The Best Water Cooler Dispensers in 2023 Tested and Reviewed

Everyone understands the importance of clean and healthy water. But what is the best way to ensure easy access to healthy drinking water? The most practical is a simple water cooler dispenser. Having easy access to drinkable water also encourages people to drink more. Serving capacity along with touchless and sanitary features are two things to look out for. See what our data driven tests reveal and our guide to choosing the best water cooler dispenser for your home or office.

Things to Keep in Mind When Buying a Water Cooler Dispenser

What you look for when choosing the best water cooler dispenser for your home or office depends a lot on your priorities and needs. However, here is our practical guideline for five key considerations.

1. Overall Good Design

Great performance can be overshadowed by poor button or faucet design since people use the machine multiple times a day. Likewise, nice buttons won’t make up for poor performance.

2. Cold Water Capacity

It’s important to consider whether your machine needs to meet the demands of a large working group or public space. If you don’t need maximum capacity performance, perhaps another choice is better.

3. Hot Water Performance

Most machines have a high temperature of 198℉ (92.2℃), while others max out at 189℉ (87.2℃). The latter is more suitable for instant coffee and green tea and may be safer for a public area. The amount of hot water you can get back-to-back can be important for morning or lunch-hour rush times.

4. Touchless Dispensing

Nowadays, touchless dispensing (for cold water, at least) is common among high-usage machines in public spaces. Lever-type machines are the cheapest option, but fully touchless sensors are making market inroads. Other such design options may use a foot pedal.

5. Daily Sanitation

Machines with built-in UV or ozone functions are much more sanitary. Without these features, water lines are generally only cleaned every four to six months during descaling. For button designs, make sure it’s easy to clean in between the buttons. Similarly, spouts and faucets that can detach are more cleanable than fixed ones.

Your Dispenser is Only as Good as Your Water

If you choose a bottled water dispenser, you should also research a high-quality, trustworthy water provider. Some manufacturers and distributors have their own brand of water or contract with specific providers. Depending on where you live, you may be able to refill your bottles at a supermarket, a self-service point, or a trusted natural water source.

For filter or bottleless water cooler dispensers, it’s easy enough to buy replacement filters online, from your local distributor, or at a home center. It’s best to buy a reputable brand that’s likely to be around for a while; generic-brand filters are often difficult to get hold of.

The Different Types of Water Cooler Dispensers

Every water cooler dispenser has a tank reservoir system for heating and cooling water. Tanks are usually fed by a bottle or via an in-line filter connected to your building’s water source.

Here are four types of designs you can choose from: Top-loading dispenser, Bottom-loading dispenser, Bottleless dispenser and Countertop dispenser

1. Top-Loading Water Cooler Dispenser

Top-loading dispensers are the cheapest because they simply rely on the force of gravity to fill the tanks. Some have their own cabinet storage compartment. Top loaders tend not to have ozone or UV sanitation features, but this is not always the case. Also, paddle levers and faucets show up more often than buttons.

Best For: Top loaders are office favorites for their high visibility and easy maintenance. They also suit limited budgets, but require a little heavy lifting.

2. Bottom-Loading Water Cooler Dispenser

Bottom-loading dispensers are convenient because less heavy lifting is required. You simply shift the water bottle into the bottom compartment. They have a pumping mechanism so they cost more than top-loading dispensers. However, they often have ozone-injection or UV-light cleaning features. Most use push buttons or flat-panel buttons for dispensing.

Best For: A home or office that needs advanced sanitary features or to avoid heavy lifting. Daily sanitation is easier, but periodic descaling requires more effort.

3. Bottleless Water Cooler Dispenser

Point-of-use (POU), or bottleless water dispensers require a direct connection to a nearby water source. They cost more but typically have sanitization features like UV light or ozone injection. You can usually connect the in-line filter to additional appliances like a refrigerator, coffee machine, or ice-maker. The filters generally need changing every six months, but the cost per gallon can be cheaper than bottled water.

Best For: An ergonomic and cost-effective water solution for the long term. They also suit apartments with no elevators and locations without a trustworthy or affordable water supplier.

4. Countertop Water Cooler Dispensers

Countertop models are simply miniature versions of either top-loading or bottleless water cooler dispensers and have similar pros and cons. For top loaders, you need to consider the height of any overhanging cabinets or shelves. These devices can usually take 5-gallon as well as 3-gallon bottles.

Best For: Small office kitchens, home kitchens, city apartments, or drink stations. They also make good personal water cooler dispensers for dorm rooms or studio apartments.

