CUSTOM KITCHEN DESIGN… INCLUDING A WINE CELLAR OR WINE CLOSET!

by Arizona Custom Home Builder on September 17, 2009

Custom Kitchen Design Often Includes Areas for Wine Storage!

No longer restricted to wine cellars, although the cellar remains popular, wine storage often includes wine closets, wine refrigerators and a combination of each. These can be within the kitchen, or a separate wine storage area, but certainly begin with good custom kitchen design. At Woodridge Custom Builders LLC, more and more of our customers want some kind of wine storage in their custom home.

Depending on one’s love for wine determines the extent that which a custom homebuyer wants to spend on dedicated space and financially on wine storage. For wine lovers and wine collectors, there is nothing like a wine cellar. If collecting individual and unique bottles of wine is a preference, a wine cellar with individual racks is the way to go. If one has a few favorite wines but little variation, bulk storage or bin storage may be the way to go. The wine racks can be constructed of redwood, favored by collectors for its natural beauty or pine which can be stained to match the other woods in a custom home. A cooling unit is necessary for a wine cellar; the selection of the cooling unit is determined by the size of the cellar, the location of the wine cellar in the home and where the cooling unit exhausts.

During planning and the custom kitchen design phase one must decide if a wine cellar is desired, or a wine closet may be enough. Rather than construct a complete room with its own cooling unit, a wine closet is an alternative solution. A wine closet is not a cooled room, but just that, a closet or storage area dedicated for wines. These closets can be as beautiful as a wine cellar and just as functional when space is reserved for opening bottles of wine in addition to wine storage.

As AZ custom home builders, some of our customers opt for a wine refrigerator. These refrigerators are absolutely amazing. Some small units will store up to 50 bottles of wine and can be built-in as an under-counter refrigerator in a wet bar or butler’s pantry area. Others are almost two-feet wide but as tall as a standard kitchen refrigerator. These can installed in the kitchen area if desired or wine closet.

The first photo below highlights the features of a wine closet. This walk-in closet includes beautiful alder wood cabinets and wine racks. This family had a few wines they adored and preferred to have more bulk or bin storage than individual storage as shown above the counter. There is also a display area for specific wines. The counter area in this room holds the wine opener and serves as a great place to open wine bottles. The wrought iron door accentuates the wine closet with a decorative grape leaf design. The second photo is also a wine closet, with similar wrought iron door, yet this closet includes an under-counter refrigerator with pullout drawers as well as above counter wine racks. The third photo is a butler’s pantry with a dedicated wine refrigerator placed under the counter. Whatever a custom home buyer desires, there are endless possibilities for designing and creating beautiful wine storage areas in the home. Good planning and custom kitchen design is essential to get exactly what a customer is looking for.