I love being the host of all kinds of gatherings in my big, beautiful garden, so I’ve thrown all kinds of parties through the years: barbecue, birthday, custom and Christmas parties and dinners with dear friends and family members. But when it comes to organizing those parties, I want to make sure everything, from the food and drinks to the decorations and the music, goes as smoothly as can be.
So since we live in Australia and we know how devilishly hot summer can be, keeping the drinks cool when outside can be a bit tricky and no, storing them in buckets of ice does not help! That’s precisely why I decided to buy a fridge for my deck where I can store all the drinks. However, in the search for the perfect deck fridge, I found out there are two different types of fridges I could choose from for this particular purpose, one being a bar fridge and the other a wine cooler.
But what are the main differences that set them apart?
Bar Fridge
Bar fridges are especially designed to keep all kinds of beverages cool, from alcoholic drinks to water bottles, juice and soda. Although they are available in various sizes, the small ones are usually the most commonly used. However, what makes the bar fridge especially handy is the fact that they are very light-weight. Due to this feature, bar fridges are easy to move, so you can relocate them from the deck to the living room or to the garden if you want to. Also, the freezer in these fridges is not very large, but its size is large enough for making ice and keeping a fair amount of drinks cool and fresh.
Wine Cooler
The other popular refrigeration choice is wine cooler. This is an appliance that is especially designed to keep both red and white wines at their optimum temperature. Besides making sure the wines are at their perfect temperature, some wine coolers do an excellent job at aging them as well. Those that have that feature are specially designed to age the wine during long-term storage, bringing out its richest taste in the process.
So, what’s the better choice?
First of all, it depends on your drinking preferences. While the bar fridge can store both wine and other beverages, the wine cooler is especially designed for wine, so I personally decided to go with an all-functional bar fridge because my guests love everything from beer and wine to gin-tonic and scotch. Besides that, the location of the fridge is also really important. Normally wine coolers are not working to their fullest when outdoors and when it comes to bar fridges, you can place them wherever you want to as long as you have electricity and a little bit of shade.
