Kitchener Wine Cabinets

Kitchener Wine Cabinets - Replacement Fan Motors in Melbourne – I too have had a ~300 bottle cabinet for more than 20 years and has only just given me a problem. That problem was the fault of the removalists causing a misalignment of the material around the lower fan. Added friction which I didn't notice burned the motor out. Before then it had spent 5 years in my brother's garage in country NSW where the temp… Read more

gets to 40+ regularly and all of the wine has kept well - None off but some a bit too old! I struggled to find a replacement fan motor but located a company in Melbourne who worked with Kitchener, knew what was required and supplied me with the same motor. Its running again but its a lot noisier. Not sure if that's because its a more powerful motor or I've put it back together incorrectly (both fans pulling air out - is that correct or should the bottom fan push air in?) Company is BCB Sales & Service in Clayton South. They also offered to rewind the original motor.

Still working after 20 years – Bought our big white box about 20 years ago from the Kitchener factory in Collingwood/Richmond. Still going. Turn it off over winter. Holds about 144 bottles.

Thirteen years and still working – I’ve had my 250 bottle Kitchener wine cabinet for over 13 years and never had a problem. Kept the wine at a shied temperature all this time. Disappointed that the company is no longer in business as one day I will need to replace it with another.

What a shame Kitchener went under! – I've had my Kitchener KA860 for more than 10 years, during which time it has performed faultlessly, except for when I partially blocked the fan outlet and the fan motor cooked itself. However, Kitchener diagnosed the problem over the phone and put me in touch with the people who do their servicing in Perth, who quickly obtained and fitted a new… Read more

motor. They didn't charge me the earth either! I've had no problem with the Peltier unit, except that the plastic dish that catches the condensed humidity has overflowed a few times on the rare occasions we get high humidity in Perth (hardly a problem!)

I forget what I paid for the unit ($5k or was it $3k? I can't remember), but it was certainly MUCH cheaper than building a cellar under our new house (at least $60k) and previous experience has shown me that cellars in Perth require some form of air-conditioning if you want to properly isolate your precious wine from undesirable temperature fluctuations when the ambient temperature gets over 35 degrees. As the Kitchener unit both cools and dehumidifies the air, you also avoid any mildew problems that you can get in cellars and in wine fridges.

Vale Kitchener!

Disappointed Customers – It is a pity so any customers are disappointed with their Kitchener product. It would appear that their more recent product has been inferior. I have had my 300 + bottle cabinet for 15 years and have had only one problem, about 5 years ago, which was repaired by a local electrician on the Gold Coast. No wonder they went 'belly up'!

Yet another faulty unit with no support – I purchased one of their large wine fridges a few years back. Like so many others I see here, it stopped refrigerating efficiently after about 18 months. Any time the ambient temperature rose outside of the fridge, it could not maintain the set temperature. Set it at 13 degrees and it is always above and frequently around 19. Open the door and it… Read more

rises a couple of degrees and takes days to lower again. I rang them and they were disinterested and claimed it was not a fault of the electronics, and that it was a refrigeration issue so they wouldn't fix it. They gave me the number of their preferred repairer - who told me he didn't repair their fridges and I should just hunt up a refrigeration engineer. *eyeroll*

I could never get it fixed and I'm stuck with this enormous fridge that won't operate properly and clearly the company is now out of business. What a surprise.

I have no idea what the model is at this point. I'm guessing you can no longer buy them but if you see one for sale, new or second hand, avoid it like the plague.

Storing over 900 Wines in two Peltier units – These units are simple but the peltiers seem to fail after hot weather. I have had my 280 for more than 20 years. Kitchener now,seem to have gone out of business June 17th 2018 Update: Peltier vs Compressor I am just expanding my previous comments relating to Kitchener wine cabinets. There are very few wine cabinets on the market t the… Read more

moment. Even though the Peltier units struggle in hot temperatures the cabinets do not rise above 18deg C. I have stores 900 wines some of which go back to the 1960's & what I have found is that temperature is only part of the issue. UV is probably worse. A sealed cabinet that can keep temperature within a 5 deg variation seems to be able to keep wines for very long periods. I have never opened a wine out of my cabinets that has been off or undrinkable. I am now searching for a third cabinet and I am leaning towards a Liebherr but they only have compressor units of which I am not a fan for long term storage. I would never stop using my Kitchener cabinets, History shows me that these units actually are very effective in storing wine with the completely sealed no glass cabinet. I have some very expensive wines in those cabinets I will never buy a cabinet with a glass door. UV is a killer for wine. I even cover my wine in the house now with sheets as I have seen that even indirect UV is a killer for wine which I have experienced after leaving some out in my dining room. The wine properties for these UV exposed wines is very noticeable in the drinking . I am very sorry Kitchener are out of business as their cabinets were unique especially in the now in the day where the majority of houses are built on concrete slabs and underground cellars seem to be only prevalent in old houses. If there is a good peltier (thermoelectric) unit out there( 300 + bottles) that any one knows about - I would love to hear about it.

