# Help me design my whisky bar!



## GT11

Thanks to everyone that followed my kitchen remodel this winter. Now it is time for another project. I have decided to add on to my wet bar to include a nice whisky storage area and I want help from the 2coolers on the design!

The pictures below show my current wet bar. My plan is to build an extension to the bar on the wall to the left. Instead of just having the bar on that back wall, have it turn 90 degrees and cover that blank wall also. (The wall with the picture).

Now for the fun part. I would like feedback and tips from fellow 2coolers to help me design this display/whisky bar. I will do most of the work myself and I will document the project and post it in this forum. You will get to help design it and see it some to life.

Now for the specs:

1) Lighted areas to highlight some of the nicer selections
2) Modify the sink area to include filtered water, rotate the sink
3) Glass doors covering the storage areas for additional aesthetics
4) Storage
5) Counter space for tastings 
6) Maybe a built in ice sink with a drain to hold opened white wine
7) Upright and tilted storage for other liquors
8) Lots of accent lighting
9) A way to lock or hide the really nice stuff but also be able to display it with minimal effort

The restraints:
1) Since all of the cabinets in house are white I really need to stay with that style. I would like dark wood, but my wife retained one veto item and that was it. (Actually she said I could do dark wood but would have to change all cabinets in the house to match...no way!)
2) The new cabinet can't be any deeper than 20". I want to keep 4' of walk way to the next room.

Budget isn't much of an issue. Since I will build the cabinets myself, you can get really fancy and it is still cheap.

I look forward to the ideas and can't wait to get started!


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## GT11

Here is the first attempt at a layout. I will make a corner transition to meet up with the current upper cabinets. The lowers will just meet at a right angle and I will put the sink at a 45 degree angle where the two bottom cabinets meet.

I think I came up with a good way to lock up the top shelf stuff. If you are familiar with a Lawyer bookcase, it has glass doors that flip up and push into the bookcase. I could do that here; normally closed but flip it up and hide the door when you have company. Having it closed would keep the UV light out also.

I used an online kitchen design software to help with the proof of concept to make sure the layout would look ok.

Ready for feedback.......


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## GT11

Demo on the uppers is done. Tomorrow I will build the upper units and I will have them in place by the end of the weekend. Then I will remove the granite and start on the lowers.


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## GT11

*Weekend Update*

I almost finished the uppers! I really thought I would have finished the uppers this weekend especially after the progress I made Saturday. The first picture is the end of the day Saturday, the second is after an hour Sunday morning, then the rest are from a little while ago. The trim took forever but at least I have that part finished. All I have left to do is build the bottom shelf, then shelves for the cabinets. The top shelf (pictured) will have a glass top and will be lit from under the bottles. I put an LED string up there just to see what kind of light I would have.


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## thabeezer

Looks sweet. I wish I had your skills.


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## GT11

Thanks, it is a skill that saves serious $$$$, but you can pick it up if you have the patience.

Here is the update for tonight. I couldn't wait and had to install some of the lights. The new cabinets will have lights in them since they will have glass doors (the old ones won't lights and will have solid doors). I still have to install more up top and lights in the left cabinet. Since I will have to remove them to paint, I probably won't install those until the end.


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## mas360

With the newly added on cabinet, do you find it difficult to access the sink to wash glasses?


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## GT11

mas360 said:


> With the newly added on cabinet, do you find it difficult to access the sink to wash glasses?


We had trouble accessing it before and we really don't use it that much. Glasses are put in the dishwasher. When I build the bottom cabinet and install the new countertop, I will put the sink on an angle to the bottom cabinets and pull it forward. This will keep me from having the problem you mentioned above and make it more usable.


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## fishinfool

very nice. i have some minor carpentry skills but not to nice finish cabnets yet. i used to help my uncle when he did it and learned some things but that was 15 years ago. i hope to do work like that one day. 

how are you planning to paint them, in place with brush, or remove entire cabnet and spray outside?


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## fishinfool

hope you dont mind i am going to borrow your picture and have a question for you. how long is your original bar top and how long is the length of top you are adding to it. we are in the process of planning our next house and looking for ideas for the bar area. thanks.


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## GT11

Build cabinets for your garage first to work out the bugs. I started that way, they looked good and I applied everything I learned to do nice ones for the house. That was years ago and I still practice and change things. If you look at my kitchen Remod post, this was the first time I did plywood faces instead of solid wood faces and also the first time I took the face frame to the floor w/ the 45 degree corners.

As far as the dimensions, the original bar was 60". The new bar will be 6'10" from the back wall or 4'10" from the existing cabinets. The lights are LED string lights and cost about $1/ft.


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## GT11

I forgot to answer your painting question. On stained cabinets, I finish them, then install them. On painted cabinets, I install them, then paint them. I know this will sound like a lot of work but it takes less than an hour to prep. I place masking tape along all edges. I cover the floor with the heavy, brown construction paper, then build a tent out of plastic sheeting around the area. I go in with my airless spray gun and shoot the cabinets. By doing it this way, you paint over the caulked areas were the cabinets meet the wall and have a great finished look. If you look at my kitchen remodel post, you will see the cabinets installed, then sprayed.


