Wine cellar vs wine cooler (Day 398)

We have a big basement, which is unusual for the Pacific Northwest (i.e., no tornadoes, so why worry). However, when we lived in Denver we got used to having one, so how much could it cost to dig a bit deeper. Well, a lot it turns out. Extra to dig, extra to haul away 260 cubic yards of excess material (and find someone to take, not buy, it) and a bunch extra for 112' of 4' high concrete wall and a 30' x 26' slab. All told, I suspect it was a $10-15k add on. So we better use it, and appropriately. We used about 20% of it for the mechanical elements of the house: hot water boiler, radiant heat distribution, central vacuum, and eventual water conditioners. We partitioned off a 10' x 10' room for a wine (beverage) cellar since the basement is unheated. Heck if those fancy wine guys in Napa can have caves, we'll have a cellar. That left about 1/2 of the basement for storage, but the space is big and tall enough for a entertainment room (pool table) or workshop.

To complicate matters, when we bought our appliances from Fredricks in Redmond they sweetened the deal by throwing in a wine cooler and a microwave. Didn't need the cooler but agreed that the microwave could live in the butlers pantry. Some how it doesn't seem right to see a microwave and a 6-burner Wolf rangetop in the same room. We mainly use one for defrosting, heating up fluids, and leftovers for lunch. Free is free, so how could we lose.

The wine cooler turned out to be a refrigerator size unit capable of storing 144 bottles. Just enough for your average party. It was 6' high, 2' wide and 2' deep. I say was, cus I off loaded it on Craigslist today. Say what your want about Craigslist taking down the regional newspapers, but it's one efficient and cheap (free) way to sell stuff. Over the past 3 years I've sold about 100 items on it (no kidding), including 3 cars, 4 pinball machines, old furniture (a favorite), and all kinds of miscellaneous stuff. Usually there is no or only minor haggling about the price. Also its nice since you don't have to actually meet the buyers until the deal goes down; all the prelims are done anonymously. Cash is king.

So on Thursday evening, in a Trypyophan stupor (chemistry.about.com/od/holidaysseasons/a/tiredturkey.htm), I posted the wine cooler on Craigslist with a couple-paragraph explanation but no picture since the unit is still boxed up. Set the hook and dangled it out there on the ethernet. By the morning I had one bite and three nibbles. The bite was from a women in Seattle that was setting up a home-wine tasting business and needed some way to keep lots of bottles of wine cool. Apparently, but law she has to have $3000 of inventory on hand to be legit. Sounds like a little wine store to me. Anyway, she bought it sight unseen, and arrived at noon with cash in hand. I help her husband load it into the pickup truck, tie it down and watched her drive off. Kachinge. Now I have money to build wine racks and a table in the cellar.