October 9, 2006

Wine News: Wine chillers latest remodeling must-have

"One of the hottest items under the kitchen counter is cold — or at least ideal for chilling wine.
Called wine refrigerators, chillers, stewards or wine storage units, these appliances are on the "must-have" list for most new and remodeled upscale kitchens.

"They've gone from the obscure to the expected in the last three or four years," says Kimball Derrick, a certified kitchen designer and owner of the Kitchen Design Studio in Blue Ash, Ohio.

Like warming drawers and wall-mounted pot-filler faucets, Derrick says, many people see wine chillers in trendy magazines or model homes, and "they've got to have one."

"I also think the growing popularity of wine as an adult beverage is behind this as well," he says.

Mark Wolf, a salesman at Recker & Boerger, says most of the customers who buy wine chillers at the appliance store in Montgomery, Ohio, are either "people very serious about wine or those just getting into wine."

Full article here.