Looking for a wine cooler/refrigerator that holds up to 30 bottles? We think the Antarctic Star 36 Bottle Wine Cooler (B07F9T54XP) is by far your best bet.
After reading hundreds of reviews, we've discovered that the most important feature of a wine fridge is reliability. Lots and lots of reviews talk about the great looks, capacity, temperature controls – all those factors that we looked for, the first time we started looking for a wine cooler. But, after plowing through page after page of customer reviews (and product review sites), it turns out the real deal breaker is poor build quality – the fridges often stopped working way too early.
Turns out, most of the customers who bought these small “wine fridges”, actually wanted to use them as beer coolers! For that purpose, we think looks, capacity, and the ability to get super cold are most important – oh, and price!
But, if you're entrusting your quality wines for aging, or simple safe storage, reliability turns out to be the most important feature. So, we filtered the wine coolers we thought were worth considering by quality, eliminating any that didn't get at least 4-star reviews overall. And, we checked to make sure the number of individual reviews under 4 stars were due to factors other than the fridge failing – things like scratches, fingerprints, delays in delivery, etc.
The Antarctic Star 36-bottle wine fridge does have all the other factors that you'd find important, too. It's very attractive, featuring a discreet control panel on the front, and soft blue (wine-safe) LED light inside. It's glass door seals very well, to maintain humidity as well as temperature – which is adjustable. It also features movable shelves, and adjustable feet.
So, for a very reliable wine cooler, capable of holding 30 bottles of wine, we chose the Antarctic Star 36 Bottle Wine Cooler. (Yes, it's stated capacity is 36 bottles, but several reviewers mentioned that it really doesn't hold that many 750 ml wine bottles, in the standard shape.)
Here's a sampling of what some reviewers had to say:
- Works very well and looks sleek.
- Shelving allows for different configurations for cans and bottles. Looks great and digital thermometer is really convenient and easy to use.
- Temp control is great. very quiet unit.
- Great fridge. Great price. Had a small issue. Excellent customer service.
… and lots of similar comments about it being a great looking wine fridge.
Please do check out the reviews yourself! And, note that, the reviews displayed for all three sizes of wine fridges from Antarctic are grouped together. We focused on the reviews specifically on the 36-bottle fridge, but were happy to see that the quality was consistent across all models (which isn't always the case).
So, our pick for the best 30-bottle wine cooler for 2020 is definitely the Antarctic Star 36 Bottle Wine Cooler.