5 Best Water Dispensers 2026: Expert-Rated & Reviewed

Customer Review: Prior to buying this Brio water dispenser we owned a Primo brand dispenser (also purchased from Amazon) we were pretty happy with it, for the most part. Over the past few years the primo has developed a taste I didn’t care for, but no one else in the house seemed to notice or care. I tried cleaning it with vinegar and water flushes and dilute bleach and water flushes but the taste remained. I figured it was just the brand of 5 gal bottles we were having delivered so I drank a lot of wasteful single serve plastic bottles to avoid the water from the Primo unit. Finally the cooling part of the Primo broke so I started looking for a replacement.I definitely wanted another bottom fed cooler. Once you get rid of that 5 gallon bottle perched on top of your cooler you’ll never want to go back. Just not having to deadlift the 50 lb bottle and flip it over without spilling a bunch of water on the floor is reason enough, right? Then there is the nice clean look of the cooler without the bottle perched on the top. Anyway, the Brio is a bottom fed so it fit the bill there. I also liked the sound of the “self cleaning ozone” feature so I decided to give the Brio a try, and I’m so glad I did.This Brio is such an improvement over the Primo it replaced. Let’s start with little things. The Brio pump is quieter. No one in our house cares about this but I’ve seen people complain about noisy bottom fed coolers and the Brio is pretty quiet.The Primo had a room temp button but the water was the nearly the same temp as the cold. It was a pointless and never used button on the PrimoThe Brio room temp button is just that, room temp water. I measured each spout and the cold is 43°F, room temp is 71°F, and hot is 178°F. Now you may already know this but 178°F is a great temp for steeping most white and green teas as well as herbal blends. Oolong and black teas want to be a little hotter (if over 200°F) but for a relaxing cup of sleepytime tea this thing s perfect. The Primo only reached 165F°. Point Brio.Also note you can turn off the hot water in the Brio if you don’t want to use it and don’t want to waste the energy heating water you won’t use. This was the same with the Primo.Tall containers fit better in the Brio. The Brio has a full 1 3/4″ (4.5cm for you non-Americans) more space under the spout than the Primo did, a full 10 inches from base to spout as well as a slightly wider perch than the Primo. I can fill my baseball stadium “big ole beer” cups, my Bubba Keg, even my wife’s tall 64oz Camelback fits under the Brio nozzle no problem. That never worked with the Primo, you were always holding cups at a weird angle with your finger over the edge to feel when the water was close to the top. Point BrioThe Brio is attractive, at least in my opinion. Black and stainless fit well in most any decor. The Primo was the same color scheme so a wash there.The taste. The water from the Brio is delicious. I don’t know what the deal was with the Primo, maybe it was age or some tubing they used I didn’t like but I’m back to drinking water from the dispenser instead of destroying the environment with plastic single serve water bottles. I’m going to make regular use of the “self cleaning ozone” feature in hopes of keeping it that way. I much prefer being an environmentally conscious citizen but I just couldn’t drink the water from the Primo, it was gross.So I guess you’ve figured out by now I really love this Brio water cooler and I highly recommend it. It is on the higher priced side of water dispensers but not by a lot and to me, if the self clean feature works it is 100% worth the extra money to have a cooler I will continue using for many years because the water will actually taste good.

Customer Review: This is a great water cooler. Hot water, room, temperature, and cold water at a touch.I love the safety feature with the hot water button so a child can’t accidentally push it. I love the fact that it’s a bottom fed so you don’t have to lift the bottles. The self cleaning feature is greatThere’s also a button on the back for cleaning it once a month as directed. I do that on the first of every month and it doesn’t take very long. I do it at night when I go to bed.I have really bad water at home so this is a blessing. This one was purchased for a family member. I have the same one at home for 2 1/2 years and it’s very durable. It works great. It’s a great size. Very easy to install very easy to use. Happy customer.

Customer Review: This machine works very well. I was very happy with the quality of the machine. I like that it does hot cold and room temperature water and comes with the option to use a 3 gallon or 5 gallon bottle. The trace snaps out for easy cleaning and it also tells you when the bottle is out of water. It’s very quiet when cooling off the water reservoir and hot water is a good temperature for tea.I do wish that it would’ve come with some kind of holder for water cups, but other than that great item.

