As a previous Viking wine fridge owner, I've been spoiled. I wasn't expecting anything close given the fraction of the cost. I was duly pleased by what I got in this dual zone wine fridge.
The wine fridge shipped via freight which was a nice surprise. I would not have enjoyed receiving this delivery if had to get beat up by UPS package delivery. Scheduling the delivery ahead of time was also way more convenient than getting that annoying door tag when you miss the delivery. So it was off to a good start.
Packaging was plain but sturdy enough for the item. Handle bar had to be installed and was easy enough. Nice handle bar actually. Easy to grip with no sharp corners. The shelving is very very nice. It's wood trimmed metal shelving, which actually gives it more space in the interior. The shelves are fully removeable and I'm actually no using the bottom most shelf. I store my larger bottle on the bottom. Storage0wise it fits 28 750ml bottles with no problems. I'm actually surprised I a 15" dual zone unit could fit that many bottles. If you want to put larger bottles, just remove the bottom most shelf on either
The actual installation was easy enough and I actually had this put into my library/bar room. Fits well and appears to be ADA compliant with the height, not something I was specifically looking for but was fine with me. The lighting is very sleek. Never realized white LED lighting could look this fancy. Each zone has it's one lighting to it's adequately illuminated. Controls are easy enough and the display is fairly true to actuals based on some basic comparison I did with an oven thermometer. Both zones are pretty distinct and good at keeping their own set temps. The unit itself also runs fairly quiet. I do use the room as a study at times and have not noticed it running in the background. I did catch it cycling once, but it's for the most part subtle. Forgot to mention that the lock on the unit itself was a plus especially with teenagers in the house! The one negative I had was the clarity of the temperature display, slightly difficult to read in lowlight situations.
This is actually a interestingly premium type wine refrigerator that may not have every single refinement of your top end fridges but is certainly not lacking in style and performance. Given the relative price, this is actually a really decent buy.
i will review item by item:
A. size: 5*, perfect for a 15" slot under the counter. very little gap and look clean. the actual depth leave about 1.5" behind the standard 24" depth cabinet space, so plenty of room for electrical and such. The door can be mounted flush without affecting door movement.
B. Visual: 5*clean look, almost like an integrated fridge.
C. Interior: 3* a little bit tight for wine access because the rack only pull out about 5 inches. So, the front bottle is available, the rear bottle won't be until front bottles are removed.
D: Function: 4*: for the dual zone, it appears that the upper zone always need to be set at a point below the lower zone. If you set them at the same temperature, you will find the lower zone could never quite reach the setpoint.
E. Noise: 3*: this is barely passable as a home appliance. You will hear it when the compressor kicks in. While you can still have conversations near by, a mark of a good system would be if the noise eventually 'fade in the background'... it never did. insulating around the fridge do not help because the noise seem to pass straight out from the heat vent.
overall: 4*. biggest gripe is that noisy compressor sound. if you can live with it, it's a nice unit.
First off I'll say that for the price, this is by far a five star product. Setting the price aside and being a little bit more needy, this is close but after only 2 weeks of use, I'll conservatively give it four stars for now. The shelving is very nice to start, it fits our new looking kitchen very well and in fact has become a focal point. We store most of our wines in a makeshift cellar but keep this chiller stocked for about 2 weeks worth of line up. This fits perfectly into a cabinet space and is not oversized like a 24" unit. I think 2 15" in units are a better idea than going with a single 24" (width) The dual zone was an added bonus for us to differentiate slightly on how chilled we wanted our wines, I like mine nearly frosty (high 40s) and my partner likes his warmer (high 50s) so this was almost the exact solution. The pick I had was the touch panel. It's not very intuitive but you can figure it our fairly quickly. The noise level isn't silent either but was not anything close to loud. it's quite a bargain for all that it offers. We'll see in a few months if it's an upgrade to another star
We looked at wine fridges for months. My husband's old electronic one died. We wanted one with a compressor, wood shelves, not the wire junk and one we could put anywhere, whether in the kitchen or sunroom. It's in the sunroom, makes very little noise and love the dual zones. The only downside was the delivery, which was less than stellar. I chose 4p-7p and they showed up at 1:45p. Of course no one was home. I was across town and my neighbors all work. I ended up having them drive the fridge to my office and the next day I had to bring our truck to work to bring it home. But, since I'm rating the fridge itself no sense in downgrading the quality of the fridge. We've only had it a week and look forward to many years of buying and storing wine!
Feature Product
- Measures: 22.5" Long x 23.5" Wide x 32.5" High
- Total capacity of 46 wine bottles (750ml wine bottles), 16 upper zones, 30 lower zones; adjustable thermostat for each zone
- Stainless steel trimmed glass door with sleek black cabinet, tempered double pane gray-smoked glass for enhanced UV protection
- Five removable slide out wood-faced shelves Shelf One through Five: 8 bottles capacity Bottom section: 6 bottles capacity
- Soft interior LED lights with on/off switches, includes security lock and key
Description
The Whynter Built-in under-counter wine refrigerator offers premium quality and innovative design ideal for your wine collecting needs. Whether for the enthusiast or the connoisseur, the Whynter built-in under-counter wine refrigerator provides affordable yet advanced wine storage functionality. Dual temperature zones are ideal for storing different wine varietals with adjustable thermostats for each zone: Upper zone (41ºF - 50ºF), Lower zone (50ºF - 72ºF). The front ventilation design of this unit allows for flush with cabinet under-counter installation or freestanding usage.
I purchased Whynter BWR-281DZ Dual Zone Built-In Wine Refrigerator, 28-Bottle. After installation, I noticed that the unit's cooling cycle became loader and louder. I call customer service and they asked me to a send an audio recording. I sent the recording and they asked me to ship the unit back for repair or replacement. Within a week Jackie A. with Whynter sent me an email and said a new unit would be shipped.
I installed the new unit and it is perfect!
I haven't had this wine fridge for very long but so far so good. I recently remodeled my kitchen and one of the must haves to complete the look was a wine fridge. I love the functionality of it being dual temp, and its really nice to look at. In just the short time I have owned it I have already received many compliments. My only complaint is that it is a little loud. When I say loud I mean that when I happen to be by myself it's the only appliance I can hear. When there are other people in the house then I barely notice it. Other than that minor flaw it's exactly what I was looking for.
We chose this wine refrigerator for its dual zone and it's size which replaced a under counter refrigerator Its a great for the fit and number of bottles that it holds.
The temperatures are accurate for the white wine and the red and easy to set the temp
The door is capable of opening in both directions with enclosed hinges
Four stars instead of five simply because it does exactly what it advertises itself as doing. It entirely meets but doesn't 'exceed' my expectations. Does that merit five instead of four stars? I dunno. I would certainly recommend it. It's quiet and stylish and a heck of a lot less expensive than my previous Uline.
This has been running this since the holidays and it's been perfect. The dimensions were true to size and fit nicely in our cabinet. Blended in nicely with our new oak cabinets. It's exactly the size of 2 trash compactor spaces (24" in total width) and is built as a front venting in cabinet unit. Big heavy door with and nice smooth handle. I had a 15" unit may years ago and this is a big upgrade with the gliding shelves and dual cooling areas. The clean light colored wood trim makes this very posh. It cools almost true to the displayed temp (I monitored it using an additional thermometer for about 2 weeks). Once I had it installed it's as quiet as my KitchenAid fridge and looks great in the rebuilt kitchen.
Update 6/1/2015
Working perfectly. Very pleased with it to date.
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