What kind of beverage center did you use?

You don't say what "good and cold" means.

I picked up one at Costco or Sams (which can been seen in the bar thread). It was less then $150. I got it about 3 years ago and it still works great. The only thing I did was get heavy plexiglass and cut to to fit over the wire shelves. The wire shelves use to bow a little.

It holds a lot of beer. 3 cases or so.

I have never put it on its coldest setting so I can't say just how cold it will go. I don't drink clear beer. And good tasting beer should not be served ice cold. So I keep the temp about 43-45 degrees.

Ewwww....sorry...LOL....to cold. I doubt any small beverage center is going to take drinks down to 35. Your probably going to need a real refrigerator.

This is the one I have...

http://www.haieramerica.com/en/produ...882d5ba161053b

I took out a couple of shelves as I use bottles, except on the very bottom which is perfect for pub cans (Guinness and Old Speckled Hen, thank you very much).

Check out the Franklin Chef series...they can be had at Home Depot and some Lowes. I don't know, though, if they meet your space requirements.

For an inexpensive unit, I'm very happy with it. I'm pretty sure I paid $150 or less.

The Good:
Inexpensive
It is quite
Easy to level
It keeps a constant temperature even when full (but again, 45 is cold for me)
Holds a lot of bottles, and pub cans even with taking out 2 shelves (3 cases or more)

The Bad:
The big wire shelf bows when full of bottles. I cut a piece of Plexiglas to fit (with space around the edge) and this gives added strength.
It does on occasion need defrosting. The back wall will ice on occasion. Not all the time, but maybe twice a year. I think it is maybe when the humidity changes or something. It doesn't seem to matter how full it is, and I have leveled a couple of times.

Don't get me wrong...spend $300, $500, $800 and there are nicer units. But I wanted to build on a budget but work well, and this does the trick. I'll find a deal one day on an upgraded model, but so far, no real complaints. Now if you look at my pictures in the bar thread, you will see I left plenty of room on all sides in case I ever do get another unit AND to make sure this unit didn't over heat.

I'd encourage you to research and also write the companies. I don't believe these small beverage centers are designed to get to 34-35 degrees, but I could be wrong.

I found this at the Wal-Mart site regarding the Haier:

Adjustable thermostat: 39.2 to 60.8 degrees

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...Specifications

As for budget, mine was $1,000 including the beverage center and sink. I came in about $1,300. What threw me over was buying a hammer drill (had to drill into concrete slab to ancher) and I went out of town during build and wife hired a tile guy to do the top for me while I was gone.

Well -- I own one mini-CocaCola fridge that is able to contain 6 cans of drinks.
It works fine for keeping my drink cold(actually very cold.)
But it might be too small for you,
so these items are what I found.


http://www.amazon.com/Haier-HSB03-Co...ef=pd_sbs_k_15


http://www.amazon.com/Igloo-FR465-4-...2086922&sr=8-3

My wife got me this one for Christmas one year. I can't set it past 6 or it will freeze the cans. Works as advertised. You can see it installed in my thread.

http://www.summitappliance.com/detail/sp51#

Ha! Now that's funny right there. I don't think she paid that much. I do remember that right after that purchase, the UPS guy was delivering a bunch of expensive looking boxes to our house with her name on them.

I found this Kenmore....but there is a review that says it won't go down past 39 either.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...0070921x00003a

I'm really thinking I read where the vast majority of these do not go below 40. Obviously the very nice, espensive one's do.

I did see a nice one at Home Depot with glass shelves. They had the manual in the unit and it said basically it could get down to 39. I don't remember the brand but it was a nice looking unit for $300.

That was pretty much my criteria too. I wanted a built in mini fridge that wasn't so cheap I'd be replacing it in a couple years, had to have a real freezer with usable space, and also needed to be frost free.

Unfortunately the units that fit the bill generally didn't fit my budget.

With time and patience though, I was able to score a 'scratch and dent' U-Line http://www.u-line.com/products/product.cfm?p=92175RF on eBay for about half price including delivery, and it actually was in near mint condition as far as I could tell. It was still pricey (around $650 as I recall) but it has been a fantastic fridge. Keeps freeze pops and ice cream solid, beer and wine ice cold, no maintenance, not bad on electricity, and is also able to store some fairly large bottles on the door...a bonus.

See pics (the micro is a DCS convection/micro I also took my time with finding and found for a great deal). The fridge and micro aren't trimmed out yet, so be kind

You sound like my wife !!

As for the freezer...I keep ice cubes in there too...saves a lot of trips upstairs during movies, parties, etc. I thought about a dedicated ice unit but jeebus those are flippin' out of control ($$$$).

I have this same fridge and it gets quite cold. I recently had to defrost it and turn it down to 3 as at 5 i had quite a bit of Ice buildup which was causing cans of soda to burst at the back of the top two shelves.

If you want ti could the Haier is a good buy. Iv'e had mines for 3 years brought from Sam's and still works like a charm.

I just checked my Uline...the digital temp set goes down to 34. I usually keep mine around 38-41 depending on what is being stored beer wise.

First time poster here. I'm working on completing my basement and bar. With that have been pricing beverage coolers. I was leaning toward the Wal-Mart Haeir that has been previously mentioned. Then I ran across one from criagslist. It is a Summit 2 years old, but retails for about 700.00. You all think I should go with new Haier or this used Summit?

stlouis.craigslist.org/for/997704045.html

Sorry...can't post hyperlinks yet.

Commercial duty will be much better than Haier I would think. That said, I have no personal experience with either.

I think the summit will be a ton better. The 2 years old part is the only thing I'm worried about.