I always wondered why you needed a mirror to pour yourself a shot. It was a cliche' that I pandered to when customers wanted it. No so much anymore. But I have to admit it does look shiny nice with mirrors on the walls in former closet spaces. (I'm a non-drinker and I don't like looking at myself, so take these reflections with a soupcon of salt on your tequila.)

It's amazing how long this conversation has been going on! I thought I would add my experience. Just more food for thought for someone. We bought a 70's home and have been adding a master suite and updating. We were unable to add on to or change our kitchen and it's pretty small, so we opted to add a beverage center off the great room to get most beverages out of the kitchen. I was advised to do a dry bar by a designer who said wet bars are old news. It has an ice maker and 2 refrigerator drawers and a pull out drawer for liqueur bottles under the counter and shelves above for glassware. I have to say, now that we are using the space we really wish to have a sink. As is, it's great for water, soda, beer, and wine, but if you want to mix something with those liqueur bottles it's pretty inconvienent to not have an easy way to clean up a spill or add water to something, or blend using the ice maker that's right there. I wish I had gone with my own instinct instead of listening to a designer. We are considering adding the sink right now before the builder is totally done with our project. It's going to be more expensive now. I have a beautiful beverage center, but I wish I had researched this issue sooner. I got sidetracked by too many other decisions and just went with someone else's thoughts. We don't have room for one but a dishwasher drawer would be really cool as well.

Proportion, yes, but also, Ravmd, what feeling are you going for? I've seen a wonderfully appealing wall, shorter than yours, but with traditional old hutches framing a single set of doors. The home I'm remembering is an old-fashioned English style, with the doors framing and concentrating a very pretty view into the garden. The kitchen was basically old white cabinetry and walls and wood floors, but looked cozy as well as bright and fresh. OTOH, looking out a very wide span of windows like Julie's would give your kitchen an entirely different feel. The associations that hop to my mind from the past are of connection to large living patios and pools, or maybe a panoramic view to the horizon (lots of those in Southern California). BTW, is your desirable view broad, or would editing out parts improve it? Are there any privacy issues? For what's in the picture you posted, my thought was keep the windows and the symmetry (I like them) but bring the upper units down to join the counters for a hutch/display rather than work counter look.

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.