Customer Review: No problems what so ever. We love having this and not using 4-5 plastic bottles of water every day. Looks and runs great.

Customer Review: Heater broke at month 14 and the company won’t even troubleshoot it for me. Said to call a local repair shop for help! DONT BUY! They don’t stand behind their products!

Customer Review: TLDR; Don’t buy this unless you want to replace it every year. PRODUCTS ARE NOT INTENDED TO LAST, THEY WANT YOU TO KEEP PURCHASING-NO MATTER THE COST.I purchased this in December 2022. It worked on the nosier side but it made our water hot and cold, so it did the job. Moments ago, the machine just began crackling and thankfully I was home. I walked over to investigate the noise and the hot water switch was literally smoking. I quickly shut the hot water off and unplugged it. I am a young lady who lives alone, I was actually scared because something was definitely on fire/catching on fire because it had an acrid smell. I called Frigidaire customer support to no avail, they directed me to “Curtis International”. Their customer rep (a real live agent on the phone) states because it is over their 365 warranty they won’t do anything. Not a refund, not a replacement, not even so much as a partial credit. That is appalling, things are not meant to last now.

Customer Review: Hot– Heats up quick. From room temperature to scalding in about 10 minutes. A ‘how hot?’ temperature dial would be preferred. [Perhaps for the next-level-up version, rather than this: the basic model?] As default-set, I need to wait 10 minutes for my tea to cool enough to drink. Using a kettle, I do not let it get that hot: do not want to burn my tea-leaves.Cold– Yeah, it is cold. But, I don’t like cold water. So I never turn on Cold, unless I am expecting guests who might prefer that. [Which I then shut everything off again when they’ve gone.] Perhaps it is a bit too cold? Perhaps a ‘how cold?’ dial would be pertinent, for the next-level-up version? Again, I am not expecting perfection/exceptional at the cost of ‘cheapest available.’Temperature Conflict– All the internal tanks are interconnected within the fountain. [They all drain into Cold: but perhaps that’s just the slope of my floor dripping it that direction, when powered off?] So, if Hot is left on long enough (3+ hours), the heat starts seeping over into Cool and Cold. Hot left always-on requires Cold to then be always-on too: lest you want your Cool to be warm, and your Cold to be tepid. [Leave it to engineers to expect end-users to turn (and leave) everything on, as the only way for it to work ‘properly.’] So then I must question whether that means Hot and Cold are constantly fighting over temperature, the battleground being within Cool, wasting how much electricity?Noise– I keep the entire thing Powered Off most of the time, preferring my drinking water at room temperature. I have the fountain wired to a switch, turn it on only when the water is running low, to prevent hearing the pump run every time I get a drink. It is not terribly loud, but unnecessary to hear. As it stands, given the volume of water the internal tanks store, I only need to power on the pump every third day or so for my drinking water. [Takes 90-120 seconds to refill.] If left on, there’s always a high-pitched ‘eeeee’ noise. I suspect that would be the pump keeping itself primed. In a busy house or office nobody would hear it, but here alone in the woods, where one can hear everything, the sound grates on the nerves.Potential Problem– This fountain keeps pumping nothing, does not auto-shut-off, when the water-bottle runs out. The longest I left it ‘huffing air’ was 20 minutes, just to see if it would stop, as I didn’t want to burn out the motor. So, what happens if you get a drink on the way out the door in the morning and thereby it runs out of water? Will it keep pumping nothing all day? I suspect that would kill it.Overall– Excellent. Looks classy. Works well for what it was designed. Five Stars. Would buy again, recommend to others.

