Truth be told, this is one of the best-looking wine coolers we’ve ever seen and had the pleasure of testing. It reeks of the type of design pedigree of an electronic products brand that’s been playing the field for over three decades. After putting it through its paces with the aim of putting together a comprehensive Haier 6-Bottle Wine Cellar review (with electronic controls), there is very little wonder why this cooler has instantly proven to be a hit with all sorts of wine enthusiasts around the world, providing a very classy way to store and display six of their favorite bottles.
Design
10/10 for the design on this six-bottle beauty of a cooler! Unless your taste is especially anti-modern, you can’t help but stare at the front-facing glass door of one of Haier’s finest coolers. Depending on the bottles you store (if you store red bottles) looking through the smoky glass, curved pane door appears as if you’re looking at a digital screen with crystal clear, high-definition pictures of some inviting wine bottles. Yes, it’s that good-looking, with its black or silver (we had the black one) color enhanced by the recessed door handle. It will look great on your countertop without fail.
Features
Going beyond its futuristic appearance, you’d probably buy a six-bottle cooler with the idea of chilling just a few of your favorite red or white wines. The single zone cooling compartment is controlled with a digital thermostat and there’s a blue LCD display that reports the temperature. A nice blue interior LED light illuminates the bottles very beautifully (partial illumination from the center radiating outwards).
The cooler draws 115V of power at 60Hz and is rear-ventilated. It’s truly compact at a weight of 17.6 lbs. and a volume of 9.9” (W) x 14.1” (H) x 20.3” (D). It is a 1-UL and CSA listed cooler with a 1-year warranty for domestic use or 90-day warranty for rental or commercial use.
Functionality
This Haier cooler offers compact cooling at its best, featuring smart electrical usage technology to ensure that the cooling settings always operate optimally while saving as much electricity as possible. In practice, this means that even if you leave the door open for a few minutes (for whatever reason), as soon as you close it again the temperature very swiftly adjusts right back to your original settings with precision.
An integrated lock will keep your loot safely tucked away from overeager hands, while the single cooling zone has a true temperature range of 45-55 degrees Fahrenheit. In all honestly, you can store both reds and whites (if you keep the temperature at around 55), but that leaves very little room for temperature fluctuations which would otherwise be too high for white wines. So if you have to choose to either store reds or whites, it would be better suited for white wines (and sparkling wines) as it might be too cold for some delicate reds and too warm for some equally sensitive whites. You can definitely store both varieties at the same time though (at around 55 F).
If you’re a beginner wine collector and you don’t have a big collection, this is a great starter wine cooler, otherwise, wine connoisseurs with bigger collections might find this a bit too small for the investment. If capacity played no part in the functionality, however, even the most seasoned of wine enthusiasts would find it very hard to resist adding this cooler to their interior space countertops. It’s solid, extremely compact and is unmatched by way of how it looks. It does a good job of chilling any of the wines you dedicate it to cooling.
Pros:
- While this is widely used as a red and white wine cooler, it’s quite extensible and can fit some bigger bottles like those of your Champagnes. It’s a tight fit for these bigger bottles, but you can manage by placing them on opposing racks, alongside your regular reds and whites
- You can also re-chill some of your re-corked bottles quite comfortably
- The temperature is very easy to control and set within your required cooling range
- A nice and wide temperature cooling range protects your wines well, despite the fluctuations and extremities of the exterior temperature and weather
- Consistent with the Haier brand pledge, this cooler’s compact size yields ample convenience, ensuring it fits pretty much anywhere you’d want to store and display half a dozen of your favorite bottles
- Does extremely well placed atop a counter, where it was intended to be; no vibration and very silent operation due to thermoelectric cooling technology
- Holds set temperatures very well so you don’t need to worry about any noticeable fluctuations damaging your delicate wine varieties
Cons:
- Arguably not silent to the point that its quiet operation should be confidently mentioned as an outright pro; the verdict is divided on this one — wine enthusiasts who own compact coolers from different manufacturers say this one is just a bit louder, while many primary owners of this cooler are happy with what they deem to be a very limited, humming-type of sound
- Although you can (barely) get them to fit, larger bottles and pear-shaped bottles are a very tight squeeze to chill, inevitably getting their labels scratched if stored in this wine cooler
- One would very easily find themselves wishing Haier could make the exact same cooler with a little bit of a higher capacity
Verdict:
This Haier 6-Bottle Wine Cellar review pretty much sums up why Haier is such a popular brand among wine enthusiasts who invest in wine coolers to protect their collections. Their products and particularly their wine coolers have become a household name around the world with this cooler doing its bit to maintain the Haier promise of compact design that fits into any wine enthusiast’s lifestyle. It looks terribly good with its futuristic interior lighting, offers an impressive temperature cooling range and simply works well on the countertop. It looks classy, cools wines beautifully and serves as a great companion for a wine enthusiast seeking quick and easy access to a few of their favorite bottles.
