DIY minibar for home: step by step with photos

Benefits of using a minibar

A home mini-refrigerator for drinks is a compact piece of furniture for storing an assortment of alcoholic beverages. Capacity and compactness are the main features of refrigeration equipment.

Benefits of creating for home:

1. Compactness. A home refrigerator can be placed even in the smallest room without creating discomfort when moving. Most bar refrigerators can be placed anywhere.
2. A cute refrigerator will decorate any home and add a touch of originality and zest to the design.
3. Thanks to this alcohol storage system, you can remove alcoholic beverages from kitchen shelves and use them for another purpose. In addition, it becomes possible to free up the living room for your own needs.
4. Low cost. If you need to make a refrigerator yourself, you can purchase components at a fairly low price.

Advice. When purchasing, it is better to think in advance about how much alcoholic beverages will be stored in the refrigerator.

What should a home bar have?

If you're not sure where to start, we've put together a list of what a properly stocked home bar should have. But remember that first of all you need to rely on your preferences and take into account your needs when making your final decision.

Strong alcohol

• Vodka. Perhaps this drink requires no introduction. Vodka does not have a strong color, taste or aroma and is ideal for mixing. The main differences between drinks of different brands are in the raw materials (cereals, potatoes, sugar cane) and their texture. For example, Absolut has a silky texture and a light wheat aroma, while Summum feels lighter and has a long, spicy finish.
• Gin. This drink is the base of many popular cocktails, so it's best to keep it on hand. A good place to start is London Dry, a classic, high-quality clear gin such as Bombay Sapphire. Later you can add Yellow Gin (yellow aged in sherry casks) to the bar for variety.
• Whiskey. It is better to have two or three types of drink depending on the purpose. For long thoughts or quiet conversation, save a bottle of scotch, such as Monkey Shoulder or Catto's. And the famous Jack Daniel's is perfect for cocktails.

When stocking your home bar, try to buy two types of spirits from the same category: one for cocktails, one for self-serving.

• Tequila. Typically, Gold tequila is added to cocktails, and silver (Blanco) is consumed in its pure form. A good option for a home bar is Olmeca brand drinks.
• Rum . A pirate's indispensable friend and simply a pleasant drink. Most often, dark rum is served in shots, and light rum is added to cocktails. A good example is Matusalem Platino. It has crystal transparency and a soft, elegant taste with a pleasant sweetness.
• Cognac . Of course, French, from the province of the same name. For a home bar, we recommend A. de Fussigny. The brand’s line includes cognacs with a short aging period (VS), complex perennial drinks, as well as vintage copies. In addition, you can purchase a bottle of brandy for the bar.
• Liqueurs and aperitifs . You can’t do without them when making cocktails. You should have a small collection that includes dry vermouth, as well as orange and cream liqueurs.

Please note that this list does not include wine as it must be stored in an appropriate environment such as a cellar or wine cooler. This applies not only to still wines, but also to sparkling wines.

A home bar should not only have drinks, but also the right glasses for each type.

Soft drinks

The choice of non-alcoholic drinks depends on what kind of cocktails you are going to make. Here is a list of the most commonly used cocktail ingredients:

• Tonic
• Cola
• Sprite
• Orange juice
• Tomato juice
• Pineapple juice

And don’t forget to buy a few sweet syrups, for example, Blue Curacao (not to be confused with liqueur, although no one forbids you to buy it, right?) and Grenadine - they are also necessary for cocktails.

Effective presentation is extremely important for cocktails. But this doesn’t mean you need to set your bar on fire, just beautiful glasses and fresh fruit decorations are enough.

I guess that's all. We hope this little guide helps you stock your home bar. And if you are already inspired, everything you need is already in our catalog.

Types of ready-made minibars for home

There are several types of ready-made refrigerators for the home, which differ in the mobility of the equipment itself or depend on the functional purpose of the room.

Built into upholstered furniture

The home minibar, built into the upholstered furniture, is equipped with everything you might need for a party.

Recently, home bars built into sofas have become very popular. Most mini-fridges are located in the armrests or behind the backrest, but some types are opened by pressing a button on the remote.

Portable

The main convenience of portable minibars is their compactness.

Other benefits:

• a portable mini-fridge can be moved to almost any location;
• it provides space for proper storage of alcoholic beverages, there are built-in compartments for glasses;
• A table is included.

If the apartment does not have enough space to install equipment, then a portable option is the ideal solution.

For the office

The equipment for the office is a special design, usually made in the form of a massive globe on a large wooden stand.

Among the distinctive features are:

1. Solidity. Such an invention immediately speaks of the seriousness and high status of the boss.
2. Compactness. Everything fits inside - alcohol, corkscrew and glasses.

This look is perfect for those occasions when you need to celebrate a successful deal or a colleague’s birthday.

Bar furniture

Furniture should be selected taking into account the interior of the house. The general style of the room should correspond to the home bar, so that against the general background all household elements complement each other perfectly.

No. 3. Minibar cooling system

Minibars and mini-fridges are often confused. Indeed, these two types of devices have much in common, but minibars are distinguished by the presence of transparent or decorated doors and quieter operation. The thing is that they are usually equipped not with the usual compressor cooling system , but with an absorption or thermoelectric one: they not only make less noise, but also allow for more efficient use of the internal space of the minibar, which is very important, given the initially small format of this product.

The most expensive option is adsorption cooling . This is a modern, reliable system that is completely silent. thermoelectric refrigerators are much better : the noise from them is barely audible (it is so low that the product can be safely placed in the bedroom), such minibars are cheaper than adsorption ones, are easier to repair and consume less energy.

