Having a beautiful custom wine cellar at home is a pride for savvy wine collectors. Being able to showcase your fine wines and reflect your personality and taste in the design of your home wine cellar is such a fulfilling thing.
Here, we are going to look into one of the most daring glass enclosed wine closet for home projects that Custom Wine Cellars Washington DC built for a couple. The owners Erin and Rob wanted to convert a small space of their house into a climate-controlled wine storage room. The space is adjacent to the dining room table and right outside the kitchen.
This contemporary custom wine closet design was certainly a doable one. But some aspects of the preparation were really challenging, and the construction team got only a few months to complete the custom wine closet.
The team had to prepare the walls for refrigeration, reroute the electrical outlets, and consider the pantry at the back wall.
Preparing the Area
Demo the existing wall coverings
For this Washington DC wine closet, it was vital to demo the existing wall to determine if it was stable enough to accommodate a self-contained cooling unit. After demoing the wall, the team at Custom Wine Cellars Washington DC sealed the walls and ceiling to ensure effective insulation for this climate-controlled custom wine closet.
Determine the number of bottles to store and then the size of the wine racking
The clients specified that they have a total of 632 bottles of different sizes. With this specification, the design team agreed that the custom wine closet should have a height of eight feet, width of 7 feet, and depth of 2 feet. The plan below shows
Wall Extension
Wall extension was needed to add more space and make movement easier inside the wine closet. The Custom Wine Cellars Washington DC team was able to widen the space by creating a double-board frame.
Choosing the Best Refrigeration System for a Glass Enclosed Wine Closet for Home
Being wine enthusiasts, the clients already acknowledged the need to install a cooling unit inside the glass enclosed wine closet. The group carefully decided which wine cellar cooling product to use considering the narrow space of the custom wine closet.
The team and the clients agreed that the best refrigeration unit to use is the CellarPro 1800. This choice is just perfect for the small wine closet because it is portable, and it can be mounted through the wall.
The CellarPro 1800 cooling unit was installed into a small square opening such that its back part is facing the pantry. With this set up, the cooling unit gets fresh air from the pantry, and then the hot air is exhausted to a space just above the wine closet.
Enhancing the Look
Premium Redwood was the wood type chosen for the custom designed wooden wine racks. This wood has a light, natural color with pinkish tonal quality that is very pleasing to the eye.
Lighting was added to enhance the look of the contemporary Washington DC wine closet. This made the bottles on the wine rack display row pop out beautifully!
The Design Features
Below are the main features of this custom wine closet project:
- 7′ x 8′ x 2′ (width, height, depth)
- Bottle capacity of 632
- Wooden wine racks made of unfinished Premium Redwood
- 3 3/4″ x 3 3/4″ individual bottle openings that can house Oregon Pinot Style, standard Champagne, and most Zinfandel and Syrah bottles
- Label-forward horizontal display row that fits 750ml and 1.5L bottles
- Tabletop: Double-deep Premium Redwood with a lacquer finish (this protects the wood from spills and scratches)
- Upper racks: Single deep individual bottle storage opening with high-reveal display rows
- Lower racks: Double-deep square bins for bulk storage and individual bottle storage openings for 750ml bottles
- Base and crown moldings
- Barolo style dual paned glass doors in Alder wood with rustic stain
A Successful Custom Wine Closet for Home Project
This project was started May 2015 and was completed August of the same year. With only about three months to finish this custom wine closet, the output is amazing! Erin and Rob were so happy with the results and the kind of workmanship that the team showed.
Starting your Custom Wine Closet Washington DC Project
If you have a custom wine closet Washington DC project in mind, choose Custom Wine Cellars Washington DC. They are a member of the Wine Cellar Designers Group, which is a group of contractors, builders, manufacturers, and sales people who aim to promote quality standards in the construction of custom wine cellars for residential and commercial settings.