Cuisinart 6-bottle Wine Cellar  Product Reviews

"I purchased this unit and, contrary to the other reviewers, am relatively happy with it. The fan noise is louder than expected and you certainly wouldn't want this in a quiet area of the house, but its not objectionable in an already noisy area like the kitchen. Also, I'd like to clear the air about some of the claims against this unit. Many people are complaining about the power usage, mostly because they hear the fan going off and on a lot. The problem is that people are equating this to a refrigerator which would use a ton of electricity if it cycled on and off this much. But a fridge uses a compressor, and this unit uses a thermoelectric cooling system. Its a VERY different system. I have a power meter that measures the power usage of an appliance over time. This unit uses 15 watts when the fan is off and about 75 watts when its on. I have it set to 57 degrees F, and my house is at 74 degrees. The amount of cycling I get translates to a cost of about $35 a year to run the thing (at 10 cents a kilowatt hour). Seems pretty reasonable to me. In a fridge, the ENTIRE system (compressor and fans) cycles on and off based on the interior temperature. Since the interior temperature is fairly stable, it doesn't have to turn on and on much. I'm not an expert on thermoelectric cooling, but my limited knowledge leads me to believe that its a continuous and proportional cooling system. What that means is that its always electronically moving heat from the inside of the unit to a heat sink on the outside. The amount of heat moved depends on the interior temperature, the exterior temperature, and a voltage setting (you set the voltage when you select the temperature on the control panel). So the fan on the outside is turned off and on just to cool the heat sink on the back. Since the heat sink heats up and cools down quickly, the fan turns off and on frequently to keep it cool. The fan will be on more if your house is warmer. The "cooling" is always happening whether the fan is on or not. That's why it uses 15 watts when the fan is off. But, and this is the important part, the fan cycling on and off does NOT indicate a compressor or other cooling element turning off and on, so its not using a ton of electricity. Its just the fan. Now don't get me wrong, the fan cycling on and off can be annoying depending on the location in the house. But don't mistake that for gobbling up electricity. Other than the fan noise, its a nice little unit. I measured the temperature inside and compared it to the control panel setting and its spot-on. For most people, if you want to use the lowest setting, 45 degrees, you're better off just using your normal fridge since it should be set at around 40 degrees. But if you're really looking for cellar temperatures of 55 to 65 degrees, this does a great job."

"I bought this product hoping to be able to help preserve some of my better wines during the warm summer months. According to the insert with the product, if the room temperature is 77 then you can't do better than 54 in the wine cellar. My house temps usually run around 78 through the summer, so this unit won't even make the 54 setting. I have it set at 64 and it continuously cycles on an off with a fan that's very obnoxious and not at all quiet as advertised. On the insert and in bold letters they state "This is a wine cellar, not a refrigerator." I'm not so sure I would even call it a 'wine cellar'...more of an energy gulper (approx. 100 watts according to the user guide.)"

"We got this product as a gift and were very excited. The first unit we tried stopped working within the first 3 hours of turning the product on. We noticed a glue like substace dripping from the back of the Cuisinart Wine Cellar and an electrical fire type smell. After trading the unit in for a new one we thought things could only get better. We were wrong our next unit continues to work but the fan cycles on and off every 30 seconds. This fan is not quiet as advertised. We have tried different plugs and locations, but the fan persists. I can hear the electric bill going up as I write this review."

"I bought this for my wife for Mother's Day. It's been running for one week and the temperature is only down to 55 degrees. We followed the direction to a "t" and are very dissapointed. I put a digital thermomater in the unit to see how cold it actually was because it's been running nonstop for a week. I wouldn't buy this unit."