What kind of beverage center did you use? - Page 4

I just looked at the bar thread I started...it looks like i got that unit April of 2006. So I have had three full years. Sure I hate it went out, but three years for $150 or so, I guess isn't bad. Might see if I can find another one. Wally World I think had them on line. And if they do free shipping to a local store....

You still liking this one? I can't find anything locally for under $200 and that are the cheapy one's or wine coolers that that I'd have to spend making shelving for. I hate spending $50 on shipping...but maybe.

No longer free shipping, but I still might order....do have a question. It is hard to tell from your photos or photos on line. Can you fit two full shelves with bottles? I see you have cans on the bottom. But I really want two full shelves for bottles and pub cans on the bottom....does that work in this unit?

Thanks!

I still like mine and use it all the time

I had 2 shelves stacked with a 2 cases of bottled brew a few weeks ago. The only downside is when the fridge is that full you really have to crank the temp.

Its also about time for a defrost and the cold plate is beginning to look like a snow ball.

Still can't seem to find a deal. Heier has a store on ebay. I have some money on the MS Live thing in PayPal. Maybe I'll do that. The exact frig I had is on ebay for $164+$50 shipping. I hate paying $50 shipping but I have $47 in paypal....so...hummm....

I might have found a solution. And for those that want something that gets really cold, this might work for you as well. I found this at Fry's Electronic's. And it is cheaper on line!

http://www.frys.com/product/4622668?...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

This is compact refrigerator with no freezer. Not only that, that but if you don't like the funky door storage that takes up room it appears it is removable!

Ok, the problem with getting a compact refrigerator over a beverage center is generally two fold; 1) most have freezer compartments that take up room that is better served for beer 2) most have some funky door compartment for holding milk and such that again stick into the refrigerator and take up space.

A marginal 3) is that they don't have a fancy clear door. For me, I can live with that. For some it might make a difference.

Of course the benefit of a true refrigerator is that they get colder then most beverage centers.

This Sanyo unit (and I have now seen a few others) does not have a freezer sections. Also the funky door compartments on this unite appear to be nothing more then a molded piece of plastic attached to the door. I looked under the rubber seal at the door and indeed it appears to be simple screws holding this in place. My bet is this is easily removed.

Now one other issue is that the shelves are a little short to accommodate the door compartments. But easy enough to make shelves out of Plexiglas. There are a lot of slots in this unit to move the shelves or put them where you want.

Or you could leave the door compartments on the door and have nice storage for other things like tequila, lemons, whatever.....I'm going to do some carefully measuring. At nearly 5.0 CF it is a big unit. For all I know it will hold as much beer as my old unit with the door compartment.

I don't need something that get as cold as a real refrigerator. I thought of converting a wine cooler into a beverage center but the inexpensive one's only go down to 46. Which even for me, is a little to high. I kept my old unit at about 41-43. So I'd like the unit to be rated to the upper 30's to give me a little breathing room. And maybe if I get a true refrigerator, the unit won't really have to work that hard....hummm

Damn...unit is to big. I can make it work except for the depth. I used 18" vanity cabinets for my bar and this frig sticks out over 22". Would look terrible....

There is a smaller version, the 3.7 CF SR-3720m. I'm "assuming" it is the same only smaller. Looks like Costco has it and not a bad price delivered...

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...se=&lang=en-US

Aghh...my old unit was 4.0 cf so I hate to go smaller. Aghhh....

LOL..you guys are probably saying "just get something already".....LOL

I liked the idea of getting the one from Costco with their excellent warranty. However, not being able to see it and it being a smaller size....

I found a GE one at Walmart of all places. It is bigger then what I had before and has the tinniest of freezer sections. And I read where someone modified it for a Kegorator, so I know it can be messed with. But since it is physically bigger, I might be able to keep the freezer section and still hold all the beer I want. And the freezer section might be idea for a small bottle of Patron!

Finally found something. Last week I had found a 5.0 cf Oyster refrigerator at BB It is all refrigerator, no freezer. It was their last one, floor model and they had it marked down to $149 from $209. I thought it was a little big for my space. I went in and offered $120 yesterday and they agreed. It is black with a SS door so while not a glass door, will look fine (my bar has black tile). Being so big I think it will hold more then my old unit even with the funky door storage. And I will have room to store a few other things. Once I get it in, I'll post a pic...

