Designing, Upgrading &/or Installing a Home Bar

[Chris Amirault]

We were visiting a house the other day that had a classic 1960s "rec room" setup in the basement: red shag carpeting, table shuffleboard, and... a bar. It's an ugly stained maple thing, but, damn, it's the real deal: extensive shelving, storage behind and underneath, even a little sink. (Sadly no Kold-Draft machine as far as I could tell.)

I've been pondering organizational streategies for my messy liquor cabinet, but this got me going on the whole nine yards. What do you home-bar owners have currently? Let's see some photos and plans.

[Marlene]

We renovated our basement last year and put in a new bar. It's only this big because we needed to incorporate the structural post holding up the ceiling.

It has a bar fridge

A dishwasher and sink

Lots of shelves and cupboards

And the requiste bar sign

For upstairs when it's just the two of us and we don't want to traipse downstairs for every drink, we have a pull out cupboard in the kitchen with the essentials in it

[Peter the eater]

Marlene, that is an outstanding basement bar. Well composed, well lit, and just the right amount of cabinet doors. Breath-taking, really.

You have put the Oak in Oakville.

(Unless I'm confusing you with someone else from Oakville, but you know what I mean)

[Chris Amirault]

Holy cow! That's quite a home bar, rivaling a lot of restaurant bars I've seen.

What's the backlighting or under-counter lighting you're using?

[Marlene]

Marlene, that is an outstanding basement bar. Well composed, well lit, and just the right amount of cabinet doors. Breath-taking, really.

You have put the Oak in Oakville.

(Unless I'm confusing you with someone else from Oakville, but you know what I mean)

←

No, I'm from Oakville.

Holy cow! That's quite a home bar, rivaling a lot of restaurant bars I've seen.

What's the backlighting or under-counter lighting you're using?

←

Thanks! It kind of grew, because of that post. It was supposed to be a lot smaller. Those are LED lights. They don't get as hot as flouresents or halogen. I have them in my kitchen as well, and at the cottage. They are a little more expensive, but they last forever.

The first kitchen I did had flouresents. They were kind of flaky and flickered a bit. The second one had Halogen. I couldn't leave a bread bag underneath without it heating up, or butter without it melting. These have been great.

Edited May 22, 2009 by Marlene (log)

[Shamanjoe]

I've been planning a bar, but nothing nearly as extravagant as that. I've already built a mobile outdoor bar (it's red and black because it was originally for a new year's party) but it's nothing fancy.

When I get around to clearing a corner of the house, I plan to put in a small bar (4-5ft long) with just the basics, since my house is small. But I do plan to have it made of dark wood to accent the rest of the room.