Wrapping up our look at the best refrigeration options for your kitchen, the final piece of the puzzle for those of you looking to separate your refrigeration spaces is the Electrolux Icon Under-Counter Wine Cooler. As you may remember, my kitchen arrangement limited me in terms of how big my main refrigerator was, so I opted to split my refrigeration up into three parts: the Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator, the Electrolux Icon Refrigerator Drawers, and as I’m about to detail, the Electrolux Icon Under-Counter Wine Cooler.
Functionally, splitting up your refrigeration units is easily the most flexible design option you can make. In doing so, you can store some of your most used items in locations far more accessible than your main refrigerator, whether under any counter or as part of an island, and even better, you can create areas of your kitchen designed around a specific task. With the Electrolux Wine Cooler, for instance, my kitchen design has it located in a separate nook/bar area, with corresponding wine glasses, wine accessories, etc. all centered around the wine cooler. I’m a big fan of organization, so having various spaces in the kitchen designated for certain tasks with integrated refrigeration is fantastic.
As for the decision to opt for a winer cooler, my wife and I both enjoy wine to the extent we keep about 40 bottles on hand. Correct storage of wine with precise temperature controls is an integral part of ensuring the wine’s quality is maintained over extended periods of time, so logically it made sense for us to opt for a wine cooler. Considering most of our other appliances are from the Electrolux Icon line, selecting the Electrolux Icon Under-Counter Wine Cooler was an easy decision, as it offers precise temperature adjustment and a stunning design that perfectly coincides with the rest of the Electrolux Icon range.
Electrolux Icon Under-Counter Wine Cooler Features
In selecting a wine cooler, two of the elements to consider are the number of bottles its capable of storing as well as its ability to precisely control and keep a stable temperature. With the Electrolux Icon Under-Counter Wine Cooler, you have the ability to store up to 48 bottles of your favorite vintage, while an integrated electronic control panel on the top of the door allows you to set the temperature anywhere between 45°F and 65°F. In addition to the temperature controls, other technological features include a door ajar alarm, a power failure alarm and a high temperature acoustic alarm (if the monitored temperature deviates from your set temperature).
As for the wine storage itself, there’s a total of five upper racks that store a total of eight bottles each, and there’s a total of two lower racks that store a total of four bottles each. To ensure the quality of the wine is maintained, bottles are all stored in the ideal horizontal position, keeping the corks moist and preventing air leakage that accompanies dry corks. To access the wine, all racks feature a unique full extension design which gives you a completely clear, full view of each bottle on the rack.
Lastly, there’s a few other features of the Electrolux Icon Under-Counter Wine Cooler I’ve come to love, including its theater style lighting. Matching the rest of the Electrolux Icon range, the theater style lighting not only looks incredible, it makes its easy to select a bottle irregardless of other lighting conditions in your kitchen. Another feature I love is the ability to manually control the wine cooler’s electronics, depending on my particular needs. The lighting, for instance, can be manually turned on or off in varying intensities, even with the door closed. There’s a vacation mode, which disables lighting and keypad inputs while you’re away, helping conserve energy. And there’s the ability to lock the electronic keypad, which is a much needed feature if you have small children who enjoy playing with the lights (as I do). Finally, to ensure the air circulating in the wine cooler stays fresh, an integrated PureAdvantage air filter is included, providing six months of optimum air quality.
Electrolux Icon Under-Counter Wine Cooler Design
The entire Electrolux Icon lineup of appliances notes a stunning, commercial inspired design, and the under-counter wine cooler is no exception. Unlike most other members of the Icon family that note a solid stainless front, however, the wine cooler notes a combination of stainless steel and glass – so while it manages to maintain a stately commercial look, it still offers a beautiful view of the wine collection stored inside. And while glass does have potential to allow harmful UV rays to negatively alter your wine, the Electrolux Icon Wine Cooler’s glass is both tinted and UV-filtered, ensuring that even with the glass panel, your wine will stay completely protected during storage.
Matching the gorgeous exterior, inside the Electrolux Icon Wine Cooler is equally as beautiful. The fully extendable wine racks are constructed from black soft coat wireform, perfectly framing your collection, while the front of each rack notes an unfinished maple for a warm finishing touch. The racks also feature a ball bearing roller system, meaning not only do they fully extend, they glide effortlessly in and out as well.
And finally, like the rest of the Electrolux Icon lineup, you have a total of two design options to choose from: the Professional Series or the Designer Series. Both series note an identical feature set – the key difference between each is simply the handle and inclusion of the small decorative Icon nameplate. Whereas the Professional Series notes a round, more commercial style handle and aforementioned Icon nameplate, the Designer Series notes a flatter, more contemporary handle and no nameplate. Aside from the handles, both wine coolers are identical.
Electrolux Icon Under-Counter Wine Cooler Conclusion
For me, selecting the Electrolux Icon Under-Counter Wine Cooler was an easy decision, influenced by the fact that with a small yet important wine collection, I wanted a place to correctly store them in my kitchen. And as I’ve come to learn, once you start a wine collection, it tends to grow, so you’re better buying a larger capacity than you need, as opposed to one that fits your current collection perfectly. For me, the Electrolux Icon wine cooler fit the bill precisely, offering the ideal amount of wine storage in a package that like the rest of the Electrolux Icon range, is simply gorgeous. Its stunning design paired with its precise temperature control combined to offer the perfect wine cooler for my kitchen, and as with all my Electrolux Icon appliances, I’ve yet to find fault with any. They’ve not only met my expectations, they’ve exceeded them, and I can’t recommend them enough.