Reviews of The Best Water Cooler Dispensers in 2023

From our hands-on tests and appraisals we have the best selection of top-loading and bottom-loading water cooler dispensers. Our best overall is a bottleless dispenser with a filter and we also feature a small countertop water model.

Here are our picks for the Best Water Cooler Dispensers:

1. Best Overall: Avalon A5 Self-Cleaning Water Cooler Dispenser

View On Amazon

The Avalon A5 bottleless water cooler dispenser with a filter impressed us the most with its overall good design and great performance. It’s an excellent choice for a home and stylish fit for an office—provided of course you have a place to connect it to the water line. 

Its most convenient features are ozone injection, a night light, and the simple fact that it gives you hassle-free water for up to 6 months per filter set. Additionally, it scored high in our hot and cold water tests and was easy to install.

More Than an Attractive Design

With its stainless steel front control panel, the Avalon A5 has a more sophisticated appearance than the typical all-plastic look. The control panel is very functional and features an ozone indicator, a filter replacement alert, and a leak detector alert. Like other Avalon machines, the plastic surfaces of the dispensing booth are coated with a bacteria-resistant film.

Easy to Set Up 

Although some people may feel intimidated by having to set up the filter, we found it quite easy to do. The filter brackets are already installed. Your biggest task is connecting to the water source below your sink and running the line to the machine. There is also a separate filter head to flush the first set of filters which are included in the purchase.

All-Round Top Performance Scores

Best of all, the Avalon A5 could flawlessly produce 202 fl.oz. (6 L) of chilled water per hour. That’s enough water for up to 20 people or a large 8.5 fl.oz. (300 ml) glass for each person every hour. 

In an eight hour working day, each person can take up to 81 fl.oz. (2.4 L) of perfectly chilled water. This is also inline with recommendations for daily water intake—91 fl. oz. (2.7 L) for and 125 fl. oz. (3.7 L) for men.

Liquid intake also happens before and after work and also via meals. Therefore, this standard is a reasonable expectation for a working environment. Our tests focus on how many people each machine can service to this standard.

The flow rate is steady and comfortable at 33 ml/sec (1.1 fl.oz.) which is just below our benchmark standard of 34 m/sec. Just as important, the buttons have a comfortable traction and are well-spaced for easy cleaning in between. 

The hot water temperature was likewise optimal. You can get up to three 7.4 fl.oz. (220 ml cups) or two large mug cups worth of hot water at a time. The waiting time between tank reheats was around 7 min 40 secs. In one hour, you can dispense up to 179 fl. oz. (5.3 L) of hot water, which is pretty good.

A Couple of Drawbacks

Two drawbacks of this machine are the design of the drip tray and the door. The drip tray is actually attached to the cabinet door. To remove the tray, you lift up and pull forward. However, if you just pull on the tray to open the door, you may dislodge it. You need to grip the cabinet door at the base to open it. For the price and class of this machine, a simple pocket handle would have been nice.

Final Words and Recommendations 

This stylish machine will look good whether in a kitchen, a living area, or an office. The hot water capacity and dispensing height to the drip tray (9 inches) make it our best recommendation for a home kitchen. There is no heavy bottle to deal with, so it’s also a perfect match for an apartment without an elevator.

Read our full Avalon A5-C Self Cleaning Water Cooler review.

Price at time of publish: $249.99

Key Specs

2. Best for Office: Frigidaire EFWC519 Water Cooler Dispenser

View On Amazon

The Frigidaire EFWC519 is our best recommendation for an office. The key reasons are the cold-water performance, the simple sanitary design, and the fact that it runs so well under pressure.

The stainless steel gives this device a quality look, the hot water safety mechanism works well, and the faucets disassemble for easy cleaning. It’s a bit of an old-school design, but very practical. 

Top Cold Water Performance with a Bonus

The Frigidaire EFWC519 operated flawlessly in providing 202 fl. oz. (6 L) of perfectly chilled water every hour. In practical terms, that’s enough for a large 8.5 fl.oz. glass of water for 20 people every hour. Not many water cooler dispensers can do better. 

What’s more, it was noticeable how cool the machine’s body remained even when performing under stress. Many that we tested became comparatively hot at the back.

We tested the cold water capacity to the factory-set optimal cooling temperature of 50‒54℉. With this Frigidaire, you can adjust the cold water temperature to within a 3℃ range with a knob at the back of the machine.

