CaLefort Dual Zone Wine Fridge Review

In this review of the CaLefort Dual Zone Wine Fridge, I’ll be sharing my personal hands-on experience with this wine cooler.

You’ll see pictures of exactly what I received and a complete unboxing and testing of the product.

I’ll also be covering the key features of this appliance and the Pros and Cons you need to know, to help you with your purchase decision.

Lastly, if you click through and make a purchase through the links on this page I’ll make a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only affiliate with companies that I feel comfortable recommending to my readers and after giving this wine fridge a solid look, I’m happy with it and pleased to share my review of this sample fridge I was sent.

CaLefort Discount Code

CaLefort is offering my readers a 15% discount on all refrigerators, site wide. The button below will take you to the CaLefort website and automatically apply the discount:

You can also use the code HONEST15 at checkout to get the discount.

Decision Making Factors

Overall, the CaLefort Dual Zone Wine Fridge is a sleek and modern wine fridge that will do the job well and look great in any application.

However, let’s take a look at some of the key factors most people consider when buying a wine fridge and how the CaLefort Dual Zone Wine Fridge stacks up.

Size

Wine coolers range widely in size from small countertop units, to the large refrigerators used in commercial and restaurant applications.

This particular wine fridge sits in the middle of the range with the following size measurements:

• Width: 23.8 inches.
• Depth: 23.4 inches.
• Height: 33.8 inches.
• Weight: 98.5 lbs.

Here’s a picture I took of the box the unit came in with the measurements printed on it:

Bottle Capacity

Smaller wine coolers hold up to 6-8 bottles and larger ones can hold over 300 bottles.

This CaLefort fridge efficiently holds up to 46 standard size wine bottles.

It holds this many by alternating the position of the bottles placed side by side, with the bottom of the bottles facing forward.

The bottom row, however, is designed so that 6 bottles will fit with their tops facing forward.

Temperature Zones

When evaluating temperature zones in wine fridges, there’s usually two options to consider (single zone versus dual zone).

Often times, people like to store their white wines at a cooler temperature then their red wines. For this reason, many prefer a dual zone over a single zone fridge.

As its product name states, this fridge is a Dual Zone wine fridge. That means you can set the temperatures differently for each zone.

This fridge is designed to keep your red wines in the lower zone of the fridge and the whites in the upper zone. You can set the temperature from 40 degrees F to 65 degrees F separately for each zone, depending on what temperature you want to store your wines at.

Installation Locations

When considering where to put your new wine fridge, you’ll want to know if the appliance is free-standing or can be installed under-counter.

This is especially important if you’re doing a kitchen remodel (or new build) and want your fridge to be installed as a kitchen appliance, much like an under-counter dishwasher.

A nice benefit of the CaLefort Dual Zone Wine Fridge is that it can be installed either way (free-standing or under-counter).

I chose free-standing in my wine room, but the instruction manual has directions on how to install it under a counter.

Warranty

Because appliances with moving parts, motors, fans, pipes, etc. are complex, there’s always a chance that something can go wrong.

For that reason, a good warranty is important and it’s well-covered in the instruction manual you receive with this product.

For this fridge, CaLefort gives you a 1 year warranty on parts and labor. They also give you a 3 year warranty on the compressor.

Often times, a compressor is one of the most expensive components in a wine fridge. So, it’s nice to see a 3 year warranty on the compressor and not a just 1 year warranty.

Noise

Because wine fridges require a compressor and fan to cool your wines, you will have some noise.

Think of it like the refrigerator in your kitchen. You probably hear it when the compressor kicks in and when there is refrigerant moving inside the cooling lines. You may hear fan noise, too.

A wine fridge is no different than that. With the exception of the facts that many units are smaller than kitchen refrigerators and that wine fridges don’t have to maintain such cold temperatures. So, therefore they will generate less noise in general.

What I found with this wine fridge is that overall it was very quiet.

I could hear it if I was close to the fridge and the compressor kicked in. And I could hear the fan, again if I was close to it.

With that said, as soon as I left the room I couldn’t hear it anymore.

And in general, I found it much quieter than the fridge in my kitchen.

All in all, no issue with noise.

Unboxing Pictures

Next, I want to share pictures with you of exactly what I received, so you’ll know what to expect if you order this fridge.

The pictures below document my unboxing of the fridge and include images of the fridge itself.

Let’s start with what was delivered to my door from CaLefort by FedEx.

Here’s the box with the fridge inside it. As you can see, it’s well packed and clearly labeled as to what it is.

Next is the box brought inside my house. I cut the straps and took off the top cardboard box top.

Then I removed the Styrofoam top and took the picture below so that you could see that the top of the fridge was well protected by the thick Styrofoam packing.

Next, I lifted the surrounding box off the top of the fridge.

This revealed the protective bag around the appliance.

Note the good size corrugated cardboard box below. So far, looks like a great job packing the wine fridge for protection during shipping.

Next, I lifted the bag off and noted the blue tape holding the door shut. Also good to see.

I also appreciated the sturdy Styrofoam base and noted that there were no scratches on the front glass.

Next I maneuvered the fridge off the base, removed the door tape, opened the door and took a look inside the fridge.

I noted another nice touch of some curly pieces of Styrofoam protecting the wooden bottle shelves from banging against the glass door during shipping. Smart!

To give you a different angle, the next picture is the rear view of the fridge.

The grate at the bottom is easily removable for component access and also to access the 6 foot power cord, although that’s not mentioned in the instruction manual.

The square hole at the bottom left is for the power cord to come through. You could probably just pull the cord out, but I took the safer approach and unscrewed the grate to get to the cord. It was easy to do and easy to screw the grate back on.

You can also see the rear leveling legs on the left and right sides. There’s two in the front as well.

