This is one of those products I have wanted for years. I am not sure why because I have two refrigerators, one in our kitchen and another in the basement for drinks. I think it’s just one of those cool looking products that look cool and can spice up an area to make it look good. Maybe it’s just the idea of having a beer fridge or a drink fridge. Either way, I finally have one so let’s jump into the Newair Beverage Cooler Review.
Newair Beverage Cooler Review Overview
If you have been in the market for a beverage cooler you have probably seen mixed reviews. For me, I know 6 people who have a beverage cooler. Three of them quit working within a year and another broke within two years. Looking online you can also see a mixed review where some people love them and others don’t want anything to do with them.
However, for this one, we checked out Newair because of their name. They are a company that has been around for a while and they can be found online or in stores such as Target, The Home Depot, Lowes, Kohls and more. So I figure if they are in those stores, there has to be some good to their name and product.
Newair Beverage Cooler Review Features
The stainless steel and black Newair beverage cooler can hold up to 177 cans or 92 standard beer bottles making this one of the largest capacity beverage cooler in its class. The beverage cooler has an operating range from 36F – 64F. The cooler will cost about 30 cents a day to operate or $9/month.
I love the stainless steel door and the black outer shell of the fridge. For me, it gives it a nice classy look if you have it built into a cabinet or free standing.
One notable feature is the door can be reversible so you can install this cooler in any location and make the door open from the right or left.
A huge plus is Newair built this with a nice rubber seal to help keep the cold in and the warm air out.
When you open the door you will find a nice control pad where you can see the temp of the cooler and also set your desired temp. Plus, you can change from Fahrenheit to Celcius, and even turn on or off the LED light.
The blue LED is a nice added feature. You can have the light on high or low. Since the LED light is on the top, it will not light up the whole fridge. If you have cans on the top, it pretty much takes away the LED lighting effects.
On the back of the cooler, there are two fans for air circulation.
The shelves have a great design so you don’t have to worry about the shelves falling out.
If you have teenagers in the house, you can even lock this fridge to keep them out.
Newair Beverage Cooler Review Performance
The first thing I noticed was the shelves. Now it comes with two more shelves, but I can’t leave the cans standing up. So I removed a couple of shelves so I can have the cans standing up. One thing you can see right off the bat is the shelf with the Miller Lite, that shelf is sagging which is a little disappointing. I wish the shelves were sturdier. Now it doesn’t affect anything other than just an eyesore if this is a focal point in your bar or kitchen.
I went away for a couple of days and put a beer in the Newair beverage cooler and another one in my traditional refrigerator (T-Fridge). I wanted to see if there was a difference in temperature or something that was just in my head.
As you can see with the traditional fridge, the can was 6° cooler than the Newair. The Newair can measured 52 degrees while the traditional refrigerator can was 46 degrees.
I poured the beer into a glass and took another measurement with a thermometer because I wasn’t sure if the temp gun would get a good reading. Again, the traditional fridge kept the beer colder. The traditional fridge beer was 41 degrees while the Newair was 48 degrees.
I figured I had the temp gun, might as well take the temp also. With the traditional fridge I had a reading of 41.5 degrees and with the Newair it was a reading of 47.7 degrees, which is a far cry from 36 degrees stated on their website.
I know for some people this might not be a big deal but for me it is. I like my drinks cold and if you are the person who likes ice cold drinks, this may not stand up to your expectations. If you drink your pop with ice, then it’s no big deal.
Again, I understand this is a smaller footprint than a traditional fridge and has a much cooler look, but strictly as a way to cool beverages, I think it falls a little short.
One other item I noticed was the fan. The fans are extremely quiet but I did notice that the fans start up about every 10 seconds and run for about 15 seconds. So it’s a constant starting and stopping of the fans.
As far as quality, this unit seems to be built well. I love the feel of the door and it has some weight to it. The door opens and closes very nice which is partly due to the weight and partly due to the nice rubber seal.
Newair Beverage Cooler Review Value
The Newair runs about $1,000 on The Home Depot. For this product, the value is hard to decide because everywhere I look I can find beverage coolers that are more and some that are less. I haven’t taken this apart to compare internal parts to each other. All I can go by is the reviews I see online. I think if I was putting in a new kitchen and wanted a cool look and a way to free up room in my fridge, I could justify the cost. However, if I was just trying to free up some room and not do anything with the looks of my kitchen or bar, I would probably go with one of their smaller coolers.
Newair Beverage Cooler Review Final Thoughts
All in all, I love the design of the beverage cooler. The beverage cooler is extremely nice looking and I think it will make any kitchen, bar or other areas stand out more. For me, I am not sure if it’s up to the job of keeping drinks extremely cold. I like my drinks cold so when I open them up, I am refreshed. I have had a lot of people over and have mixed results.
Some have been like me and would like it cooler while a bunch felt it was still cold enough. One good point someone brought up was most people drink their beverages with ice so if it’s not extremely cold, the ice will take care of it. For me, that makes sense for pop but not for beer as I don’t like ice in my beer.
I have had this beverage cooler for about a month and I have had it filled to the top with drinks to only having a couple of cans in the fridge. I have stocked it with warm drinks to drinks that were already cold, so it has run through some cycles, but the one thing I am missing is long-term use. I will keep you updated on how this beverage cooler lasts over the next couple of years.
That is a nice looking mini fridge, but $1,000 is ridiculous IMO. It appears to be a peltier cooler fridge, which uses Thermoelectric Peltier Coolers, heat sinks, and computer fans to produce the cooling as opposed to a traditional refrigerator with a compressor and refrigerant. You see a lot peltier cooler wine fridges these days since most people don’t prefer their white wine ice cold. In my (little) experience the peltier coolers can only really get down to around 44-45 degrees on a larger fridge. That would make since why your beer is colder with your normal fridge.
Just make sure the fans on the back of the unit are kept clean otherwise it will effect the efficiency of the unit.
Awesome and good to know. This makes sense about the wine fridge. They look cool, just wish they were colder. But I see what your saying and thanks for the insight and that’s wild about the computer fans for colling.
These are the peltier units I was speaking of:
https://www.amazon.com/TEC1-12706-Thermoelectric-Peltier-Cooler-Volt/dp/B002UQQ3Q2
They are dirt cheap and the fans are usually 12 volt computer fans, so these are very inexpensive to fix if you have issues down the road.
Thanks for the review. How would you say this compares with an Edgestar?
This product is not good! Please read all reviews before buying. Customer service is awful. Can not get a call back to even discuss issues!!!!!
Sorry to hear that. I can’t stand when a company sells a product and they don’t stand behind it or their customer service is awful, unexpectable. Mine still works great.