What is a Beverage Cooler?

Nothing beats an ice-cold drink after a long day. A beverage cooler is an easy and convenient way to keep your drinks cool and easily accessible. It also frees up space in your refrigerator!

Beverage coolers, also called beverage refrigerators or beverage centers, are designed to hold and chill beverages. Beverage coolers can hold a variety of different drinks, such as soda, canned beer, bottled beer, seltzers, and even some wines.

They come with shelves, often metal or glass, to accommodate the different drink styles. Some manufacturers make options with removeable shelves for additional convenience.

Beverage coolers can come in freestanding or built-in models. Freestanding beverage coolers require clearance around the unit in order to properly dissipate heat. Built-in models vent out of the front to exhaust the hot air, so they don’t need the same strict clearance requirements as freestanding units. This allows them to install alongside cabinetry.

Beverage coolers differ from wine coolers because beverage coolers typically get a few degrees colder than wine fridges. Wine can’t get too cold or it risks damaging the wine so you can’t always store beverages in the same cooler. Additionally, beverage coolers are often bigger.

How cold each individual beverage cooler can get depends on the manufacturer, but beverage coolers usually have a temperature range of 40- to 65-degrees Fahrenheit. This means you can’t really use it for storing food. Most food is kept at a lower temperature, less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit, which is usually a lower temperature than a beverage cooler provides.

Refrigerators are designed to store food while beverage coolers only hold beverages. Food must be stored below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, while the optimal temperature falls around 37 degrees. Most beverage coolers operate at temperatures higher than that. Because beverage coolers don’t get as cold as a traditional refrigerator, you should not put food or milk in the fridge.

Additionally, beverage coolers usually have glass doors that allow you to see the contents and they do not always have adjustable shelves like a refrigerator does.

Mini fridges are usually more compact than a beverage cooler, meaning they can fit in tight spaces but cannot hold as many beverages as a beverage cooler.

A mini fridge also has a different internal design than beverage fridges. Beverage coolers have shelves specially designed to hold only beverages while a mini fridge has compartments designed to accommodate food, cheese, and beverages. If you plan to store food, the fridge must have a temperature below 40 degrees to ward off bacteria.

As long as it’s not outside, you can typically stick a beverage cooler anywhere with the appropriate power supply. However, if you plan to put a beverage cooler in an uninsulated garage, it can force the unit to work harder to keep up with the temperature fluctuations and may not work as efficiently or effectively. Depending on the climate where you live, it might get too hot or too cold for the unit to operate.

Whynter offers a selection of indoor/outdoor beverage coolers that can work in either indoor or outdoor applications.

Keep your drinks cold and easy to reach with the right beverage cooler for your space. Shop HomElectrical to find a variety of beverage and wine coolers today.