24" Wide FlexCount Series 172 Bottle Dual Zone Stainless Steel Right Hinge Wine Refrigerator Reviews

07/22/2019

I’ve owned the VSWR128 and YHWR172 and can provide some consumer insight on these models.

Flexcount Series VSWR128 128 bottle Single zone that “...features metal shelving....”

Classico Series YHWR172 172 bottle dual zone “...bottles are stored on sturdy wooden wine racks...”

Units installed free standing in my basement which is a relatively constant 70F and 50% humidity.

Racking: The 128 unit has metal shelves with wood slats. Burgundy style bottles didn’t fit well. They fit, but the full 128 bottle capacity was impossible to achieve. In addition, the wood/chrome finishing on the face of each rack was attached with screws which protruded just enough so that my labels were being torn up. I ended up removing the chrome finishing and re-attaching the underlying wood with recessed screws. That small change made a difference. On the other hand, the Classico series 172 bottle has wood shelves. Burgundy bottles fit well. IMHO the Classico racking layout is superior. This is the most important takeaway from my experience.

Longevity: The 128 unit stopped working after 2 years and was removed from service. The 172 bottle unit is only a few months old at this point.

Cooling: The 128 bottle unit was set to 50F and maintained a constant temperature (until it stopped working). The 172 bottle unit is set to 50F for the upper zone and 60F for the lower zone. I haven’t done a wet temperature test but the unit reports temps +/- 2F, which is ok for my storage needs.

05/22/2019

We bought this fridge for our wine room and it will be used mainly for reds. The look of this unit is very high end and it looks great in the space.
The fridge temperature will never be the same on top as the bottom, will always be a couple of degrees difference. Not a huge deal.
The light in the unit could be brighter, hard to see your choices.
Like the fact that it comes with two handles, the curved and the straight.
Drawers slide quite easily and are very sturdy. Wood face looks great.
Would be useful if you could field change the door swing, you can’t, must be determined upon ordering.
We have only had the unit for a week now, too early to give a complete assessment.
But, so far so good.
I would recommend this unit based on price and looks, good deal!

12/24/2018

Had it for 6 months now with no problems. Keeps temperature well, and it is a great option for starting a wine cellar!

11/05/2018

The fridge arrived a day earlier than promised. The delivery company was great, communicating with me every step of the way. The driven called me when he was about 30 mins. out to give me a head up. He also brought the unit into the house for me. Great service. The unit was easy to set up, following the instructions were easy. We let the unit sit over night before plugging in. Not all the shelves will hold some of the bigger bottom bottles i.e. pinot noir. With that being said, they do offer enough shelves to hold those bottles. You just have to strategic on which shelves get which bottles. This unit is a beautiful piece of furniture, we have in our family room. Some of the reviews said it was extremely loud, not the case it is about as loud as a refrigerator. My only complaint with the unit is the temperatures seem to vary quite a bit fluctuating 4 or 5 degrees sometimes. I have had to raise the red temp to 60 degrees because the unit seem to be keeping them a little to cold. Other than that we are very happy with our purchase.

06/14/2018

I researched many wine coolers and found that the Allavino was the best on the market. The beverage factory helped me select exactly what would work best for me. They could have up sold me but did not. The flex count 172 bottle unit was delivered right to my garage. I was very impressed with the care taken to package the unit. No dings or scratches any where. My friends helped me move it to my wine cellar. It is true you can put any size bottle in any drawer without interference. Over all I would recommend this to my best friend.

05/25/2018

We have a lot of buying to do before we completely stock this fridge. I'm keeping champagne and rose' on top at 40 degrees and it's a perfect temp. My reds are below. I love it so far!

12/27/2017

They look great. I bought three for my kids but one arrived damaged

09/08/2017

It's so quiet. Love the drawers they don't come out on you. Very happy.