Couple of pics. This unit seems really nice. It is big and holds lots of beer. Way more then my old Beverage Center (even with the funky door storage). I bet you could get close to 3.5 cases of beer. Maybe more. Each main shelf holds 24. Then room for pub cans on the the bottom. My buddy is in town, so I got a 6 pk of Coors light in the door dispenser. And you can easily put more bottles in the door. The smaller storage is nice for lemons/limes and I'll but bloody mary stuff in there. And while it sticks out a little, it is not to bad.

Sorry for the bad pic's. Couldn't find my camera so it is the iPhone....

Anyone have any new suggestions here? I'm like the original poster and I like my beer cold, in the lower to mid 30's. I really like the look and storage of the beverage centers but need to find one that get's cold enough without breaking the bank (less than $500 please).

Right now I'm using this mini fridge from HD. It keeps things plenty cold, but it's loud, runs a lot, and the shelving stinks. You can't adjust the spacing of the shelves and they have them spaced too close together to even let beer cans stand up. It's really annoying.

http://www.homedepot.com/Appliances-...atalogId=10053

I like the lazy-boy compartment myself, a-la George Costanza.

After living with mine for a bit, I like the mini refrigerator with NO FREEZER. Yes, a glass door would be cool looking. But even tho I do not drink beer ice cold (no beer I regularly stock should be drunk ice cold), I still really like this unit. I can leave it pretty much near its lowest setting, no freezing up, runs quite and is efficient. It holds lots and is cheaper than a beverage center. Mine is a Oster but I don't think they make it any more. I got mine as a floor model from best buy. They had it marked down to $149 (regular like $225), but I talked them down to $120 I think...

I was about to order the one IUsteve suggests. I found out they are not that far away and they would have let me pick up to save on shipping. However, at the time, they were out of stock. And I had already gone a bit without one and didn't want to wait any longer.

I picked this Haier Compact fridge last year at BJs for my back bar for less than this price (maybe ~ 119). Just plugged it in 2 weeks ago and it's very quiet. But more important, it keeps everything cold. It has 6 settings and I have it set on < 3.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=8471095

I looked at our local Home Depot and they no longer offer that model (or that brand). So I started looking online and it doesn't get very good reviews. Seems it has some reliability issues and then their customer service sucks so people can't get them fixed.

I'm still looking so keep the suggestions coming. Right now it looks like I might just have to trade my mini fridge in for a different model with better shelf spacing. Think the stores will mind if I bring in a Coors Original can to check for spacing

I used to work for a division of IR and could have gotten one of these at a fraction of the listed price. Only works for the heavy gauge aluminum bottles though. Regular cans or glass bottles will freeze up pretty quick.

http://www.chillchamber.hussmann.com/products/MAXI.htm

-Suntan

JBungie - Can you confirm something for me with this unit. I am looking at getting this but not sure about the dimensions. The external dimensions say it is just over 18 inches deep, but then they put in some language that there is a compressor step in the back that is 6 inches deep...is this 6 inches + 18 inches or is the total depth at the deepest point 18 inches? Thanks.

HI guys,

I found that one of my semi local HD's has 2 in stock so I am off to get one.......will post more to follow later w/pics.

Hi, does anyone here have one of this? It's looks to be the smaller Edgestar. There are no reviews on the site yet. I wonder if it's a new model.

http://www.compactappliance.com/BWC9...s-Best_Selling

Wow, this thread is knocking against the 1 year mark Just popping in to say that our Uline fridge is still running without issues. We're very pleased with it.

I like the digital temperature set. Most of the time I keep the fridge around 41-42 degrees, but if we have a party or I stock a lot of beer, I can quickly knock it down to 36 or less.

The freezer side is also big enough to hold a 5L mini-keg for a fast chill down. Shweet.

I'd be interested to know this as well, as it has the same language about the back compressor step that I inquired about on the bigger model.

This Thread is almost two years old, but I am in the same position, looking for a beverage center.

It will be built in with other cabinets.
Primary use to store beer, ice cold. I like to put my beer in the freezer for 10 minutes before consuming.
Energy efficient would be a plus.

It seems like every review I read there is something wrong with the unit. Really do not want to spend over $700. Less would be a bonus.