About a month ago I told you of my quest for the perfect refrigeration setup in my new kitchen, detailing my choice of the Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator. While debating what the ideal size for a refrigerator was, I eventually decided to split my kitchen refrigeration up into units, opting for the Electrolux Icon Under-Counter Refrigerator Drawers and the Electrolux Icon Wine Cooler in addition to the main refrigerator.
My primary reason for doing so was flexibility – I loved the idea of being able to have integrated refrigeration anywhere I wanted it. Because much of my kitchen preparation is done on an island, having the ability to locate the refrigerator drawers directly on the island is a tremendous time saver. It’s also great for kids, as my wife and I tend to keep a variety of their most used snacks and drinks in the refrigerator drawers, making it much easier for them to grab a snack when the need arises.
Having used the Electrolux Icon Under-Counter Refrigeration Drawers for the past few months, I have to say: if you’re planning a new kitchen, it’s well worth considering refrigeration drawers. Here’s some of the elements that make the Electrolux Icon Refrigerator Drawers so great.
Electrolux Icon Under-Counter Refrigerator Drawers Size
With any type of refrigeration, size may be the most important factor to consider. With the Electrolux Icon Refrigerator Drawers, you’ll gain a total of 5.0 Cu. Ft., with the unit measuring 23-13/16″ W x 34″ – 35″ D. Making the available size so usable, however, is the fact that you’re able to store 12″ bottles and two liter containers – perfect for wine and a wide number of beverages – and it’s wide enough to store platters. For anyone that entertains, it’s a fantastic way to gain extra refrigeration in addition to your main refrigerator, and for as already noted, for anyone with a family, it’s a great way to keep your most used items exactly where you want them.
Electrolux Icon Under-Counter Refrigerator Technology
Technologically, the Electrolux Icon Under-Counter Refrigerator Drawers boasts similar features to those found on the rest of the Electrolux Icon lineup, with one of my favorites being the integrated digital control panel on the top of the unit. Not only does the control panel make it simple to set your desired temperature (anywhere from 33 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit), it also helps the refrigerator drawers maintain their gorgeous modern look. Another technological feature I’ve grown to love is the warning alarm. Like the Elextrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator, the under-counter refrigerator drawers give an audible warning in the event the drawers are left open for longer than five minutes, if the temperature rises 10 degrees or more for four hours, or if there’s been a power failure. With kids, it’s a feature that I use almost daily, as my son has a tendency to never close the drawers. And lastly, the final feature that mimics the rest of the Electrolux Icon lineup is the built in theater LED lighting, which not only makes your food look fantastic, it makes grabbing a late night drink or snack much, much easier. It may sound like a relatively small selling point, but when you see Electrolux’s LED lighting in action, it really is a thing of beauty.
Electrolux Icon Under-Counter Refrigerator Design
If you’ve read my other Electrolux Icon reviews, this is going to sound a bit redundant, the reason being that Electrolux has done an incredible job at ensuring that all note a similarly sculpted, somewhat industrial design. From the outside, a beautiful solid stainless steel face with your choice of either the Professional Series or Designer Series handle ties the refrigerator drawers beautifully in to the rest of the Electrolux Icon lineup. I personally love the look of the Professional Series (which is what’s pictured), as it manages to blend a commercial style with a sculpted level of refinement. Each Electrolux Icon piece looks like a solid block of steel, and they’re just gorgeous. From a functional design standpoint, the under-counter refrigerator drawers incorporate what Electrolux calls Smooth-Glide drawers, and if you haven’t already guessed, it makes opening and closing the drawers exceptionally easy – so easy you can do with a single finger. Overall, it’s a simple yet beautiful design, both from an appearance and functional standpoint, and one that fits perfectly with the rest of the Electrolux Icon lineup.
Electrolux Icon Under-Counter Refrigerator Conclusion
Ultimately, if you’re considering a new kitchen or updating your current one, I’m a huge proponent of considering a smaller refrigerator with separate refrigerator drawers. As I’ve come to learn, it allows you to fine tune how you operate in the kitchen, letting you place your most used refrigerated items exactly where you want them, including on a kitchen island. And by opting for a smaller refrigerator, you have more freedom as to where to position your main refrigerator while gaining additional cabinet space. To anyone considering the refrigerator drawers, my advice would be this: when you’re in the kitchen, pay attention to how many times you run to the fridge to grab something during a meal preparation, and how much time you spend doing so. Then, imagine having secondary refrigeration at your disposal directly where you’re preparing the meal, saving you the time it takes to run back and forth from the fridge. In my case, the result was a significant time savings, making the decision to opt for the refrigerator drawers a no-brainer. Three months later, and I couldn’t be happier with my decision, as the Electrolux Icon refrigerator drawers have done everything I wanted: they perform brilliantly, they look great, and they’ve significantly cut down the time both my wife and I spend in the kitchen. Simply put, I highly recommend them.
To learn more about the Electrolux Icon Under-Counter Refrigerator Drawers, you can learn more at the official Electrolux Icon website.