Can I Also Store Food in My Wine Refrigerator?

Faith Durand
Faith DurandSVP of Content
Faith is the SVP of Content at Apartment Therapy Media and Editor-in-Chief of Kitchn, and the author of three cookbooks, including the James Beard Award-winning The Kitchn Cookbook. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and two daughters.
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published Feb 24, 2010
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Q: My partner and I live in a small NYC apartment. One thing we couldn’t part from when we moved here was our 50-bottle wine refrigerator. It keeps a temperature of around 45-47 degrees. Half of it is always empty and we were thinking of putting some food items in here – what do you suggest?

Our thoughts run from artisan cheeses, potatoes, onions, garlic, fruits…?

Sent by Michael

Editor: Michael, you can definitely double-task your wine refrigerator for certain food items. Meat, eggs, and dairy are not options, as they need to be stored at temperatures under 40°F — see this USDA page for more info:

• Refrigeration and Food Safety

But fruit and vegetables can definitely be stored there! Overall, it’s best to store most fruits and vegetables at about 33°F — but this is just to prolong their freshness. If you are using your refrigerator to just store produce overnight or for a few days, the temperature there should be fine.

Cheese should be stored at temperatures between 35° and 45°F so you might be able to get away with some hard cheeses.

Readers, do you use a wine refrigerator to store anything besides wine?

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