List Price: $2,598.00
Sale Price: $1,649.00
Today's Bonus: 37% Off
First, this has been a great addition to our kitchen/bar area. The kids love the easy access and my wife and I use it nearly every day as we store coffee creamer and other 'morning beverages'. She loves the separate wine storage areas, which do work great for parties.
The unit looks excellent installed, and the two pull-out shelves shown in the pictures are stain-grade wood. I haven't stained mine to match our cabinetry yet, but it is on my to-do list! Using the fridge is as easy as setting the temperature dial, deciding what units you want the temperature displayed in (centigrade or fahrenheit) and loading it up.
So far the unit has kept temperatures right at the design spec at maximum cool. The cold section remains 37 (98% of the time), the white wine drawer (there's only one of these) stays at 48, and the red wine section which is one pull out shelf and one crappy wire shelf at the bottom that comes out but not easily stays a nice 57 degrees. I have not put in my own thermometer to check the accuracy of the displayed temperatures, but by going on feel alone the wines and beverages are at the correct temperatures.
The bottom shelf design is what keeps me from giving this unit 5 stars. It would have been so nice had Kitchenaid designed the fridge so that the bottom shelf pulled out like the two wood-front shelves shown in the picture. The two wood shelves slide out nicely on rails. The bottom shelf rests on the bottom of the unit, has rubber pieces on the sides, and is a pain in the rear end to pull out when loaded with wine bottles. There are two 'stops' on each side of the bottom that have to be overcome to get the shelf out far enough to read the bottle and/or get the wine out easily. Bad design, and really one of only two things I can find fault with.
The second issue, which may or may not be by design, is that the temperature will rise on it's own (without using the fridge or adding room temperature beverages to it) to approximately 43 degrees in the cold section. It does this periodically almost as if it's a normal cycle to remove moisture. It doesn't stay at this temperature for very long, but it does do this on a somewhat regular basis. That being said, 98% of the time the cold section is 37 degrees plus 1 or 2 degrees occasionally.
When loading the unit with canned drinks, wines or other beverages after a store run, it really doesn't take very long to cool things back down. The temperature will noticeably rise for a short time with the warmer items, but not for long.
As I stated above, we're going on almost two years, and the fridge has been a wonderful, useful addition. I waffled back and forth about getting a wine refrigerator or beverage center, and I'm very glad we went with the beverage center option.
If it keeps going another year or more without needing repairs I'll be happy. I have read a lot of negative reviews on wine refrigerators. Reliability does seem to be an issue, even with some Kitchenaid models. However, not even Viking or $3000 brands are without their share of negative reviews. Crossing my fingers that we'll get many more years use out of this great little unit.
I'd recommend this to anyone refinishing a kitchen or simply adding an area for a bar. I would not use this outside even under a covered porch. It's simply not designed to withstand the elements in that way.
Good luck in your search, and if it ends here I don't think you'll be disappointed!
Update: December 3, 2012. The Beverage center is still performing well. The temperature of the cold section stays between 37 and 39 most of the time, but still rises to 41 for a short time every few days. Still pleased with the purchase, and I'd still buy it again.
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