Alright, so I finally decided to get one of those Cuisinart wine coolers. My regular fridge was just getting jammed, you know? Every time I wanted a bottle, it was buried behind milk cartons and leftovers. Plus, keeping reds and whites at the same chilly temp as the vegetables just felt wrong after a while.
So, I started looking around. Didn’t want anything massive, just something to hold a dozen or so bottles. Saw the Cuisinart name, figured it’s a decent kitchen brand, right? They make coffee makers and stuff, so why not a wine cooler? Found one online that looked about the right size, clicked ‘buy’. Simple as that.
The box showed up a few days later. Got it inside, wasn’t too heavy which was nice. Pulled it out, it looked pretty slick, actually. Black finish, glass door. Standard stuff.
Setting it Up
First thing, I wiped it down inside and out. Always do that with new appliances. Then came finding a spot. Ended up putting it in a corner of the dining room. It needed some space around it for air, the instructions mentioned that. Plugged it in. It made a little humming noise, not too bad. The instructions said to let it sit empty for a few hours to reach the right temperature before loading it up.
- Waited about 4 hours.
- Checked the temp display inside, seemed stable.
- Started loading the bottles.
Here’s a thing I noticed: Those shelves… they’re okay for standard Bordeaux-style bottles. But if you’ve got some of those fatter Pinot Noir or Champagne bottles? It gets tight. Had to do some rearranging, couldn’t fill every single slot if I wanted to fit the wider ones. A bit annoying, but managed it.
Using the Thing
Set the temperature using the buttons inside. Pretty straightforward. Got it set for my whites mostly, around 50 degrees F (that’s about 10 C). It seems to hold the temperature pretty well. Opened the door a few times over the next day, checked with my own thermometer, it was staying close to what I set.
The blue light inside is kinda cool, makes it look fancy, but honestly, I keep it turned off most of the time. No real need for it unless you’re showing off, I guess.
The noise? It hums. Like a small fridge. You notice it if the room is dead quiet, but mostly it just blends into the background noise. Doesn’t bother me.
So far, it does the job. Keeps the wine cool, frees up space in my main fridge. Fitting bigger bottles is a bit of a puzzle, that’s the main drawback I’ve found. But for the price and the convenience, yeah, it’s been working out okay. Just a simple box that keeps wine at the right temp, nothing more, nothing less.