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## GT11

*The lowers are finished!*

I spent the long weekend fishing but jumped back on the cabinets last night.

It was a late night but I finished the lower cabinets and I am pleased with the results so far. Tonight I will build some test doors for the flip ups and hopefully get the doors ordered this week. In the past I have built the doors and drawer fronts but have found a place online that does an excellent job building doors to your dimensions. Once the doors are in, I will paint everything at once (I use an airless sprayer). After the doors are ordered, I will get the granite on order.


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## GT11

No pictures (nothing really to see) but here is the update for the week.

I have completed the shelves and have them stacked in the garage. I also order the doors on Thursday, it looks like it could take 3 weeks to get them. I removed the tile under the current cabinets and will remove the granite this week. You really can't see in the picture, but I used my grinder with a diamond blade to notch the granite so I could attach the bottom cabinet. I also did a test fit on the flip up doors to make sure I ordered the correct sizes.

I am basically at a standstill until the doors arrive. Once they are in, I will spray everything and hang the doors. Tomorrow I will start looking for someone to install the granite and new tile.

I will make the next post once the doors come in or when the granite is installed.


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## mas360

I'd like to see pictures of your workshop where you built all these goodies. I built garage grade cabinets but have never got to the point of being able to build nice ones as you are doing. 
Have you tried building cabinet doors yourself?


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## GT11

mas360 said:


> I'd like to see pictures of your workshop where you built all these goodies. I built garage grade cabinets but have never got to the point of being able to build nice ones as you are doing.
> Have you tried building cabinet doors yourself?


I keep my wood working stuff in my single car garage and keep the cars in the other garage. Next time I haul the tools out, I will take a picture of the setup. The garage is so small that it is pretty cramped when everything is in there but I have a covered section outside of it that I use to spread out. You won't be impressed with the work area. The tools are nice but the area isn't anything fancy.

Until the kitchen remodel project that I posted, I had always made my own doors and drawers. They are a pain to build, especially when you do rail and stile doors with raised panels and dovetail drawers. When I saw the price of the doors and drawers online, I jumped on them! Definitely saved a lot of hassle.

If you are building garage grade stuff, you have the skills, especially if you only build the boxes. The key to good square boxes is to develop a "Bill of Materials" before you start. This BOM has the size of each panel that you will need and will allow you to group cuts. You set up once and make all the 35" cuts, then set up and make all of the 23-1/4" cuts, etc. That way, all the cuts are the same size and the boxes will be square.

I also used plywood for the faces. Typically I use wood planks and cut them to size, join them with biscuits or dowels and glue/screw them. It is a lot easier to do the plywood face, you just have to deal with the plywood edge, which is why you see the 45 degree edge on the corners...it hides the plywood edge and gives it a nice detail. I also like the bottom detail that hides the plywood, it gives it more of a high end look but has the functional use of hiding the plywood edge.


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## GT11

A quick picture update after all. I have removed the granite and tile backsplash and replaced some of the sheetrock that was destroyed in the process. I need to throw on another coat of mud and I will be ready for granite and tile. The guy is coming over on Thursday to make the template for the granite. 

The doors are scheduled to arrive the first week of July and I had planned to paint everything at once. The cabinets will be easier to paint without the tile and granite so I may bite the bullet and paint them instead of waiting on the doors.


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## finkikin

That is looking good!


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## GT11

*We have primer!*

The cabinets are primed. Sorry the pictures aren't great, but with the room tented with plastic sheeting, it is hard to get a good shot. Hopefully the top coats will done by Friday.


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## propsfullfwd

What's the cabinet door website if you don't mind me asking?


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## GT11

propsfullfwd said:


> What's the cabinet door website if you don't mind me asking?


I use Barker Doors. http://www.barkerdoor.com/default.asp
They weren't the cheapest but they do the doors, drawer fronts and drawers. Some of the sites I looked at only did the doors and drawer fronts, no drawers. When I say they weren't the cheapest, they were a couple of bucks more per door, so there isn't a huge difference.


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## GT11

*Happy, Happy, Happy*

It was a late night last night but I sprayed the FINAL two top coats on the cabinets. Tonight I installed the lights and I am officially finished with everything I can do until the granite and doors arrive. The granite will be here Monday and the doors are scheduled for the end of the month. This weekend I plan to paint the walls in that area.

Later tonight I will take a picture with the cabinet lights on.


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## GT11

*Night view*

Here is the shot with the bar lights on....the cabinets that are lit will have glass doors.


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## mas360

Wow...you spray inside an already finished home? I don't have enough nerve to do that.


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## GT11

mas360 said:


> Wow...you spray inside an already finished home? I don't have enough nerve to do that.


I have sprayed inside a few homes, but this was the first time I did it in a nice house! The key is building a good tent around the area and using an airless sprayer. When you walked out of the tent, you couldn't smell the paint at all and I didn't have any paint dust outside of the tent. I also covered any furniture that was within 25' of the tent.

The real key is doing it when your wife isn't there!


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## GT11

*Late night and I have to be up early*

It is late but I had to post an update. Because of a granite screw-up, the tile didn't get grouted but the tile and granite are installed. Hopefully the grouting will be complete by Thursday.


