Wine Cellar Designs
By April Rounsville
Interested in building your own custom cellar? Only you can add that custom touch and accommodate your specific requirements for storing your collection. Today there are a number of options available to those that wish to build their own custom cellar. The best news is that there are cellar designs for everyone from the avid do-it-yourselfer that has advanced woodworking skills, to the complete novice.

So you want to build your own custom cellar, but don't want to build racks from scratch. There is a simple solution that will allow you to make your own custom rack design. Modular racks are typically available in different grains and finishes, with the least expensive generally being a wood like pine. Most modular rack dealers will offer other materials such as red cedar or finished wood too. Of course you can always save some money and finish the wood yourself.

A modular cellar supplier should supply all of the necessary hardware that will be needed to assemble the racks that you have ordered. If, for some reason, they make you figure out hardware needs yourself, I'd say choose another rack distributor because most of them sell the hardware with the rack materials.

One of the nice things about modular racking is that you can mix and match different types and styles



of modular racking to meet specific needs or create a unique style. There are many racking companies that offer skirting pieces and crown molding so that you can easily 'tie together' different styles of cellar racking materials and types.

Many cellar racking companies have individual pieces that can help you further customize your own modular racking system. For example, a wood table top piece can be used to top off a short racking portion and convert it into a useful bench space.

There are built in glass racks that are made to fit snugly within a rack system. A good place for one of these individual units would be above the table top piece mentioned above. This would add to the ambience as well as functionality of your custom modular racking system.

Typically, the most economical type of modular cellar racking are dozen bin racks. These types of modular racking each hold twelve bottles of wine. This can be especially appropriate for those that buy their in dozens.

You can also find racking for cases of different types. There are two main types of case racking, one is for cases of standing and one is for short wooden cases. If you store in the bottles original packaging from time to time, this can be a very attractive and useful way to store the bottles.
April used to be a bartender with over 7 years of experience. She later retired to become a freelance wine critic and a writer for a number of wine books. In these books, she specializes on finding the right glassware and utensils for your bar. Visit www.ebarware.com for a list of "must haves" such as wine cellar equipment for your bar.