Has anyone seen improvements on these products?

I got the Edgestar 80+ can beverage center for around $250. The good news is that the cans do get cold. The bad news is that it's loud. For that price I guess I have to live with it. I saw a built in beverage center at Home Depot the other day. I'm not sure of the brand but I was quite sure it's less than $700.

Visani is the one at home depot and the one near me has it at $349.

I purchased the beverage center and wine fridge this summer. Haven't looked at electric bill to see how much it adds but they look good in the bar area of the basement. Beer is about 37 degrees, could be a couple degrees colder though.

Killer

For the record, per my post my unit is coming up quick on 3 years of age and it is running perfect. I run 5 half barrel's through it yearly..maybe 1 or 2 more..not 1 problem.

You need to really read the specifications of the unit you are looking at. Many a true "beverage center" which are often more like a wine refrigerator, do not get ice cold (33-36). Now some of the expensive one's do. So you just need to read or drop the company an email.

After my beverage center went out, I ended up with a small refrigerator with no freezer compartment. It is awesome! I don't drink beer ice cold so I can easily keep on its lowest setting and it hardly runs. It has held up well in the tight space of my cabinets (tho I did drill a couple hole for air flow and to run some power cords). And it is really big for a compact unit. I bet I can get close to 4 cases of bottled beer in there. The glass shelves are nice and while I didn't think I'd like, the door compartments are actually useful. Best part is I found for $120 and think full price is right at $200.

The only real down side is that is "look" like a refrigerator. No glass door or anything. The one I have has a stainless steel door and black trim so it certainly isn't junky looking and matches my bar. Also since I used vanity cabinets instead of kitchen cabinets in my build it sticks out about 2". Shouldn't be an issue for most.

After doing some research, I found out mine it a favorite of those that like to build kegorators. That is because of the size, no freezer and ability to get cold. So if on a budget, I'd certainly consider a unit like this. Just look for the one's with no freezer.

In fact, there are a variety of beverages in the refrigerator, each with a specific function. One of the most common kind of kegerator, this is a beverage refrigerator, and it is best to keep the beer cold. This is a small refrigerator, a faucet, pour beer from it, like the barrel do. If you wet bar, and then you can have a beer constantly in the water, as long as you want to have a. This is great if you often drink beer, you want to have a keg.

Good info in this thread. Looking for a nice glass-door compact cooler/fridge for my bar's counter top. Any recommendations? Thinking of edgestar but that has some negative reviews and don't want anything that loud.

Also, is it okay to unplug the fridge if you don't anticipate using it for a week or so?

@wudevious I recently purchased the EdgeStar 84 Can Beverage Center... it's a "pretty" unit at a great price, but it is a poor refrigerator. I can't get it lower than 46 or 47F, unless I turn the dial to "on" which actually runs the unit constantly... until your drinks freeze.

I actually like how it looks so much that I considered getting a separate thermostat to operate the the fridge, one that is more reliable at keeping a good temperature. BUT the fridge is so loud in my home theater/studio that I decided that even if I could fix the temperature, I couldn't fix the noise. After it turns off, it makes a rather loud "trickling water" noise like a small babbling brook... it's the coolant settling or something. So I've decided to return it, which I have to pay for shipping back PLUS a 15% restocking fee from Compact Appliance. So think twice about that one.

I replaced it with the very basic 2.6 cu ft Frigidaire from Lowe's because I used the 4.4 cu ft Frigidaire to build a kegerator last year, and that unit is relatively quiet. BUT it turns out that the 2.6 is much noisier (go figure), clicks extremely loud when it turns on/off, and it actually cycles way more than it's big brother (about every 10 minutes to keep beer at 34-36F). So that one will be going back as well.

So now I'm looking at a few others. Does anyone have any suggestions for a QUIET 2.6 cu ft fridge for a home studio? I don't need anything larger in that room because the big beer fridge is down in the garage. I'm also not too concerned about looks anymore since I plan to either build it into a small cabinet or use tinted stainless steel paint on the door. Of course, if I could find one as nice as the EdgeStar that actually worked, that would be a bonus.

Thanks,
Dave

I bought two of these, one for bar room next to theater and one for kids playroom. Good price, look nice, and sounds good from specs. Haven't installed yet so don't know about performance.

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/ge-4...-center/942227