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## thabeezer

You do excellent work.


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## GT11

thabeezer said:


> You do excellent work.


Thanks and I will have a great scotch waiting when this thing is done!!!!


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## GT11

*Ready for the Doors*

This will probably be the last pictures I post for a few weeks because I am finished and waiting on the doors to arrive. I even put everything back in the cabinets so I could finish painting the rest of the room. The next update will include a picture of the finished product and a wee dram of scotch to celebrate!


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## misbhavn

Looks awesome. I wish I had the skillset to do something like that.


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## Gottagofishin

Where's the Wild Turkey? Just kidding. Looks great.


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## mas360

That is absolutely beautiful. Now, you entice me to generate some saw dust in my garage....


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## GT11

Gottagofishin said:


> Where's the Wild Turkey? Just kidding. Looks great.


I am disappointed in you.....look on the shelf in the right lower.....bottle all the way to the right!!!! :cheers:

A well stocked bar always include Jack, Crown and Turkey!


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## GT11

The doors have shipped! It took them a month to get them done but they are on the way and should be here Friday or Monday. It will take me three days to prime and paint them and another day or two to get the glass installed. Hopefully by next weekend I will have a completed bar!


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## GT11

*I can see the finish line!*

The doors finally arrived on Tuesday and I painted and installed them this week. I dropped three doors off to have glass installed and they should be ready by Monday.

I also added filtered water to the bar.


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## MT Stringer

That looks really nice.


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## thabeezer

Looks great


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## GT11

*Finished!*

With great pleasure, I declare this project finished!!!! I installed the three doors with glass panels tonight and I am finished with this project. It really was a pretty easy project and I am very pleased with the results. Also, a big thank you to everyone that complimented me on the project.

I was trying to decide which whisky would be appropriate for a toast and decided on the 16 yo Scapa. Scapa is an Island scotch with a good story behind it and I felt the three guys that struggle daily to keep that distillery alive deserved to christen the bar.


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## Texasgirl44

WOW! That is really niiiiiiice! Congratulations on finishing a great looking project!


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## MT Stringer

That turned out really nice. The lighting perfectly accents the whole setup.


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## GT11

Thanks, I think the lighting is my favorite part.


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## scottrboat

Wow very awesome JOB,,, Need a lil Makers and Makers 46,,, Love the Laphroaig 10yr,, I have to brush my teeth twice after that one,, Ultimate peet.. Love the new Knob Creek Rye.. REAL Whisky,,, w splash of filtered water.... that and a good saltwater fishing read helps me forget about H Town traffic.. ...Also Basils and Haydens are high octane greats...Native HTown Scott , Thx for sharing....


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## live2fish247

Very nice work. I really like the way you took the rails to the floor and brought the toe kick out to them. I built cabinets professionally for 6 years and have never seen or even thought about that. And if you hadn't of said it and posted pics I would have never guessed those were plywood face frames from the finished pics. Looks real good. I just finished my kitchen cabinets and I think Im finished with making my own doors. Too much trouble for the price you can buy them online.lol

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2


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## live2fish247

Another thing is it looks like you get a good finish using that airless. I would assume that's a little easier than the hvlp sprayer. I may have to try that next time. I really hate painting so Im willing to try anything to make it a little less of a pain.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2


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## GT11

I have another post on here of a Kitchen remodel I did this winter. That was the first time I used plywood faces and it was a lot easier than I thought. Since they are painted, you can get away with it. If I were to stain them, I would have used solid wood faces. 

The airless sprayer works great. I haven't used the HVLP, but I have used a regular air powered sprayer. Since the airless sprayer is pumping paint, you don't have to thin it at all and there is very little mist and over spray. I turn the pressure down and it gives me a great finish. Depending on the pressure you use, you can completely cover the doors to a factory smooth finish or put on a thinner finish that is smooth but still allows you to see some of the wood grain. You can also get one coat coverage out of it. It took about 5 minutes per side to paint the doors and 10 minutes for the cabinets. I bought the "professional" version at HD and I think it cost $750 but it is well worth it.


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## TWHJ28

I know someone else who likes MACALLAN


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## GT11

Sweet! At $180 at bottle, I think I would be using a glass though! On the other hand, that is one way to keep your friends away from your Macallan 18.


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## Rubberback

25 year mc nice.


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## GT11

Rubberback said:


> 25 year mc nice.


And now it's half gone since that picture was taken!


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## glennkoks

Great Work. Hopefully my skills advance to that level some day.


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## GT11

I thought I would update some of my old projects while working on the next one. It has been almost a year since I built the whisky bar and it has been a wonderful addition to our home. We used it for our Christmas party and it made serving much easier. It is also a great conversation piece. We also started a little scotch club with the neighbors and we get together almost every Wednesday night (for hump day!!) to sample various scotches. Luckily everyone just has to stumble home since they live next door and across the street.

I can't really think of anything I would have done differently on the build. It looks really nice and has been very functional. I have started to enjoy wines more so maybe a little more wine storage? On the another hand, it keeps the wine inventory (read COST) down by not having more wine storage.


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