Hot Water Capacity is the Only Drawback

In our hot water test, the temperature reached 198℉ (92.2℃) which is pretty standard for many machines. However, the tank’s capacity is only good enough for two back-to-back drinks of around 7.5‒8 fl.oz. (220‒240 ml). It can output approximately 169 fl. oz. (5 L) per hour.

The heating time between complete draws was about 1 minute slower than a similar machine, the Avalon A1. You have to wait about 5 min 20 sec or so for a full tank refill to reheat. It’s not the best hot water volume, but the cold water capacity and performance make up for this shortcoming.

Faucet Design Easy for Cleaning 

Faucets, as those used on this Frigidaire, don’t have the advantage of touchless dispensing for cold water. The benefit, though, is that they’re easy to unscrew and detach for deep cleaning (note: you must drain the tanks first). We liked that the cold faucet can lift either up or down, and the hot water safety mechanism is very easy to use.

On the other hand, the flow rate is not as fast as those machines that use buttons, but it’s reasonable for the faucet design. Being a top-loading water cooler dispenser, the Frigidaire EFWC519 has an easy-to-remove water guard. Also, we didn’t have to ‘battle the baffle’ when removing and replacing it.

Final Words and Recommendations

The Frigidaire EFWC519 is an easy-to-use machine for a great price. Apart from good performance and quality design, we loved the stainless steel body. If you are happy with a basic top-loading water cooler dispenser without any UV or ozone cleansing function, this is our top recommendation.

Read our full Frigidaire Stainless Steel Water Cooler Dispenser Review

Price at time of publish: $152.32

Key Specs

3. Best Bottom Loading: Avalon A4 Water Cooler Dispenser

View On Amazon

Bottom-loading water cooler dispensers are popular for two reasons. Little heavy lifting is required, and they often have sanitary features like ozone or UV light. The Avalon A4 ranked highly with good performance scores (though not the very best). The build quality is good and as is the ease of dispensing water. This model  doesn’t have ozone or UV, so it's more affordable, but easy to clean nonetheless.

Good for Hot Water

If you’re looking for a water cooler dispenser that puts out plenty of hot water, the Avalon A4 is a good choice. It recorded a consistently high temperature of 199℉ (92.7℃) and had an optimal flow rate of 34 ml/sec. The single-draw capacity for back-to-back drinks was enough for three decent-sized cups or 27.3 fl. oz. It took a little longer than average for heating, but you get more water at a higher temperature.

Compromises in the Design

For an office, the Avalon A4 doesn’t quite meet our standard of 6 L of cold water per hour. You’ll get 183 fl. oz (5.4 L) out of it, so it’s not too far off the mark. That’s enough water for up to 18 people or an 8.5 fl. oz. glass of water taken around every three minutes twenty seconds.  

Also, there’s no ozone function for maintaining the highest sanitary standards. However, it’s easy to clean in and around the water spouts. The drip tray is spacious but cumbersome since it’s attached to the door. This rarely affects regular usage and is more of a periodic maintenance issue.

Final Words and Recommendations

If you’re looking for a well-priced bottom-loading water cooler dispenser, the Avalon A4 is our top choice. With good hot water performance, it’s well-suited to a home kitchen. Since the cold water hourly capacity is only good for 18 people, though, this might not be the best choice for a busy office.

Read our full Avalon A4 Bottom Loading Water Cooler Dispenser Review

Price at time of publish: $199.00

Key Specs

4. Best Value, Top Loading: Avalon A1 Water Cooler Dispenser

View On Amazon

The Avalon A1 is an attractive machine with large red and blue paddle levers set against a pure white body. Considering the good build quality and near-top performance scores, it’s also very reasonably priced. It’s our second-best choice for an affordable office machine after the Frigidaire EFWC519, and even has the advantage of touchless cold water dispensing.

Hot Water Temperature a Major Consideration

The hot water temperature of the Avalon A1 is only 192 ℉ (88.8 ℃). This is an ideal temperature for instant coffee or green tea, but not the best for English tea or coffee bags. In some instances, this lower temperature may be preferable in an office or other public space.

A Serious Contender for an Office Dispenser

Considering you can dispense cold water with the otherwise touchless paddle lever, the Avalon A1 is also a good choice for the office. Compared to the Frigidaire EFWC519, the hot water capacity is similar, the heating time faster, and the flow rate better.

The Frigidaire, however, runs very cool under pressure, while the Avalon A1 tends to get a little hot. The Avalon A1 also performs a bit less than optimally for cold water, producing 193 fl.oz (5.7 L) per hour as opposed to 6 L. This means it can serve up to 19 people per hour as opposed to 20. In practice, that’s an 8.5 fl. oz. glass of water every three minutes and ten seconds.