08/11/2017

This is an update to the review I posted on 20 Aug 2016. At that time, I had just received, installed, and repaired my FlexCount 172. After the repair (documented in previous review), it worked well.....UNTIL about a week before the one-year warranty expired.
It suddenly became incapable of holding any temperature other than 63/61. I checked to verify that the circulator fans were operating (they were), then removed the back cover to see if the condenser fans had quit working or if the condenser was covered in dust (always hopeful for easy answers). Nope.
I discovered that the refrigerant system had sprung a leak and let most of the charge leak out. The compressor was still running---all the time--- trying its best to cool, but without enough freon in the system---futile.
Anyhow, I called Beverage Factory customer service, and (long story shorter) they sent me a replacement unit and took the broken one back.
The new one seems to have a huge improvement in the cooling system---it it MUCH quieter and cools noticeably faster, so kudos to the manufacturer---and to Beverage Factory for their quick and helpful warranty service.

12/08/2016

I've had the unit for about 1 year now. It is sleek and quiet. I really like the quality of the racks and with rare exception, the shelves are sufficiently far apart where the tops of bottles (pinot noir primarily) don't rub when you slide the shelves in and out. Also with rare exception, you can fit two layers (intercrossed like a zipper) of bottles in each row and so the rate bottle capacity is pretty close to what you really get. My only complaint is that the two zones don't appear to allow less than a 9 degree temperature difference between the two levels, so if you set the bottom for 55, the top can be no warmer than 46. Since I now find that I keep a lot more reds than whites, this doesn't allow the option of setting both zones to accommodate reds. Overall, a great chiller. If half ratings were permitted, I'd give it a 4.5 star rating.

Helpful note: Until you start to fill the unit with wine it is much harder to maintain a consistent temperature. The greater the volume of wine being stored the more stable the temperature setting becomes. Water bottles help to stabilize the temperature until you have sufficient wine bottles in place.

10/04/2016

This unit is beautiful and functional. It's very well made and maintains the dual zone temperatures extremely well. The shelves are very sturdy wood and its great that you can view your bottles well when you pull them out and it's well lit. The stainless door ties in my other appliances. We love it!

08/20/2016

I bought this cooler to replace my (similar) Danby cooler that expired after 6 years. The cost to repair it was estimated to be roughly 75% of the cost of a new one, so the decision was easy....to replace with something better than a Danby.

A good bit of research led me to select this product.

It arrived with ONLY TWO punctures in the crating, but because of the excellent packaging design, the cooler itself was unscathed.

I installed it 10 Aug 2016 according to the clear instructions, and after the prescribed waiting period, plugged it in and powered it up.

On initial power-up, it made a hideous, mechanical rattling-vibration noise. Totally unacceptable. Had to decide whether to (1) send it back, (2) get a repair person, or (3) take a look myself.

Having been without a cooler for several weeks, I decided to begin with option 3. I pulled it back out of its cavity and removed the rear cover which protects the compressor, condenser and condenser fans. The source of the noise turned out to be a stupid assembly error which caused the edge of the condenser bracket to be in contact with the (vibration-isolated) compressor. I modified the bracket to remove the interference, and VOILA, normal refridge sounds....Not as quiet as some; not as loud as others.

(Kind of makes me wonder about the company's "QC Program".)

On the plus side, the refrigeration system appears (from the outside) to have been fairly well thought out (two fans moving air across the condenser instead of just one on the Danby, vib isolators well-matched to the compressor's major excitation frequency, etc.) It is attractive, apparently well-made (except as described above) and holds A LOT of bottles.

I don't like the "feature" of the upper section holding significantly fewer bottles than does the lower section. I also don't like the design "feature" which provides a temperature range of 40 to 56 F for the upper section, and a range of 54 to 65F for the lower section.

That combination of "features" more or less suggests that one use the lower section for reds and the upper for whites, especially if one has more reds than whites.

Running the upper section at a colder temperature than the lower section means that the cooling system has to work harder to maintain those settings. Cool air is more dense, hence tends to fall to the lower areas of a refrigerator (check out the temperature variation from the top shelf to the bottom shelf in your kitchen fridge). From a heat management perspective, it would be easier for the machinery to maintain a cooler temperature in the lower section and a warmer temperature in the upper section. Why make the machine use more energy trying to counteract natural circulation?

As far as reliability goes, it is FAR too soon to say; it has only been in service for 11 days as this is written, so....time will tell. As of now, it keeps the wine at suitable temperatures.