, compressor-type minibars continue to be used . Modern technologies can significantly reduce the noise level, and in other respects the compressor system is not inferior to its analogues. Often these minibars are installed in offices, apartments, not the most expensive hotels and even in dachas.

Where should the minibar be located?

If you still decide that you need a mobile bar rather than a stationary one, then the next question in line will be where to place it. Here you should use all your imagination and go in search of interesting places in the house where, purely theoretically, you can place a minibar. These could be:

• places under the roof;
• unused niche in the wall;
• unoccupied space under the stairs;
• balcony or loggia.

Before you study in detail how to make a minibar for your home with your own hands, you need to choose a place so that the future minibar fits perfectly and matches the interior of the entire room.

Mini bar made from scrap items

An equally original item will come from a wine box. To make such a mini bar, you will need a compass to mark holes for bottles on the wood. You also need a sawing tool with which you can cut out holes. For such a box, you can also attach legs from blocks of wood.

For those who think that a thing opened with varnish is trivial, designers advise covering a wine box for a mini bar with postcards.

The globe mini bar is made of wood and polymer and will look great in the living room interior.

A hanging wine stand is made using approximately the same technology. For some reason, it is often called a minibar, although it is another piece of furniture, but with similar functions. For a hanging stand you will need several boards. They are connected to each other, sanded, opened with varnish, paint or decorated in another way. Holes are pre-cut in the boards. And now a little trick: they are attached to the wall using bars, but the distance between the main part of the hanging stand and the wall parallel to it should be equal to the length of the bottleneck.

There is also a lightweight version of the hanging stand, then it will require a durable board of medium width and several bars. With their help, the board is mounted perpendicular to the wall. Holes are first cut in it, the surface of the wood is sanded and varnished. Instead of varnish, paint can also be used, but the best option is a combination of both types of paint and varnish coatings. This shelf is mounted to the wall using liquid nails or self-tapping screws. A fashionable design element is to place on the wall next to such an interior item a still life painting, a reproduction of a famous image of feasting people.

Sometimes funny inscriptions with quotes about the dangers of alcohol abuse, animal figurines and other light-weight, unbreakable accessories are placed on top of such a shelf. After carrying out such work, we can state that the home mini bar is ready!

Types of bars

Before you make a minibar with your own hands, it’s worth determining what types it comes in:

1. A stationary bar, that is, one that has its own permanent place, is suitable for you if you constantly receive a large number of guests at home. Such a bar often occupies an entire room and includes special furniture, glassware for drinking and making cocktails, a large number of shelves for alcohol, refrigerators and display cases.
2. A mobile bar, or otherwise a minibar, can be assembled if it is not possible to allocate an entire room for these purposes. Most often, a minibar is a cabinet with an air conditioning system that is used to store alcoholic beverages. It can be purchased at furniture stores or made independently from scrap materials. However, with a little analysis, anyone will come to the conclusion that it is better to lean towards the second option, since it is cheaper and more convenient in the sense that you can figure out what it will look like and where it will be located.
3. A bar on wheels is a type of mobile bar. Such a device can be stored in some closed place and taken out only when necessary. This minibar is suitable for residents of houses with limited space, but who really want to have such an invention.

What to fill the minibar with?

For some reason, many people are convinced that if they have a minibar with which they can mix cocktails, then they definitely need to fill it with a wide variety of different alcoholic drinks. This is, of course, wrong.

It will be enough to buy only some of the basic and most popular and necessary options: classic vodka, cognac, brandy and liqueur. In addition, you should always store several liters of apple, citrus and grapefruit juice, Coca-Cola, strawberry syrup and cream. When you create cocktails, you will also need some professional tools:

• shaker - a special glass for mixing;
• strainer - a sieve for separating pulp and ice from the cocktail;
• bar spoon - long spoon;
• corkscrew.

There is no need to purchase many types of glasses; only three will be enough: rocks glass, highbull glass and shot glass.

Minibar for the home: why is it needed?

Almost every man dreams of installing a bar in his apartment. This item decorates and gives the living room an unusual look. It doesn't matter what material is used. An old globe is painted with varnish, but a new one can be artificially aged or even simply left in its original form. A bar cabinet for the home is used as a storage facility for elite alcoholic beverages.

Bar functions:

• the highlight of the interior is a hidden piece of furniture in which you can safely store alcoholic beverages;
• storage of wine bottles;
• cooling drinks with the correct location of the cabinet;
• storage of glasses and glasses.

To make your home look more solid, you can put a cabinet for storing wine drinks in the living room. At the same time, you don’t have to buy an expensive item in a designer store; you can make it yourself. The cabinet can have different shapes: globes, canisters, shelves with recesses for glasses.

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Selection of materials

The first step in any business is always planning. We must determine, firstly, what the future minibar will be made of and what size it will be, and, secondly, what we will store in it.

You can make a minibar with your own hands from wood, old chests of drawers or drawers, plastic, or even more exotic materials: PVC pipes or cart wheels. Many people use metal canisters as material for their minibar. But this option is more suitable for men, since such bars are usually located in the garage - in their second home.

There are a lot of ideas for creating this interesting part of the interior. Therefore, you can borrow a few ideas by looking at photos of minibars for your home in the article, and bring them to life with your own hands.

The size of such a bar can also be varied. From a small box with a capacity of up to ten bottles, to a large rack. The main thing is not to overdo it and not make a stationary bar instead of a mobile one.