What is the budget for appliances? Our builder didn't put a line item in the basement budget for wet bar appliances and we will be purchasing on our own. We don't have a set budget but want to do this right as we only plan to do it once (our basement previously held two small apartments, we gutted the space during phase I of our reno, and now in phase II we're finishing the space for our family's use -- mudroom, laundry room, bathroom, guest bedroom, family room with wet bar, and screened porch). Are you planning on a lot of wine? Red and white? I don't think we need a dedicated wine fridge. My husband wants to eventually enclose some of the crawl space under the basement into a wine cellar. We have a new U-line beverage fridge in our kitchen and it holds plenty of white wine for our purposes and the red wine we store in a wine rack in our laundry room. Or just beer,soda,juice and water in the beverage center? Mainly just beer, mixers, and some juice pouches or milk boxes for the kids. We try not to drink sodas. We'll have a filtered water dispenser at the wet bar sink so that should serve our water purposes for the most part. Is really cold beer important? Or beverages at 40 degrees plus ok? Doesn't need to be really cold. Our U-line beverage fridge in the kitchen is set at 38 degrees and that seems just fine. Do you have a strong preferance for clear ice? Do you have a preferance for soft chewable ice or hard ice that does not dilute your single malt ? You know what? I really don't ever use ice. We put a Liebherr fridge in our new kitchen and I don't think we've used one bin of ice in 6 months (need to dump it out and make fresh ice). My husband is the one who is adamant that we need an ice maker so I will ask him about the type of ice, but my guess is that he doesn't have a strong opinion (though he does enjoy a single malt on occasion). Do you have hard water or soft water? Hard. We have two microwaves leftover from the old basement apartments so now I'm thinking that we should just have a space in upper cabinet to place one of them vs. splurging on built-in microwave just to pop popcorn occasionally. (And for that matter I am not so lazy that I couldn't just walk upstairs and pop in the kitchen). This is more for hubby who envisions entertaining in this space.... Thank so much for your help and thoughtful questions!

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.

Thanks Derek, Of course you are right- can you tell it's my first post!?! What style do I have? Is it not obvious from the pic? :>) That's probably one of my stumbling blocks- in that I don't have a definite style- but we are basically gutting the house and starting from scratch- so I am inventing as I go. We have nearly done the kitchen I will show a couple of pics as that is basically the starting point. We have a few antiques, mahogany buffet (which is normally in LR, but I may not keep?)dark oak hall tree which is in hallway open to LR, medium oak DR table open to LR (but again, I MAY replace that with a round? table), reproduction corner cabinet visible in DR from LR. LR furniture is two fairly new dark blue leather couches, 2 chairs (that DH has never liked, so are expendable), plasma TV and mahagony type cabinet that it is on now- that was bought less than a year ago before we started the renos- hate to lose it, but if it doesn't fit into new scheme, could put it into basement FR (I guess :>( ) Layout is of LR- it is open to landing from front stairs/entry there is a 41" high pony wall for 10 feet that will be capped with granite. Tigerwood flooring will be throughout upper floor- you can see bits of it and cardboard in kitchen. Buffet is sitting in kit now through the demos- will not be staying there. Here is a pic of my chandelier that is to go over table in DR- wish I had it up to show you- it exemplifies my style if anything does- it is oil rubbed bronze- as are many of my accessory pieces/shelving units in my LR now. Sort of traditional with a modern spin/edge?

If I had a space like that, I would keep me an aquarium there; just not one that's built into the wall. I would gladly go with as large of an aquarium as I could fit into that space, placed on a sturdy big enough stand to give it some height. It may seem counterintuitive, but maintaining a larger aquarium is much easier than trying to maintain a small one. Year's ago, we had a friend move in, and he brought a 55 gallon aquarium that he never bothered setting up. Long story short, he ended up being a deadbeat that never helped with the bills, and ate all of our food. We ended up kicking him out, but I wouldn't let him take the aquarium with him. That's when I got to work getting it set up. It took some doing, but it was a labor of love. Once the tank was fully cycled, maintenance was fairly easy. After that, having this large freshwater tank in our foyer just made our place just that much more appealing. It makes for a great conversation piece, and anytime we had company come over, they were immediately drawn to it. We've even had offers from some to buy it from us. Of course, we would politely decline them. Eventually, we ended up moving and gave the tank away to some good friends of ours that lived in the same high rise, because we weren't able to take it with us. That happened many years ago, and I still regret ever doing that. This past year, my interest in keeping an aquarium was reignited. I went out and bought another aquarium. It's not as big, but I already want to buy another large aquarium again. Just as soon as I save up enough to get it done, and I can't wait. There's just something about them that is just so fascinating and calming/relaxing. If I had a space like that in my home, the decision would already be made, lol. I went on Google and did a quick search for some aquariums that looked like they'd fit perfectly into that corner, but there are so many shapes and sizes to choose from that the possibilities are endless. Now these are just a couple of examples. You can go with something much more simple, or something more elaborate. Like I said, there are endless possibilities. It's worth noting that in the second picture, they have a saltwater tank. Of course, those typically require much more experience. As for myself, I prefer freshwater aquariums anyways, and require less maintenance. Ironically, keeping some "fish in a bowl" actually requires more work than maintaining a large tank. If you don't believe me, then go to any number of aquarium forums and ask the hobbyists in there. They will tell you the same thing.