The summer problem
A garage is an unconditioned space: its temperature tracks the outdoors, amplified by solar gain through the door and the roof. In much of the US that means 90°F or well beyond in summer.
A thermoelectric cooler cannot work there, and this is not a matter of degree. Thermoelectric cooling moves heat relative to ambient, so as the room warms the achievable minimum rises with it. Above roughly 77°F ambient these units generally stop being able to hold a setting at all — not “struggle”, stop. Every thermoelectric cabinet is disqualified from an unconditioned garage.
A compressor cabinet can, because it pumps heat out absolutely and reaches its target regardless of the room — within its rated limits. That is the single most important consequence of the cooling-type decision, worked through in compressor vs thermoelectric.
A compressor unit in a hot garage still works harder: more cycling, more running time, higher consumption than the same cabinet indoors (running costs). And it needs its ventilation clearances respected more strictly than anywhere else, because it is rejecting heat into air that is already warm (ventilation and clearance).
The winter problem nobody mentions
Everyone asks about summer. The failure that actually surprises people happens in January.
Most wine fridges specify a minimum ambient temperature as well as a maximum. Below it, two things go wrong. The thermostat may simply never call for cooling — the cabinet is already colder than its setting, so it does nothing, and your wine sits at whatever the garage is doing. And in a compressor unit, refrigerant behavior and lubricant viscosity change at low temperatures in ways the design did not anticipate.
So in an unheated garage in a cold climate, the cabinet is not protecting the wine in winter at all — it is a box. If the garage goes below freezing, wine can freeze, expand, and push corks or crack bottles. No wine fridge prevents that unless it has a heating capability, which domestic units generally do not.
Check the rated ambient range
The figure is per unit and lives in the manual, not on the marketing page. Where a manufacturer does not publish it, this site says so rather than guessing — and for a garage installation, an unpublished ambient range is a genuine reason to choose a different cabinet.
Then decide honestly:
And is a garage good for the wine?
Worth asking even when the appliance can cope, because the cabinet is not the only variable.
A garage is the most variable space in a house, and variability is what damages wine — temperature cycling works the cork until the seal degrades (wine storage temperature). A working compressor cabinet insulates the wine from that, which is exactly why it is the requirement. But garages also bring vibration from the door mechanism, and fumes — and a cork is a semi-permeable seal, so a space that smells of petrol and solvent is not ideal for bottles kept for years.
The honest recommendation: if there is any interior alternative — a closet, a basement, the space under the stairs — it is a better home for wine than a garage, and often needs no appliance at all. If the garage is genuinely the only option, buy a compressor cabinet, confirm both ends of its ambient range, and keep it away from the door mechanism.
If the answer is still yes, the cabinets that come closest are ranked on what manufacturers actually publish — and check the circuit before you plug anything into a garage socket, because that circuit is usually already carrying a door opener and a freezer.
Two related pages. A garage is often where a cabinet ends up after a move, and a move is the most likely day a compressor cabinet dies — how to move a wine fridge explains the upright rule and the 24-hour rest. A garage is also humid, so expect glass misting and know the difference between that and a real fault: wine fridge condensation.
If the garage is only one of the options you are weighing, work through the rooms first: where to put a wine fridge sets out what each location demands of the cabinet before you shortlist anything.