How to Hide a Wine Fridge in Your Home
As we always say at Dunavox, knowing your requirements is absolutely essential to making the right choice that will provide a rewarding, aesthetic solution to your needs going forward. Check out our previous blog post Cheap Wine Coolers Vs Expensive Wine Coolers for inspiration on how to house your collection on financial or space budgets. With this in mind you are probably aware of the capacity of the wine cooler you need. But now comes the question, how to hide a wine fridge in your home? No, it’s not only highly refined alcoholics who want to hide their collections from prying eyes. We appreciate that not everybody wants them, or their space, to be defined by the wine collection and by extension their love of wine. For some, their passion can be a deeply personal, subtle or understated affair that isn’t showcased or shouted about.
Where is Best to Hide a Wine Cooler?
We would say that by far the best place to hide your wine cooler is in your kitchen. The kitchen is the heart of most homes, the hive of activity and locus of conversation. It is already home to a plethora of home appliances that, with a little bit of prior planning, are already complimenting each other and their surroundings. But what do you really mean by hide? Do you want it completely out of sight and out of mind? If so, then perhaps a freestanding wine cooler large enough for your collection but small enough to be enclosed by a pre-existing cupboard, or housing such a unit in a cloakroom or garage can be even more subtle – the point is, freestanding wine fridges can go practically anywhere. However, if your desire is to house your collection but not make the wine cooler a showpiece statement then we have numerous options available.
Integrated Wine Coolers
Integrated wine fridges are built-in wine coolers that seamlessly fit into the fabric of the kitchen interior by blending into the pre-existing cabinets and work surfaces. Due to the method of installation, instead of the five visible surfaces of a freestanding wine refrigerator (front, back, both sides and top), there is only the front surface to consider, by our estimates that’s 80% fewer surfaces to worry about. In some cases, wine coolers can be completely integrated into your cabinet space, fitting perfectly behind pre-existing kitchen cabinet doors. This is the ultimate way of hiding your wine cooler.
Not only do integrated wine coolers do all the usual wizardly behind the scenes storing your wines at the optimal temperature, humidity, UV lighting exposure and with minimal vibrations but also have the ability to complement the decor, contrast and even be practically invisible within your kitchen. Take, for instance, an ultra-modern kitchen, with a myriad of brushed steel appliances; a sage coffee machine, a sleek air fryer, a smoothie maker, and a KitchenAid – the works. All are expertly set off by flashes of stainless steel, a brushed steel backsplash and accents on work surfaces. In the centre is a large, island breakfast bar with several bar stools perched on heavy steel bases. In the midst of all this you hardly even noticed the understated, steel, tinted glass push to open, handleless wine cooler built into the grey cabinets that sit in front of exposed brickwork (why not check out the Dunavox Glance-25?). Its solid - beech wood shelves are not only practical but stylish too. Offering a much-welcomed synergy with other wooden elements in the kitchen - the driftwood tabletop or the railway sleeper floorboards. Just one of many reasons to throw away that wooden wine rack that’s been cluttering up your work surfaces.
Location
Where to house your wine cooler is the next consideration. This is the one arena in which a freestanding unit may just have the upper hand over an integrated model. Provided you have the space, a freestanding wine cooler can be placed and orientated just about anywhere. And provided you aren’t particularly precious about short term transfer, the unit can even be moved to suit changing needs or dinner parties; just be careful not to disturb your bottles or they may age poorly, undoing all your hard work storing them. However, as most average collectors don’t have a collection that warrants a full, fridge-freezer sized, 200
Bordeaux style bottle capacity unit – a smaller, integrated, under-counter wine refrigerator is almost always adequate and more subtle. And don’t worry about ventilation when integrating your new storage solution – the majority of Dunavox wine coolers have integrated ventilation systems. This ability to discreetly disguise themselves into the fabric of existing spaces is a valuable asset to the collector who wishes to hide or distract from, their built-in wine cooler. With only one visible, surface to distract and the casing of your cooler able to be steel, wood, black or white – just about any kitchen can discreetly house a wine cooler. Taking the tinted glass doors into consideration and handleless, push to open design, wine coolers these days really can be part of the furniture – to quote Oliver Twist. However, it can be very tricky to reposition one once it has been integrated.
Quick Recap
First, you want to consider the level of visibility you require. Completely hidden from view or a stylish and subtle addition to a room that doesn’t scream WINE at anyone who’s looking. Next, consider the necessary capacity in terms of bottle count. Then it’s the levels of bells and whistles for example single zone or dual zone. Finally, with all of the above in mind, consider where to place it. For models to fit all needs, or for expert advice check out our complete range or contact us.
