Customer Reviews

Vinotemp VT-21TEDS Thermo-Electric Digital Dual-Zone 21-Bottle Wine Chiller, Black and Stainless

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

The unit has a nice feature of being able to store white and red wines at your selected temp. The size is very good and was perfect for the area we wanted to place it. It holds the selected temp just fine but if the power is interupted you will need to reset your settings. It does have a few shortcomings... It is much louder than a standard fridge given it's size. The shelves that you must use to remove a bottle don't fit very well at all and they will drop out of their slots while in use. These wood shelves are all very cheaply made. The LED lights inside are all but useless. The door must be opened fully (180 degrees) in order to slide out a shelf to remove the bottle. We have a GE unit in another location that is a much better unit but only has single selected temp. It did cost nearly twice what this unit did.

If/when it dies I will not replace it with this brand or model. It proved to point that you get what you pay for.

We have no beef with Amazon.com - in fact they were very accomodating and quick to replace our first Vinotemp wine refrigerator, with a SECOND Vinotemp wine refrigerator (and they Fed Ex'd it at Amazon's cost).

In both instances, the Vinotemp refrig arrived with a big dent in the back of the refrig. We couldn't detect any indentations in the surrounding styrofoam so we concluded it was leaving the VINOTEMP factory like that (nice quality control, Vinotemp!). Also, since we only saw a photo of this product online, we weren't aware of how cheap it looks up close and personal. The fact that both times we received a damaged VINOTEMP was actually a blessing in disguise.

We ended up buying a Haier wine refrigerator for a few dollars less and it holds 15 more bottles - and is superior quality. Whew.

P.S. Also at one point during our decision making process, I called Vinotemp directly to ask some product point questions. I spoke to two different representatives and it was obvious that NEITHER one knew what she was talking about. I had an unsettled feeling about that, but we went forward anyways.

Again, damaged VINOTEMP out of the factory (2x) = blessing in disguise!

Thermostat stopped working after 2 months. Refrigerator still cools, but cannot set the temp. and the temp. changes on its own. Also, makes a weird noise now. I finally just unplugged it.

I will now need to buy another brand to replace this one. Don't waste your money on this one.

1. The Vinotemp wine cooler arrived damaged.
2. It looks cheap (although I liked the blue lights). Having to open the door all the way is annoying .
3. The wood racks are difficult to slide out.
4. The temperature doesn't stay down when summer comes (now I know why after reading the comment from another reviewer: no compressor)
5. The unit broke down 15 months after I bought it. Repair cost: $400. Forget about it, I'm junking it!

This unit is a piece of junk. First, when I opened the door it made a clicking noise. Second, the shelves are extremely flimsy. The wooden shelves slide into the side of the fridge. The top shelve was about a half inch short in width and kind of sagged after putting three bottles in. Third, the center control panel was crooked. I measued the control panel and it was off by an 1/8". You could see by looking at the unit that it was off by a little bit. I was so disappointed with this unit I returned it. I purchased the unit from Best Buy as they have it for $249.00. I would not recommend buying this unit. Just another piece of junk built in CHINA!

I loved this product at first. But unfortunately it only worked for 5 months. The company sent me two replacement coolers. None of them worked! Now i am stuck wth this last one because they dont want to replace it again. The controls do not work, the temperature inside is way too low for wine and the temp display went crazy. Now I am using as a wine cabinet UNPLUGGED. Sad... Never again from Vinotemp!

While this product arrived within 2 - 3 days, I quickly learned that this is a very cheap item. The shelves do not slide easily and bottles to do fit as well as they should. The temperature display board began malfunctioning after 6 months. Vinotemp could not have been more unhelpful. While I did buy an extended warranty, I've been struggling for 3 months to get this item fixed, all the while my wine is not properly stored.

It's a nice made wine cooler but missing some details. The wood racks feel cheap and are often difficult to slide in and out. The door must be open ALL the way to the edge of it's hinges in order to slide any rack out. It will not fit bottles such as Riesling and Champagne bottles will only fit on the bottom rack, or on racks where you will have nothing on top of the rack of champagnes. It is very quiet and makes no vibrations.

As mentioned in other reviews here the shelving is a big issue. Not only do the shelves only slide out when the door is fully open beyond 90 degrees (which is really not a big deal), but they are difficult to slide out when 2 bottles or more are on the shelf. Sometimes the wood shelf caves under the weight of the wine and bows out such that shelf is off track. In order to remove or place bottles of wine in here - I'll often have to remove all the wine bottles in the shelf above it!!

The next big issue is the temperature - definitely not as cool as I expected it to get for the white wine section. Another reviewer provided the explanation though, lack of a compressor means the unit will only cool to 25 - 30 degrees below ambient temp.

Last issue we encountered after 9 months of ownership: the LED display is malfunctioning to the point where we can now longer tell what temperature the unit has been set at. VERY disappointing! I would not recommend this product to anyone.

Stainless and glass door design is very nice as are wood shelves although they are flimsy as noted by other reviews. Unfortunately we've already had thermostat repaired under warranty once (within 30 days of purchase) and it has gone bad again. As such the item is not recommended. Wishing we'd have purchased the Kenmore wine cellar as recommended by Consumer Reports.