles.