We have a 10 year old GE Monogram SS undercounter fridge that we bought to go along with our counter-depth french door fridge. Its been a great combo and we put drinks in the undercounter. Neither are fancy or have wine shelves, etc. Think the GE was around $600. Knock on wood they are serving well. Good luck finding something that suits your needs, we think its a great idea!

You're a year to a year and 1/2 away from moving into a house. There might be something better as you get closer to building the kitchen. :)

I'm putting a Summit fridge in my bar. I plan on putting a matching panel. I have wine storage in my basement so this fridge is for beer, waters, etc. The fridge I'm going with has space on the door for tall, opened bottles. Mine has a small freezer area as I make my own ice cubes for certain cocktails, but most of their models can be with or without freezer.

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We have a small dorm-sized refrigerator (not the tiny cube, but the larger dorm-size) just for sodas and beer, which -- as you say -- do take up so much space in the refrigerator. It's a perfect size. We keep it in our pantry /laundry, which is adjacent to the kitchen. I actually like it outside the kitchen because it cuts down on people in my way while I'm cooking.

One hint: If you're planning a beverage refrigerator, also plan a place for "waiting cans". That is, when you buy cans in bulk, you need a place to store them before they go into the refrigerator.

We have an Electrolux beverage fridge that has 2 shelves, one for bottles/cans on top, cans in the middle and a bottom row for about 6 bottles of wine. Budget was our consideration as well, along with getting those things out of the main fridge. It does have a glass door, however, but it's dark inside (until the door is opened) and placed in such a position as to not be a focal point in the kitchen.

Fill up the sofas! :-D

I like your little beverage station there, nhbaskets!

Head to Sam's club and purchase a beverage refrigerator there. $179. It does have a glass front but at that price? No brainer!

You cannot put simply any "beverage center" into cabinets. A lot of the cheaper ones exhaust out the back and the fridge will eventually overheat. If you are building it in, it needs to exhaust out the front to keep it cool.

We purchased a fairly inexpensive Fridgidaire cooler. It does have a glass front, but it can go under the counter, you just have to leave 2" on each side and at the back for ventilation. It's only 21.5" wide so we will have space to replace it with a pricier 24" built-in in the future. Right now it is in another room while we are doing the kitchen but I don't know how we lived without it!

I'll ck I'll ck out Sams. My little fridge just went kaput and no clue why. It served us well but certainly not long enough. Excellent suggestion offered above to plan for storage for drinks bought on sale. We got lucky that we had space. The alternative of having cases stacked nearby is not attractive.

I was shocked, repeat shocked to learn from my records that my Edgestar beverage cooler was 14 years old. We will ck tomorrow how much to replace compressor but at $170 new, I doubt repair price will make economic sense. I will post here. We were 100% happy with this appliance. We had wine and sodas..

Here is the one that has gone to fridge heaven...front and back