I used a level to check the fridge and didn’t need to adjust the legs. The fridge was level from the factory.

Included with the wine fridge is a Thank You Note and an Instruction Manual.

Below is a picture of those:

So, overall a good unboxing experience. They did a great job protecting the wine fridge during shipping and I had no issues with the delivery itself.

CaLefort Coupon Code

CaLefort is offering my readers a 15% discount on all refrigerators, site wide. The button below will take you to the CaLefort website and automatically apply the discount:

You can also use the code HONEST15 at checkout to get the discount.

Using the CaLefort Dual Zone Wine Fridge

One of the first things you’ll need to do is install the handle on the door.

The fridge is setup from the factory to be a right-opening door. However, they include hardware and an Allen wrench for changing the door to be left-opening, if that fits your installation location better.

I chose to keep it as a right-opening door and proceeded to install the door handle as such.

Installing the Door Handle

While it would have been nice if the door handle came pre-installed, I imagine they left it off to prevent shipping damage.

Fortunately, it was easy enough to install and only took about five minutes, using a Philips-head screwdriver.

They DO setup the screws for you, behind the door gasket and through to the front, to get you started.

The handle is attached by two screws which you screw into the top and bottom of the handle.

Below is a picture of how you do it. And my foot.

As you can see, you pull the door gasket away just a bit so that you can access the screw head that goes into the handle.

You hold the handle in place while you screw the screws into the upper and lower brackets of the handle.

Below is the side angle of me screwing one of the screws into the handle.

Hopefully, this picture helps you visualize attaching the handle.

Fortunately, it’s all pretty intuitive.

It took me longer to type these instructions than it did to actually attach the handle.

Bottom line, easy to do. But, be sure to re-set the gasket into its channel once you’re done so that you have a good seal when the door is closed. Again, also easy to do.

Control Panel for Operating the Wine Fridge

Operating the wine fridge is done from the modern and sleek control panel on the inside of the fridge.

When I first plugged in the fridge, it turned on and the control panel lights were visible.

You’ll note in the picture below that the on/off button is at the left.

And to be clear, these aren’t actually manual push buttons. They’re touch sensitive buttons.

Also, after a few minutes, the button lights turn off to save energy. To reactive them, you just have to touch one of the control buttons again and the lighted buttons come back on for use. And when you touch the buttons they beep.

Note the temperature settings in the middle. The one on the left is for the upper zone and the one on the right is for the lower zone. The up and down arrow buttons (on either side) are what you use to set the temperatures.

CaLefort recommends storing your whites up top (lower temperature) and your reds on the bottom (warmer temperature). You can also just set both temperatures the same if you want to.

I tend to like my reds served at just under room temperature and my whites a bit cooler. If you’re storing your bottles long term, most people suggest cooler temperatures then what I have set. I tend to move through my wines pretty quickly since I’m constantly tasting wines for review.

All the way to the right is the light control button. In the picture above, I have the LED lights set to blue.

You can also set them to white, a warm amber color and also off.

LED Lighting

One of the features you’ll find on most newer wine coolers is LED interior lighting.

While white LED lighting is very common, CaLefort steps things up a bit with this fridge by adding interior colors of amber and blue.

Below is a picture of the fridge with the white LED lighting. The touch sensitive button all the way to the right controls the color, depending on how many times you press the button.

If you want a little more accent lighting for your fridge, then below you’ll find a picture of what the amber LED lighting looks like.

This is actually my favorite lighting setting because it brings out the warmth of the wooden wine racks.

And then lastly, for a full modern and moody look, here’s what the blue LED lighting looks like.

This setting is nice if you want to keep the lights on in a darker setting or a dark room.

Wood Wine Racks

Another feature I really like with this fridge is the wooden slide-out wine bottle racks. They add a nice, organic touch to the appliance.

They’re also removable by tilting them a bit and sliding them out all the way. Great for cleaning or dusting!

Below is a picture of the bottle racks with a few bottles on them in various slide-out positions.

As you can see, the slide-out racks make it easy to check bottle labels and place and remove bottles.

I found them to be plenty sturdy, as well.

Now that you’ve seen a thorough unboxing of the appliance and what it looks like in use, let’s cover some additional practical information about this fridge.

Pros and Cons

All products have their benefits and drawbacks and this wine fridge is no different. Fortunately, the cons are minimal and not show-stoppers.

Pros

• Very quiet running with little fan and compressor noise.
• Under-counter or free-standing installation choices.
• Modern design.
• Efficient 46-bottle storage setup.
• Multi-color LED lighting.
• Maintains consistent temperatures in both zones.
• Nice long 6-foot power cord to help accommodate installation location.
• Rear components easy to access via removable protective grate.
• 1-year warranty on parts and labor and a 3-year warranty on the compressor.

Cons

• The instruction manual could be just a bit more complete and easier to read.
• It would be nice if the handle came pre-installed.
• It’s not obvious where the power cord is at first and that it needs to be pulled out from the back.

Conclusion

Overall, I think this is a great wine fridge and I’m really enjoying having it in my home.

While there’s a bit of effort getting it setup, the effort is minimal and it’s great to know that my wines are being stored at their proper temperatures in a nice looking, modern appliance.

Up until I got this fridge, I never considered long term storage of my wines for ageing or collecting purposes.

With this fridge, I now have the option to do that or to just keep my wines at the perfect serving temperature and ready to go.

Plus, it’s a great conversation piece for at-home entertaining and dinner parties.

CaLefort Discount

CaLefort is offering my readers a 15% discount on all refrigerators, site wide. The button below will take you to the CaLefort website and automatically apply the discount:

You can also use the code HONEST15 at checkout to get the discount.