We put a small wet bar in our TV room upstairs but, in truth, we've never used it. We've not yet bothered to get the under-counter fridge or the small microwave that I was planning to have there. And, after two years, I still haven't put in glassware in the cupboards there. At this point, if I were buying a house, I don't think having a wet bar in the TV room would make me more inclined to buy, and I certainly wouldn't pay any extra for it. Maybe if we had kids, I might keep popcorn and sodas up there but with just me and DH, it's easy enough for one of us to pop downstairs during a commercial break and get snacks/drinks for the both of us.

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 agree with Carolina K&B. It looks as if you can extend the cabinets out to standard 24" depth. After the prep work, I'd go to Lowe's or HD, get an unfinished sink cabinet, 24" wide, which you can paint or stain. Use an inexpensive 18" undermount sink, with a remnant from a stone yard, or use a sealed wood top. Leave space for a 24" fridge. Order a pull-out filler from Amazon (or from whatever supplier has the best price), and use a piece of 3/4 board for the front panel, painted or stained to match the cabinet. Size a shelf to fit a small MW, and get the upper cabinet that matches the sink base. Paint or stain the same, or mix it up for a cottage-y look. Buy a wine cubby insert for one side of the sink cabinet, and a trash pull-out for the other. Hack the toe kick for extra storage, or have the cabinets custom made by a local cabinet maker. Without the MW, fridge, and coffee maker, it's not a kitchenette, it's just a place where the artist stores his canvases and cleans his brushes. 6" Rev-a-Shelf pull-out at Lowe's 12" Trash pull-out at Lowe's 23" wide mini-fridge at Amazon, SS 20" wide mini-fridge at Amazon, but ... Oh my gosh, how cute is this? And check out the MW that matches it!

ShadyWillowFarm- It looks great! I don't know why I didn't see the updates/questions from 2 years ago, but just got a notification for your recent post. In case anyone else is wondering, we used "thin brick" in our basement, which are basically tiles made out of real brick material. I'm pretty sure it was Old Mill brand in the "Castle Gate" style. We only used it on the exterior walls of the rec room/kitchenette area to give the look of a brick foundation. I strongly considered doing the faux brick panels on the exterior walls of our guest room and bonus room and painting them, but was nervous that it would look too fake and the seams would be obvious. Yours turned out really nice :) motherof3sons- If you happen to see this thread at some point, I would love to see how your kitchenette turned out! That's great that you have a perfect recessed area for a fridge to sit flush with the cabinets/counter. I wish we had that in our regular kitchen (instead of a fridge that sticks way out).