A Couple of Drawbacks

The lever traction makes it a little difficult to dispense hot water using a paper cup. You need to hold the cup in such a way as to push the lever with your knuckles.

Note, too, that the levers don’t detach for easier cleaning, so you have to flush citric acid solution through the system during periodic descaling. You can, however, clean inside the nozzles with a cotton swab.

Final Words and Recommendations

We really like the Avalon A1 for its catchy design, cold water performance, and touchless paddle levers. The key shortcoming is the lower-than-average temperature. Also, the water guard is tough to remove and some people may struggle with it. It’s a worthy office water cooler dispenser despite the levers not detaching for better all-round cleaning.

Read our full Avalon A1 Top Loading Water Cooler Dispenser Review

Price at time of publish: $149.00

Key Specs

5. Best for Home, Countertop: Avalon A8 Bottleless Water Cooler Dispenser

View On Amazon

The Avalon A8 is a small countertop water cooler dispenser with a filter that can easily connect to the water line below the sink. It’s a good choice for a couple living together or a family with grown-up kids. Because it sits on the countertop, it is not easy for young children to reach.

Pros: Hot Water, Easy Set-up, Cleaning 

This machine is excellent for hot water dispensing. It has an optimal temperature of 198 ℉ and heating times are good. You can draw two large mug cups back-to-back before the tank must refill and reheat—which takes around 7 minutes. Nice features are the handy pocket handles, ozone cleaning, and a night light. Plus the filter is easy to install.

Not a Cold Water Workhorse

Our cold water tests revealed that you can draw off 8.5 fl. oz (300) ml of cold water every 7 minutes. That’s about 2.7 liters per hour which is more than most households require. If you dispense cold water at this rate continuously, the rear heat exchanger gets very hot. 

After heavy use, it requires about an hour or more to stabilize and cool off. The paddle levers and color design are really nice, but there’s not enough space to dispense water into a large tumbler or jug.

Read our full Avalon A8 Countertop Bottleless Water Cooler In-depth Review.

Price at time of publish: $250.56

Key Specs

6. Best Budget: Costway 5-Gallon Water Cooler Dispenser

View On Amazon

For a budget water cooler dispenser we really liked this Costway. It’s about two-thirds the size of a regular free-standing water cooler and is also very lightweight. It does have design issues with the drip tray and hot water faucet, but both the hot water and cold water test results were acceptable. 

Costway 5-Gallon Pros

In terms of performance, the only drawback with the Costway is the slow flow rate. The hot water temperature was 198℉, matching the other top performers. It could produce around 5 L of hot water per hour, which was really good. For cold water, you can draw off 8.5 fl.oz. (300 ml) every 7 minutes at an even temperature of 52‒54℉.

Cheap Corner Cutting

On the downside though, even for the price, the drip tray does not work well. A simple jostle can knock it out of place. We strongly discourage you from resting your cup on the small drip tray while dispensing hot water. 

Additionally, the hot water safety mechanism is cumbersome and the rear drainage port is not well made. The water needle, with its rounded design, requires a little more force to mount the bottle than it should.

Overall, however, even though the body is made of a cheap and light plastic, the joints show good quality work. It’s just a pity how the Costway cuts corners elsewhere.

Read our full Costway 5 Gallon Water Cooler Dispenser In-depth Review.

Price at time of publish: $112.68

Key Specs

Other Water Cooler Dispensers We Have Tested

With our ongoing testing of water cooler dispensers, some don’t make our best to buy list. However, we do like to give you the heads up just in case you’re thinking of buying any of them. 

Brio 400: Poor Design and Mechanics

Out of nine machines in our initial test run, the Brio 400 was the only one to arrive in non-working order. The cooling mechanism didn’t work at all, but due to its overall poor design, quality, and performance, we decided to skip the cold-water test entirely. 

The flow rate was too fast and the hot water performance below standard. Furthermore, the buttons were poorly designed, the working indicators badly positioned, and the cabinet door low quality. 

The Brio 400 is, however, an older economy model. We look forward to testing other Brio machines into the future.

Igloo Countertop: Unworthy Performance

Initially, we purchased the Igloo as a low-cost countertop alternative to the Avalon A8 bottleless water cooler dispenser. For its size, the Igloo is quite heavy and difficult to move since it has no side handles.