Customer Review: The media could not be loaded. I am so delighted with my Avalon Water Dispenser! I was tired of purchasing plastic water bottles and needed a better solution for drinking water in my home. I have been shopping around for the right water system and decided to purchase this one. It has been one of the best decisions made since moving in. Here are some of the benefits I am able to experience from my water dispenser.It has 3 water temperatures to select from: Hot, cool, and cold. the cold water is nice when you want to have ice cold water and the cool is more of a chilled temperature. I originally thought it would be room temperature, however it is chilled. I especially like the safety feature of the hot water. I have god children that visit and I can easily turn off use of the hot water feature from the back of the dispenser when they come over. The dispenser boast several additional features that I enjoy like a night light which turns on easily from the back left side. I utilized this just last night as I got up to get a glass of water and didn’t have to turn on any lights to do so.Other features I like is of course the bottom loading water feature, which eliminates any chance of accidental spills and heavy lifting. I was able to easily do it on my own with very little effort.For the water dispenser to do so much with regard to different temperatures, it is very quiet.One of the best features is just how easy it was to start using it straight from the box. I only had to position it, place the drip tray in position, add my filled 5 gallon water bottle and plug it in. As a bonus the drip tray has a red floater ring in the middle that will serve as your guide when there is too much water and time to empty it. A totally useful low tech solution I like!Special note for hot and cold water is to turn the switch in the back right side to the on position which is in the “I” position not the “O” position. It takes no time at all to start enjoying both the hot and cold water. Here is another special note: When you switch on the hot water button in the back, you will see a green light in the front. That means the water is not ready and when the light is gone, you are ready to enjoy your hot water. I point that out because I thought it was a little confusing to not see the light as a way to know it is now ready.One thing to note that some may be wandering is that it does not come with a water bottle. The dispenser can support either a 3 or 5 gallon water bottle. I decided to go big and use a 5 gallon. I recommend having a spare on hand for easy refills without interruptions.I highly recommend The Avalon water dispenser and know you will too.

Customer Review: I always like to prefer drinking cold water over soda pop, energy drinks and the like whenever I can. However, during the COVID restrictions, it is defeinitely harder, if not impossible, to get a free drink of water at a public water fountain, or just a refill of ice water at the local convenience store.After seeing more and more 5-gallon water coolers in offices and in medical practices, I gave it thought about getting one for the home. Bottled water has less chemicals and tastes way better than municipal tap water, and a water cooler gives you colder water than what most tap water faucets can do most of the year. And 5-gallon water refills are way cheaper and more eco-friendly than buying a case of water when you want it on the fly.The Primo Water cooler is as quiet as a small refrigerator, easy to assemble, and easy to maintain. It sits by our kitchen, and we usually go through a 5-gallon bottle of water a week to 10-days. After drinking water from the dispenser after a while, then getting a drink of water from the faucet, you’ll appreciate the taste of the bottled water pretty quick.The hot water option is good for getting water for coffee, tea or those cups of ramen noodle instant lunches. The water does come out hot enough for most tastes.Primo also has refill stations at our local grocery store, with options to refill your current bottles, swap out your used bottles for new, pre-filled bottles, or purchase additional bottles. *NOTE* you do not have to purchase or use Primo-branded products for your dispenser — they WILL be compatable with most 5-gallon bottle makers and will dispense water from most any source — I would recommend purified/filtered bottled water vendors to keep your dispenser free from chemicals that could accumulate in your dispenser. We reuse and refill our bottles rather than swap out for new ones each time as we keep the empties in a protected, sheltered location.The Primo dispenser also has separate toggle switches to turn on or off the small LED light which is where the water dispenses, the heating element for the hot water and the cooling element for the coldest water. The light is just bright enough to show where it is (the dispensing area) in the dark, but it is subtle enough that it will not light up the entire room like a regular nightlight would.They also give you coupons for a free 5-gallon “starter bottle” and a free 5-gallon refill (which in our area is normally about $2.00 — which gives you an idea on how much you can save refilling your existing bottle(s) when you run out. vs swapping them for new bottles or having your water bottles delivered by a vendor).And yes, I find myself drinking more water at home than what I used to because of the convenience factor and that it can be instantly ice cold without needing ice cubes.

Customer Review: The heats or cools very quickly, quiet, we leave the light on 24/7 for midnight water fills and it’s never gone out. We had a slight leak in the middle spout recently but it seems to have fixed itself. Very happy with the dispenser. If it needed to be replaced I’ll be buying the same one! Great product!