Help: Your ideal bev/bar layout if small area? Advice pls...?

11 years ago

We have a 79" wall for a wet bar - and I'm struggling with how to best use that space. (There is a sink on the other side, so that's good.) It is really doubling as a butler's pantry area so I don't want to lose ALL the undercounter space to appliances.

We drink wine and entertain quite a bit; hubby drinks bottled beer. Do mixed drinks when we entertain but not planning our whole world around it. We are not wine connoisseurs - we pretty much drink what we buy.

So, options we've identified are:

1) Use the wet bar to do wine and mixed drinks, store beer elsewhere. SO, that would be a dual-temp (?) 24" wine cooler and 15" ice maker in the bev center undercounted, then a bev center for beer / soda, likely under the island in the kitchen?

2) I lean away from one single 24" that does wine and beverages/beer b/c you end up with not a lot of either, so some sort of dual/french door/modular option that does both beer and wine but is less than 36" - If we have this and an ice machine, we really kill the storage undercounter which is less than ideal? But maybe better for entertaining b/c beer and soda all together?

3) The spendy option: Go with a GE Monogram 30" Fully-Integrated Wine Refridgerator (top), freezer/ice machine drawer (eliminates ice machine,) and then the convertible drawer on the bottom (beer/soda/mixers.) Leaves about 40" left in the whole wet bar area.

I'm sort of desperate to make this decision and losing my mind over the options so I'd love to hear from you?

Do you suggest having it all together?

Or does anyone have the beer/bev separated from the wine and suggest/prefer it?

More counter/less counter?

Attaching one option (though we're taking out the red wine grid) - next will be plan with the GE Monogram?

Please - I'd welcome your help! Thanks in advance!

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Comments (5)

akcorcoran
Original Author
11 years ago
Here's the layout with the GE Monogram - but the cabinet designer still has the ice maker in it when we'd actually eliminate that b/c there is ice in the GE Monogram:

Model is this one - ZIW30GNZII GE MonogramÃ¯Â¿Â½ 30" Fully Integrated Wine Refrigerator:
http://appliances.monogram.com/ApplProducts/ZIW30GNZII
akcorcoran
Original Author
11 years ago
Here's view from above so you get a sense of the overall space in the wet bar/butler's pantry.
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I think this essentially what you are going to have to do, with full depth on one side and reduced on the other. However, I think you could gain a lot of counterspace by doing a U shape and perhaps putting the range in the U. You would end up having one blind corner but the other may be able to be accessed from underneath the bar countertop. If you want to retain the galley shape, you have room to put the DW on the other side of the sink and a cabinet base between the DW and range, so you are not standing in front of the DW doing your primary prep. I would recommend a 30 range even in a kitchen this small, particularly if you can do a U. The units in my complex have kitchens this small or smaller and almost All the renovations have switched from a 24" range to a 30". The link is my kitchen of about the same size. I did not do a U but I wanted to change the entry point. My new house has a kitchen the size of yours and I am doing essentially what you are (24" and 18" depths) but in a broken U configuration with the Sink in the U. Here is a link that might be useful: Condo Kitchen
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Doesn't have to be boring at all! Have you seen the fantastic kitchens that have the range centered between 2 windows?! I've seen some photos posted here that look wonderful. And it really frames the hood and does make it and the range into a focal point. Are you using an existing fridge? If not, you could get a panel front one and put a matching full-ht cabinet at the foyer end of the sink wall. Also, what I would do on the L of the stove wall is put really pretty uppers to add some character interest...Or make a hutch look with uppers down to the counter if you don't need the work space. In either case, I would run the cabinets straight to the window wall rather than wrap around the corner. I don't think you'll lose much in the way of storage, and I think it's a less mundane look than the corner cabinet option, and maybe will also give you a little more flexibility with window location...You could shift them a little toward the front door if it would look better from the front. Your pantries can be another place where you choose to stay plain, or 'pretty things up.'
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I actually like the spice drawers there, because it gives you plenty of little drawers for all the beverage accessories. 1 for corkscrew & bottle openers. 1 for citrus reamer and zester(for garnish). 1 for swizzle sticks. 1 for straws. 1 for small tupperware container of superfine sugar. (Can you tell we drink in this house? ;-P But if you really don't want them there, you could replace it with a 6" base filler pullout.
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akcorcoran
Original Author
11 years ago
And this is the view from above with the GE Monogram.

Thanks in advance!
xedos
11 years ago
Don't do the full size fridge

re: spendy - you want a lot of things !

You've got to decide: do you value storage for dry goods, serving pieces of drinks.

You should really re-think a combo unit. Sure you don't get a lot of either - but you also want cabinet storage too. It's a zero sum game, you gotta give something. A dozen bottles of wine + several dozen cans/bottles of other drinks & beer is going to serve most of your DAILY needs and all but the largest parties. You'll gain the cabinet space. Besides, you can store Reds in the rack above until serving time when a quick trip to the fridge will get it to proper temp.

Other option is a combo ice machine/ drink fridge. Get a 24 bottle Liebherr wine unit and put a drawer below it for more storage.

You could also opt for 15" wine and ice units or even 18" ones. You'd gain 12-18" more lower cabinet space.

I'd also consider a Kohler trough sink mounted towards the wall - so you could also have a very shallow drawer in front of it and lots of cabinet storage below it in front of the plumbing.

If new const. - I'd move the window to center.

Don't forget under cabinet lighting, or up-lighting either.

Here is a link that might be useful: kohler sink
akcorcoran
Original Author
11 years ago
HI xedos, thanks for your reply here too - as I've apologized elsewhere, I've completely stopped getting notifications from GW so I didn't think I had any replies (sadly.)

So, I've ruled out the big GE Monogram unit. Just not worth the money for the life we lead - entertaining is one thing but that's about quick consumption of decent-priced beverages, not storing in a showcase. :-)

I did go back to the combo unit but my husband was not thrilled with the temperature that would remain for her beer. He is a bottled beer guy, boutique brands, and they should really be at 35 or 36. I think we'll go with the bev center in the island to solve this - and then he has his own place to go and can feel territorial.

So, that sticks me back with a wine cooler (single or dual zone) and an ice maker. Or that u-line pair, I suppose.

I'm leaning towards the Dual Zone Marvel - a little afraid it's loud? But, then I've got all the wine in there and don't have to think about it. I'd love to have the can/beverage storage in that wet bar area too but as you said, somethings gotta give. Maybe it will move people out of the wet bar and into the next room (the kitchen, of course!)

Thinking of the Manitowoc ice machine - also terrified that it is crazy loud but all ice machines make noise...?

Oh, last thing, while it is "new" construction because we gutted the old kitchen in our 1917 colonial, that ONE window in the wet bar is here to stay. It's not ideal, although I do like the idea of having natural light in that space. I was thinking of actually getting more of a decorative type of window to dress it up a little.

Thanks for the tip on the Kohler trough sink. I wasn't exactly sure how people use those? Need to investigate there.

"Lighting guy" and I discussed all the lighting - practical and then the "drama" - :-)

THANKS for replying - I really appreciate it. I have so many decisions to make and it's difficult to make them on my own. There are either too many resources or not enough. And, my husband has a "I care deeply but have no preference," attitude which seems great but leaves me solo to make all the decisions.

:)

Help: Your ideal bev/bar layout if small area? Advice pls...?

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Help: Your ideal bev/bar layout if small area? Advice pls...?

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