Which? Don't Buy wine coolers

Our tough tests help us find the best coolers, which you can rely on to keep your wine in the best condition before you drink it. But the same tests also ensure we can alert you to the worst options that do a woeful job.

Buy a Don't Buy wine cooler with a terrible score and you run the risk of having your wine spoiled or, potentially, frozen.

What makes a Don't Buy wine cooler?

The price of one of our Don't Buy coolers might be tempting when you see it in the shops, or it might be from a big brand you've owned before, but once you get it home you'll be left high and dry. 

If you don't want to run the risk of leaving a quality bottle in a sub-standard wine cooler, then our tests will help you find a great-value product that won't let you down.

• The worst coolers we've tested fail to sit at the temperature you've selected, plus they over or under-cool your wine when your kitchen heats up and cools down. 
• We measure how much energy wine coolers use to keep cool over 24 hours, and how much energy they use to chill room temperature bottles. Then we then calculate what this is likely to add to your energy bill. A Don't Buy will use way more energy than is necessary to keep your wine nicely chilled
• A Don't Buy might also be annoying to use, with shelves that stick when you slide them in and out, or are hard to adjust (if they can be adjusted at all). It might also be a pain to refill and replace the water pot that helps regulate humidity in some coolers.

Good wine deserves to be enjoyed at its best. Make the right choice and you'll get a cooler that will keep it stored in the best condition, with no damaging fluctuations in temperature. Avoid the dross and spend with confidence by following our expert impartial guidance.

Join Which? to find out which wine coolers we've named Best Buys

How we test wine coolers

We test the latest and best selling wine coolers – both the cheap and more expensive options. 

All the top brands are in our reviews, including Baumatic, Caple, CDA, Haier, Liebherr, Stoves and more, and we've found that price isn't always an indicator of the quality and even good brands can have bad appliances. 

Our testing is the most thorough way you'll find to separate the best from the worst wine coolers.

• We test the accuracy of the thermostat in every cooler, so you can be certain that your wine will be at the temperature you want it at when you serve it.
• A constant, stable temperature is crucial to ensuring wine stays in the best condition during storage. Our temperature tests expose the terrible coolers that just can't maintain a steady temperature. These products will over or under-cool your wine when your kitchen heats up and cools down.
• Some are real energy guzzlers. Because it's switched on 24/7, it costs a fortune to run. The manufacturer's energy rating isn't always the best indicator of how much you'll be forking out. That's why we measure how much energy each cooler uses to give you the estimated running costs.

Which? is independent – we work for you, the consumer, so you can be sure that our product recommendations are influenced only by our test results. We're not influenced by third parties and we don't accept freebies from product manufacturers or retailers. We buy all the products that we test ourselves, so our advice helps you to make the right choice first time and avoid costly mistakes.

Our reviews will help you to avoid a bad choice when it comes to buying a wine cooler. Join Which? for instant access to our Best Buy and Don't Buy recommendations