If you’re serious about wine, and want to store it either commercially or at home, then a proper wine cooling refrigerator makes a lot of sense.

However, how can you tell when you’ve found a good wine cooler?

These 5 tips will show you what to look for before you decide to buy:

1. Make Sure It Meets Your Wine Needs

Have an idea of the capacity you’ll need. How many bottles will you have at any one time? Wine refrigerator coolers range in capacity by a lot. There are those just big enough to hold 4 bottles. On the other hand, others can hold a hundred or more, including the dtw100 from Arctic Air. So take a bit of time in advance to calculate your size requirements.

2. Not All Wines Are The Same

Assuming you’ll be storing bottles of both white and red wines – it makes a lot of sense to store them at different temperature levels. For this reason, keep an eye out for what’s called “dual zone” wine coolers. Quite simply, dual zone units have 2 separate areas for storing wine, allowing you to maintain their own independent temperatures.

3. A Full View

It’s important to maintain a steady temperature for the wines. As a result, you’ll want a good view of all your wines without needing the door open and without allowing cool air to escape. That’s why units such as the arctic air refrigerator come will glass-panel doors. These provide a full view of the contents without needing the door open.

4. Easy Access

Not only do you want to be able to see your wines easily, but you also need to be able to get access with ease as well. So you ideally want the shelving to slide out in a way that makes good sense. This is so you don’t have to bend into the fridge too much, which could be hazardous.

5. Sound Police

Check to see the wine cooler refrigerator won’t be too noisy either. You certainly don’t want a lot of noise if people will be in the vicinity much of the time. Otherwise, it can prove a major distraction.

Be sure to keep these ideas in mind if you’re looking to buy a wine cooler, and you’ll find a unit that best matches your needs. You’ll then be free to simply enjoy the bottles inside.