Tips for Putting Together a Home Bar

With quarantine has come boredom, but it’s also been a chance for people to adjust, enhance, or completely change areas of their homes. The inability to go out and be social in a bar or restaurant setting the way we used to can be difficult. Sometimes, we just want to drink our favorite spirit and socialize a bit. Perhaps it’s time to set your intentions and energy on putting a bar together in your basement or garage. Here are a few tips for putting together a home bar to help you create your new entertainment focal point.

Furniture

After you’ve decided where to build a bar area in your home, you’ll want to start by acquiring the necessary items. First, obtain entertainment furniture, such as a bar, stools, and perhaps some shelving and racks. Whether you build from scratch or purchase these items, you can’t have a bar without a bar, right?

Refrigeration

Though you have a refrigerator in your kitchen, it’s best to have a dedicated refrigerator for your home bar. It can be miniature or full size, depending on the space and how much you want to keep cold. When you’re entertaining in the future—and, most likely, your family for now—it may be worth not having to trek back to the kitchen every time you need a cold beverage. Often, you can get a mini fridge that fits comfortably beneath or behind your bar to allow for more room to move around.

Glassware

Once you’ve set up your established space, you’ll want to add glassware. You could store some in the refrigerator, such as pint glasses for beer or soda. Shelving for glassware might also be worth it, depending on the type of glassware you desire. If you drink a lot of wine, you’ll need a good number of wine glasses and a safe way to store them since they are fragile.

As mentioned, pint glasses are an excellent addition to a bar, as they are very versatile and tend to be durable. Cocktail glasses are great to have on hand, and for those rowdy nights, perhaps stock a few shot glasses as well. Consider the glassware and storage you’ll need based on what you drink and will serve at your home bar.

Spirits

When stocking your home bar with spirits, think about how long different alcohol types last. For example, liquor keeps really well, but wine and beer are only good for a limited time after they’re open before they lose taste, appeal, freshness, or carbonation. You’ll have already chosen your glassware based on your favorite drinks, so you obviously have some in mind already. With most people still social distancing, it’s best to start with a few bar staples and build up your stock as things begin to level out and normalize.

There are only a few tips for putting together a home bar. Every situation is specific to your preferences, your home setup, and what you’re going to stock your bar with. Taking these features into account will help you prepare for many types of bar options. The first step is setting up the bar surfaces and surrounding furniture so that you have somewhere to build drinks and sit. The rest will come as you make decisions about must-haves for your entertaining space.

FAQ