If the water marks are higher than the ground outside, that means the water is coming from higher up. If the gutters are clogged (even two floors up), that could certainly be the source Heavy rain will find it's way behind the fascia, especially without a drip edge under the edge of the roof) and can end up in the basement. Check with a flashlight if your basement ceiling joists are wet in that area to confirm this. Water can also come from a window well that doesn't drain properly. During the next deluge, see if water comes up to the window. If so, it surely is coming through the window frame. From the looks of it, wall to wall carpet is a bad idea in your situation. Some options are remnants (paint..after proper prep... whatever doesn't get covered by the rug.) or tile. The last thing you want it deal with wall to wall that gets soaked along with the pad - that's a nightmare. It's hard enough dealing with a wet remnant, but much more tolerable.

Oh good, this is exactly why I have returned to gardenweb -- we are still in the process; we have only about 8 ft of wall (and no opposing bar or peninsula). We chose to put in an 18" dw and an undercounter fridge/freezer (with ice maker). I wanted a single dw drawer at first, but the saleslady scared me off. I have a toaster oven that I might keep downstairs, and am not planning on buying a microwave for the space unless we absolutely need it instead. I thought a single induction burner would be great, since it doesn't get hot. Decided to forgo that because of limited counter space, and I will probably get a portable induction unit for times when we need it. We will have a full-size freezer and small wine refrigerator in a storage room, as well. Oh, and a portable icemaker. My favorite part (I hope it works) is that directly on the other side of the bar is storage where we plan to install a keg fridge and will tap it through the wall over the bar sink, next to the water faucet. Location might be a challenge; it will be tucked into the back corner of the room, so I'm a little worried about flow, but all things considered I think it was the best place. Look forward to seeing what others are doing/have done, and will update as we progress.

I'm in CA. too I used to get a little rain in my kitchen couple of times a year but not rest of time & just put a towel down, couldn't figure it out & then 1 day it was beating against the door so hard, I opened it & it seemed like it was raining sideways(wind was so strong). Knowing the problem since almost all storms blew from opposite direction causing no problems, I made habit of checking to see direction of rain & if I had to be gone laid down a thick towel.(This was a new house on concrete slab. )I finally decided to get a metal awning as sun beat on kitchen side most of day. I discovered it keeps any rain from coming in the house. So that solved my problem.

Thank you all for the additional insight. I do not have a floor plan yet, but I can try to draw one out and see what I can do about finding somewhere to host the images. Any suggestions on free software that I could use to draw out a layout? Otherwise maybe I can use graph paper and take a digital picture. The wet bar room is literally just across the small laundry room from a powder room (which is a much larger space than this teeny tiny room). So you're probably right that a hand washing sink really won't add much of anything. I could see the sink being useful when we do remodel the kitchen (as a temporary kitchen), though it would require that area to be finished prior to the kitchen remodel. I think I'd want the cabinetry to match, so I'll have to plan accordingly. I've also been considering having a plumber look at adding a sink off of this same plumbing stack in the garage (for working on cars, gardening, painting, etc). The little room and sink back directly onto a bump out section of the garage. Maybe it would make sense to get rid of the inside sink and just have the sink in the garage. (I need to find out if this is possible since we do have to worry about pipes freezing in Utah.) If I do close off the space, I'm not certain whether I can fit a sink and a pantry in the enclosed space. It's fairly narrow, so it might be difficult. I'll have to post a layout for your review to get some help with that. I'm actually not even certain if I can comfortably fit cabinetry across what's now the bar (if I go standard 24" deep cabinets to fit a wine or beverage fridge) without visually negatively impacting our family room. I think all in all I like the idea of somewhere to keep barware, wine, maybe some beer (so it's not all outside in our garage). I have quite a few beer, champagne, and shot glasses that I really love, though we rarely use them. It might be nice to have some glass display cabinets to show them off. And I think the practicality of an actual pantry (yay!) would be very high on my list. In terms of resale, I think you're absolutely right plllog. It's a house with 3 bedrooms (maybe 4 depending on how we finish the basement) and a nice yard. Considering the region (Utah) and the neighborhood (suburban, fairly upscale with great schools) I suspect swapping out the wine fridge for a beverage fridge will be a must. The cabinetry probably would still be desired since it could easily be a place for kids to grab drinks and such. For us, we do not have children or any intention of having children. I'm honestly not certain when we might sell. This is our first house (we've lived here for 5 years) and I really hope to some day move somewhere with a bigger yard that's hopefully at the base of our spectacular mountains. (We live about a 5 minute drive away, but want to be closer.) I would hope we might be able to upgrade within 5-10 years. However, life happens and my significant other is changing his profession so that impacts our financial plans for the near future.