The Entertainer’s Guide To Designing The Perfect Wet Bar

If you love entertaining and happen to have just a few square feet of extra space in your home, you may want to consider installing a bar. For many, the kitchen or living room tends to be the gathering area for friends or family, and in most cases, this works just fine. However, having a designated space for storing, making, and serving drinks and snacks to your guests can also be quite convenient. Not to mention that a well-designed bar makes a great aesthetic addition to your home space, which is great not only for your guests, but also for adding to the resale value of your home. Unlike a kitchen remodel, designing and installing a bar in your home is a much simpler task, requiring only a few wall and base cabinets and a countertop. Of course, if your budget and space permits, you can add a number of embellishments to your bar to make it as luxurious as you’d like it to be. As with any interior design, the possibilities are endless, and designing a bar space that works for your lifestyle is simple. Here are some of the basic components for designing a convenient and visually appealing bar space in your home:

Your first order of business should be deciding whether or not you’d like a wet or a dry bar. A wet bar is a bar that has a sink and faucet while a dry bar does not. A sink comes in handy while making drinks and for clean-up purposes, while also adding another possible design element to the whole look of the bar. Of course, deciding between a wet or dry bar all depends upon the space in which you’ll be installing your bar and whether there’s access to a water line for the faucet. If your bar will be located close enough to your kitchen, a bar sink may not be absolutely necessary, but if you’d like easier access to water, you’ll have to consult a plumber to see what your options are. Like kitchen sinks, bar sinks are available in single or double bowls, drop-in or undermount, and in a wide variety of materials, colors, shapes, sizes and finishes.

A common staple in many kitchens, wine racks are a great way to openly store your wine bottles, for both easy access and aesthetic purposes. If you’re a big wine drinker or if you have an impressive wine collection, you’ll definitely want to install a wine rack in your bar. Wine racks are available for purchase along with your stock cabinetry, and comes in dimensions of 30″ wide, 12″ deep, and 18″ high.  It can be rotated either vertically or horizontally to fit your bar space.

If the goal is to have all of your beverages in the same convenient spot, more than likely you’ll need to have a refrigerator of some sort. This can be in the form of a wine fridge for your white wines, or a beverage fridge for beers and other drinks. Some bars even include both. Whatever you choose, there are plenty of options available on the market in a wide variety of styles and price ranges.

When it comes to home bars, aesthetics is key. The main purpose of a home bar is for entertaining, and though we may not want to admit it, it’s also for showing off. A well-designed, attractive home bar is bound to make your space the talk of the neighborhood, or at least among your friends. Adding glass doors is an easy way to take the look of your home bar to the next level by allowing you to showcase your wine or cocktail glass collection. Adding lights inside of these cabinets will take the look of your bar to even higher heights, easily making your simple home bar look sophisticated and professional.

For easy access to your wine and cocktail glasses, particularly if you tend to entertain a lot of guests or will use your bar space often, a wineglass holder is a must. Not only will it help you to quickly access the tools you need for entertaining, but it’s also a great way to add an element of style by showcasing your uniquely designed or colorful glasses.

Adding the right kind of accent lighting is a great way to enhance the look of just about any space, and your home bar is no different. As previously mentioned, adding lights inside your glass cabinets can lend a more extravagant look to your bar space. However, if you choose to forgo glass doors for your cabinetry, you can still opt to use lighting – just place them underneath your cabinetry. This serves a great practical purpose as it’ll add illumination to the tasks you’ll be performing in the bar space. But of course, it also serves an aesthetic purpose, particularly if your bar space has an attractive backsplash or attractive on-the-counter accessories. If your bar is located in a comparably dark basement or space, the extra lighting will come in handy not only to help you see but also to add to the ambiance of the space.

Of course, there are plenty of other design elements that you can add to personalize your home bar. As this tends to be a much smaller space, you have the opportunity to express yourself in unique and eclectic ways that may seem gaudy or excessive in a kitchen space. You can go futuristic and add LED lighting to glass shelving, go with an uncommon sink material, or invest in new high-tech appliances. Whatever you choose to do, use your bar space as an opportunity to really put your individual, personal mark on your home space. After all, your home bar is meant to be relaxing and fun!

What ideas to you have for designing a home bar? Feel free to comment below!