I baught this unit because of all the reviews, it got great reviews. it was a bit bigger then I had first wanted I was looking for half this size but all the ones I liked got too many bad reviews, so I went with this one. About 3 times what I wanted to spend but I'm very pleased I did. I filled it immediately with no problem so I'm glad I got this size.
First I was going to buy this through Amazon prime free shipping but was surprised to see a $200 sales tax I guess because Amazon now has a wharehouse in my state. so I saw for the same price on Amazon through Overstock.com with free shipping and no tax it took a bit longer then I would have got it from Amazon but a week wait to save over $200 was worth it.
Overstock was awesome they sent me prior all instructions for the shipping and receiving what to look for , a whole check list before I was to sign off, as well as if I was rushed by the carrier what to write on the shipping order to protect myself and the shipper. Overstock used a excellent shipping company. They called when it arrived and set a day to deliver within a 4 hour time frame the driver called me the morning of and had me first on the list. Now knowing this was shipping across the entire country I was expecting it to be trashed like most heavy packages are. Well he opens the back door of a sprinter step van not a tractor trailer and it was standing on the tail in mint condition as far as the box was. He slid it off onto a hand truck and brought it up two steps onto my porch and I asked if he could do one more step into my foyer and he did with no problem. I gave him a good tip. The shipping box was in perfect condition on a palette this unit is a bit heavy 200lbs but not hard to move with two people. When I uncrated it it was the same in perfect mint condition packaged with foam all around. I had to install the handle and remove th plastic on the glass. The Door is reversible but was fine for my application. I slid the unit off onto a hand cart and wheeled into place. This can be installed into a wall or cabinet or just free standing. Please note before you hand truck or move it be aware that there are refrigeration condenser lines exposed underneath towards the front you can damage these easily truck from the back or slide onto a flat dolly and be carful.
My unit arrived up right so there was no need to let stand over night by the time I positioned it and installed the handle I leveled it with the adjustable four feet, I sat mine on felt furniture sliders and it's sitting on my hard wood floor. So it was about 2 hours I plugged it in and I couldn't even hear it running, so I had to kneel down behind it to see if it was on and I slightly heard the compressor running. Extremely quite. I opened the door and the inside fans were running very quiet too. This unit pulled down in temp in 15 min it is very well made all quality stainless on the outside front the sides and back are painted black metal the glass door is solid and heavy and opens so smoothly it's also has a uv tint in it to block the suns rays if it's near a window so that your wine won't spoil.
The shelves are very high quality all beech wood on solid ball bearing rails that roll out smoothly and when pushed in all the way they actually have a click position that holds the shelf in place, you have to press in pass the stopping point to feel this happen, at first I thought it was something wrong with the shelf then realized all the shelves have this neat little feature.
Please remember this unit is a two zone unit with the controls in the middle where the unit separates the zones and the upper one is the colder zone for all your whites and champagne and the lower is the warmer zone for all your reds. I'm not sure why they designed it this way because cold air is heavier and falls and warmer air rises but it works fine and it is separated by the control center but for in front of it inside the glass door the air can travel down.
After setting the units temp. I noticed that there are two temp readings one that is the temp you set and the other next to it is the actual temp of the refrigerator from a digital thermometer which is a nice feature . Also the amber leds are controlled here as well and really look awesome they are 3 settings full bright, half brightness and full off . And they really look great, much better and more classy then the blue you see on the other units. Very high end expensive looks to show its quality.
The one odd thing I did noticed that when you set the temp to a setting lets say 55 the thermometer right next to it immediately reads that temp no matter what temp you set it at upper or lower it does that. Now belong In The refrigeration business most of my life I know that just doesn't happen it takes time for you to see the temp change to your set temp. The same as you set your heat or a/c in your house . This bothered me it almost seemed they did this on purpose to try and fool,the average user so that they always see the temp read exactly what it's set at so the user is satisfied that it's accurate. If you set your heat in your hous to 75 and it's 70 in your house it will take an hour or more before you see the thermostat rise in temperature, it won't change as soon as you set it, well this unit does and that's just impossible. So I figured their doing that from all the complaints that people make that the temp on most of these wine coolers are not very accurate, as to your home fridge is.
I've seen so many complaints that " i set the unit at 50and it's only going down to 55 or seti it to 46 and it's reading 42 so to get rid of these frivolous complaints it seem the manufacturers made it read of what ever you set it al immediately when you set it.
So I took a high end thermometer digital as well as a red alcohol glass thermometer and tested both zones I placed the thermometer just behind the glass door so I could read it without opening the door. Well even with the strange adjustment reading this thing is very accurate.
Let's understand no system is ever accurate to to exact temp, Never! There always fluctuations when the compressor shuts off or a defrost cycle. So if you read 3-6 degrees either way it's working fine , if you want to have your fridge more accurate to the temp you want you have to make adjustments and watch it over a few days with a full box or close to it. You can't get an accurate reading when it's empty because you have nothin in it to help hold the temperature, an empty fridge will fluctuate drastically cause there no load or anything to stabilize the air temp. I ran mine for a week and after seeing the temp difference of a actual reading to what I had set I made minor adjustments up and down till I got it to hold as close to the temp I was looks for and this unit is doing it perfectly. I have no complaints.
You can fit a lot of bottles of wine by staggering them every other way on the shelf neck in bottom out, and so on. I think I got 6 or 7 bottles on each shelf. Just remember it really won't fit magnum bottles but it will fit larger whites and champagne on the wider shelves.
Please note when you slide in and out a full shelf of wine, it's pretty darn heavy so it will sag a bit so when sliding it back in you may have to lift up just a slight amount to help clear or scrape against the lower shelf. This is just commen sense as to they put the shelve very close together as to fit the most bottles. So it is tight. Also the shelves are removable you just release the side clips and the shelf pulls right out if you want more room for bigger bottles and your not storing that many bottles. Last thing this unit comes with a small plastic cup designed to fit on any shelf into the wood slots so you can fill with water to add moisture to the box to help your corks from drying out. Wine should be kept in a cool moist environment. Well I hope this review helps your decision in buying. Again I'm completely satisfied with this purchase and to note it's been about two months that I had it, I can't tell you how long it will last since I didn't get to that point yet.
| Brand Name | NewAir |
|---|---|
| Model Info | AWR-1160DB |
| Item Weight | 183 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 23.5 x 26.8 x 56 inches |
| Item model number | AWR-1160DB |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Capacity | 12.4 Cubic Feet |
| Annual Energy Consumption | 260 Kilowatt Hours Per Year |
| Installation Type | Freestanding |
| Part Number | AWR-1160DB |
| Color | Silver |
| Voltage | 120 Volts |
| Wattage | 130 watts |
| Defrost | Automatic |
| Door Hinges | Right |
| Shelf Type | Wood |
| Shelves | 11 |
| Material Type | Stainless Steel |
| Included Components | Wine Cooler |
| Batteries Included? | No |
| Batteries Required? | No |