The hot water performance was well below standard both in terms of temperature and flow rate. It was also the poorest performing machine in terms of cold water capacity. 

The Igloo countertop does have its merits, though, as a cheap personal water cooler dispenser. The buttons are a bit clunky, but with no power status light, it may be a good choice for a studio apartment or a dormitory.

Euhomy: A Mixed Bag

There was a lot to like about the Euhomy. The rough textured sides, the cabinet door, the water straw, and silicone bottle cap were all better than other machines. Also, we liked the clean design with no messy wires attached to the lid panel and the pump neatly tucked away. 

On the other hand, the performance was lack-luster indicating poor mechanical design. The hot water temperature was 189 ℉ (87.2 ℃)—although some people prefer this. However, the flow rate was disappointingly low for the button design.

For the Euhomy, the cold water temperature stabilized at 57 ℉ and not 54 ℉ like other machines. The wide temperature fluctuations recorded while dispensing cold water indicated that the machine mixes cold with normal temperature water for some reason.

How We Test Water Cooler Dispenser Performance

We do data-driven tests on all the water cooler dispensers for both hot and cold water. For cold water, we stress-test each machine for how much water it can provide within one hour at the optimal temperature of 50 to 54℉.

To do this, we start with dispensing 10 fl. oz. (300 ml) of water every 3 min and then lengthen the interval if the temperature becomes unstable. The best machines will generally dispense 6 L an hour which is enough for 20 people. 

For hot water, we test for the highest stable temperature, continuous draw capacity, and flow rate. From this, we calculate how much hot water you can get for making back-to-back drinks and determine the hot water capacity per hour. We also record tests on video for analysis.

How We Rate Ease of Use and Design

For ease-of-use, we rate how seamlessly mechanisms like buttons, paddle levers, faucets, or flat-panel buttons dispense water. We pay particular attention to the hot water safety mechanism and the ease of changing the bottle or filter.

Another key focus is the cleaning of mechanisms like buttons and levers, water spouts, and the feasibility of touchless dispensing. Cleaning also entails periodic descaling, which means evaluating access to the cold water tank and operating the drainage plug.

Finally, we rate the build quality of the machine body and the drip tray. Then, we evaluate the water inlet controls such as the pump or water guard, the water baffle, and the design of the panel and indicators.

Best Water Cooler Dispenser Rankings and Final Scores

Throughout our scoring process, we use proportionally weighted scores. Performance accounts for 50% of the total score. Of this, cold water is weighted 60% and the hot water score contributes 40%.

Ease-of-Use and Design each account for 25%. Sub-components of these scores also get their own weights. Finally, each machine is rated and ranked on a scale of 1-10 for an overall quick evaluation.

Why Trust Us

At Healthy Kitchen 101, we let the products speak for themselves via rigorous testing. No sponsored content, no unsubstantiated claims, only evidence-backed reviews.

• Unbiased

We purchase all the products of our own accord and for testing purposes only. We do not procure sponsorship or donations and have no stake in the reputation of the brands.

• Verifiable 

Our testing procedures are data-driven. Each test is rigorous and transparent; we detail the process, provide the data, and present evidence.

• Objective

Our tests are collaboratively developed. We establish most testing procedures in house and consult with outside experts when necessary. To ensure accuracy, culinary aspects of our procedure, such as cooking and taste-testing processes, are consulted with professional cooks.

Our Expertise

With water cooler dispensers, it was only through hours of trial and error that we were able to pinpoint a suitable testing methodology. This also made us very familiar with dispensing mechanisms, water pumping, bottle changing, and how the indicators performed.

After our testing methodology was finalized, we ran repeated tests clocking up over 8 hours of rigorous performance evaluations for each machine. 

In doing so, we dispensed over 250 cups of water per machine and changed the bottle numerous times. We also kept careful notes on how indicators worked (or didn’t work!) and the general performance patterns of different machines.

Your product guide, Roger Shitaki, actively participated in both the test design and implementation phases. His experience has included numerous in-depth articles and buying guides on large refrigerators, mini fridges, refrigerator water filters, and other large kitchen appliances.

• Updated Mar 3, 2023:

  Removed Aquawell, Primo Htrio, Kenmore Water Optimizer, and Homelabs. Added hands-on review for Avalon A1, Avalon A4, Avalon A5, Avalon A8 Countertop, Frigidaire EFWC519, and Costway Freestanding.

• Updated Feb 11, 2023:

  Product ratings are updated following the implementation of Test Methodology v1.0 for Water Cooler Dispensers.