poor cabinet build electronics failed on 3rd swap out – I have had a CT204 for 7 years now. The cabinet was out of line and not square to door from new. The seal was only just average. The unit has worked fine through 2 moves to new house over 15 months but now the thermostat and circuit board seem to have failed "again". I have changed them twice now and they are only lasting 2 months. Error code E9… Read more

comes up first and the temp shown on display steadily goes up to 36 C . The internal temp is very cold as the compressor is still working. On the last occasion I have been manually turning the unit on / off at the wall. The thermostat seemed to register change in temp from hand temp to glass of cold water temp but now has totally failed the same as the last ones. This is over a period of 2 days. Last night as the unit was on and running before bed it "beeped" and a error code of E3 came up and the unit shut down and wont restart. When turned on at the wall the unit LED display shows a E3 error and will not respond to the internal on/off switch. From what I have seen on other reviews of different brands this seems to be a common fault. I am wondering if anyone else has had a similar issue and have any ideas for a repair that will last.

Happy – I bought a Chatelet 88, the service was great, delivery was as planned, all questions i asked answered satisfactorily so far very happy with the purchase

Terrible product. Terrible service – Purchased my Kitchener wine cabinet just over two years ago with high expectations for reliable and durable service. Sadly, my Kitchener wine cabinet is far from reliable and certainly has not be made to last....even for two years. My Kitchener wine cabinet can not even maintain a stable temperature of 22 degrees Celsius let alone… Read more

temperatures suitable for wine storage.

Contracted an independent refrigeration technician to investigate and concluded that the cabinet is leaking refrigerant and is practically irreparable. The leak/s is apparently due to poor workmanship / inferior tubing.

Contacted Kitchener who politely offered a 25% discount on a new wine cabinet, however refused to accept any responsibility for producing a product that failed to deliver on quality, design and longevity.

Very disappointing indeed.

Wine Fridge that doesn't keep wine cool – I bought a Kitchener Chatelet 108 in 2014. Also wanted to support Australian made and the price/value seemed pretty fair compared to Euro options. It's nice looking and I was very pleased to get it in and stocked. Periodically it made a strange, loud noise from the fan unit during the first year but that stopped and second year was great. The… Read more

major disappointment I'm finding now is that this summer (2016/17) it's unable to keep the desired temperature of 15c, managing only 19c. The first two years of operation it was able to maintain 15c year round, so not sure why the new problem and not particularly interested in chasing costly third party technicians for a diagnosis out-of-warranty. Am watching to see if it gets worse or improves as the weather cools later in 2017. Ambient temperature in the room I have it is about 25c depending on the time of day over summer. I'm not impressed and plan to replace it before next summer with a different manufacturer.

No support from Kitchener – I bought a Kitchener Chatalet wine cabinet 18 months ago, aiming to buy a local product and because Kitchener claims: "If you're in Melbourne and Sydney we have our own technicians to help you with repairs". The unit broke down after 18 months and Kitchener offered 2 phone numbers for third party repairers. One said they did not service this… Read more

product, the other was just plain disinterested. I'm still trying to get it fixed. My advice; Do not buy from this company.

Poor product zero support – I had a similar issue as the chap above. Fridge stopped working properly after about 18 months. Called Kitchener and they said I needed to go get a third party fridge technician. They offered no help at all. Turns out it the gas has been leaking from it. It will be too costly to fix up and the Kitchener guys have distanced themselves from it and… Read more

don't want to stand by their product so it is a write off. One of the worst products I have ever purchased. Shame, I wanted to support the Aussie company but they are rubbish. AVOID.

Levanter 380 irreparable after 2.5 years – I bought a Levanter 380 which worked well for approximately 2.5 years. After 2.5 years the unit stopped cooling and I contacted Kitchener to see about an assessment of the problem. They said they do not offer any assessment or repair of their units and directed me to a third party fridge repairer. This is despite the statement on their website: … Read more

"If you're in Melbourne and Sydney we have our own technicians to help you with repairs."

To have the unit assessed was an additional cost (which I had to cover) and the problem was deemed as a refrigerant leak that was irreparable (or would be excessively expensive to repair).

Kitchener offered to reduce the price on a replacement unit. A followup phone call with Sam at Kitchener also yielded no help. So, given that:

* the unit cost $3195

* my experiences with the lack of service or assistance in the event of a problem

* relatively short 12 month warranty (for such an expensive item)

I wouldn't buy it again.

In contrast I've had two Leibherr 312 bottle wine fridges (WKT6451) which are still going strong. These come with a 3-year warranty and have a significantly better build quality (as well as having been manufactured in Austria).