Small Beverage Coolers – Which is the Best Beverage Center?

Up until a few years ago, you could only find glass door refrigerators (otherwise known as beverage coolers or beverage centers) inside your local convenience store or gas station. This is no longer the case. You can find beverage refrigerator in all sorts of sizes for use in your own home or garage.

People love the convenience and the amount of space they save in their kitchen or bar fridge by having a dedicated beverage cooler. There are a lot of great coolers available and in this post we’ll review some of the more popular choices for smaller beverage refrigerators that are in the market today.

NewAir 126 Can Beverage Cooler (Our #1 Recommendation)

Let’s start by saying that the NewAir 126 Can cooler is our favorite beverage cooler in this size category. The NewAir beverage cooler is really outstanding in almost every facet. It is a sharp looking cooler, that is really well designed. You won’t be embarrassed to have out on display.

The 126 cans pack in nicely without falling all over the place. There are five adjustable chrome racks that allow you to configure the unit in many different combinations.

One thing that I really love about this cooler is that it is very quiet while it is running. You can store this cooler in any area of your house and not notice it. It isn’t a big deal for us because we store it in our garage, but you can easily keep this in your home without any problems. It is very quiet, but the best part about this cooler is that it holds a perfect, consistent, crisp, and cold temperature.

The only con is that it is more expensive than every other unit in this list. However, the extra investment is well worth it. The NewAir cooler is durable, looks great and keeps your drinks consistently cool. If you have a bit extra to spend, you will not regret purchasing this beverage center. We’ve owned it for many years now and it is running just like it did the first day we bought it.

=> Click here for more information about this excellent cooler on Amazon

Danby DBC120BLS Beverage Center (#2 recommendation)

Our runner-up is the Danby DBC120BLS beverage cooler. This is an inexpensive little cooler that has a lot of really good qualities. It can store up to 120 cans, comes with a door lock and three adjustable shelves. The temperature levels are excellent and we were happy with the coolness of our beverages.

If you are comparing this to the NewAir beverage center that we highly recommend, you should note that the main differences between the two are in the build quality. The Danby beverage center is noticeably louder than its NewAir counter-part and the shelving is also not quite as functional as the NewAir as well. Cans in the Danby tended to fall over easier due to the spacing of the metal bars in the shelves. The NewAir also has a better reputation for reliability so you will likely get a longer lifespan than with the Danby.

However, if none of these matter that much to you and you would rather save a few dollars then this is a great choice. This is a very popular beverage cooler and we have written a full review here if you would like to see it.

=> Click here if you would like to purchase this great little Danby cooler 

Avanti Beverage Cooler

The Avanti 3.1 cubic foot beverage cooler is a nice looking unit. It has a slim, clean design that doesn’t take up a lot of room. The handle, black finishing, LED lighting and glass door have a classic, clean design that is pleasing to look at.

It comes with auto-defrost, three adjustable shelves and a temperature control.

So how does it perform? Unfortunately, the Avanti beverage center doesn’t live up to its good looks. Our major gripe with this cooler is that we found that the temperature never got cold enough to our liking. We love ice cold beer and this unit just didn’t cut it.

We have also seen many complaints regarding the build quality on these units. Many people have had issues after just one year of use.

EdgeStar Beverage Cooler – 84 Can Capacity

The 84 can EdgeStar is another small beverage cooler that is inexpensive, looks great, but doesn’t get beverages cool enough.

Due to a flaw in the design, only the back right-hand cans get cold enough. This is due to the temperature sensor being located in the back right-hand corner of the cooler.

However, EdgeStar has acknowledged this flaw and have put up a video on how to move the sensor to the front of the unit. Once you make that modification it becomes a pretty good little cooler, but still not up to par with the Danby or Haier.

=> Click here to see more information about the Edgestar cooler

Haier Beverage Center – 150 Can Refrigerator

The Haier 150 can beverage center has the same issue as some of the other cheaper refrigerators on this list. It looks nice, holds a lot of beverages, but just doesn’t keep them cool enough. It also isn’t built very well as there have been many complaints regarding it breaking down within months to a year. I’d stay away from this unit.

If you are also thinking about getting a small wine cooler to pair with a beverage cooler, check out our post here where we review some of the more popular brands and show you which one(s) are our favorites.