Our guide to creating the perfect home cocktail bar
A Home Cocktail bar is a fun addition to any home, and it can be more than just a cocktail trolley or a designated ‘drinks shelf’! Here, we’re going to share some of our secrets on how to get the perfect cocktail bar at home.
Bespoke drinks cabinet
A bespoke drinks cabinet is a popular request in many of our projects, and coming up with drinks cabinet ideas is something our joinery team is more than happy to do. Very often there isn’t a ‘cabinet’ as such, it can simply be an area within the bespoke cabinetry that is designated as the cocktail area. In the kitchen, we find it’s a good idea to allocate a couple of open shelves or perhaps a glazed dresser-style cabinet as the cocktail cabinet. This type of cabinet can look like a regular kitchen cabinet – such as a breakfast cupboard, but for drinks and cocktails. This option is popular and works well when there’s a wine chiller/cellar in the kitchen. As so many of our clients entertain at home, whether it’s a casual kitchen supper with guests gathered around the island, or a more formal dinner party, we quite often create more than one drinks area in a home.
Cocktail cabinets
Let’s discuss the traditional idea of a cocktail cabinet. Our Joinery team can create a cabinet within a dining room, living room, cinema room, or just within the kitchen layout. The main requirements are that there’s an area to display and store bottles, some shelf space for a selection of glasses, room for accessories such as an ice bucket, and then all the little cocktail cabinet essentials – knife, lemon squeezer, stirrers, bowls for herbs, garnishes and olives, sliced fruits and so on (depending on the level of cocktail creativity!). As far as the joinery is concerned, our team can design fully fitted bespoke cabinetry that can include illuminated shelves, pull-out surfaces, a cutting surface for slicing lemons and garnishes, a wine rack, and perhaps some spice-style racks for the Angostura, Tabasco, syrups and other ingredients. A mirrored back to the cocktail/drinks area is a lovely idea, we often suggest a vintage style silvered or mottled finish, which adds a party atmosphere to the room. The lighting is hugely important, and alongside designing the illuminated shelves we will also be looking at the overall lighting in the room. Smart lighting systems that can provide lots of different lighting levels, to suit different occasions, from an intimate dinner party to a lively party are a good choice.
Modern drinks tables
Sometimes we may just create a modern drinks table, rather than a fully-fledged liquor cabinet. A drinks table can be similar to a bar cart or trolley, with the advantage that it can be moved around according to the location of the party, whether it’s a nice and cosy indoor party or an al-fresco summer get-together. A drinks table doesn’t have to be huge, but it should have two surfaces – the upper for the bottles and glasses to be used and for pouring/mixing/serving; the lower shelf or cupboard for storing the backup supplies.
We’ve recently seen some clever ideas for cocktail and drinks-related entertaining. A practical idea is the Accessory Trough from the 1810 Company – it’s a 900mm ice trough set into an island or work surface. It can be filled with ice to chill several bottles of champagne or wine at a time, and when it’s not being used as a chiller it can be used for pots of fresh herbs or greenery. This is something our joinery team can build into a cabinet or island for a flush and integrated approach. We were very taken by the Kaelo bottle chiller, which can be installed into a work surface, comes as a flush or under-mounted model, and has three settings to either maintain the opening temperature, Red Wine mode to maintain the bottle at 14-18 degrees or Boost to chill a bottle in 30 mins. There’s also a colour-changing lighting rainbow effect to add to the atmosphere. Otherwise, if the kitchen has a double-bowl sink or an additional smaller prep sink, fill one with ice to keep bottles nicely chilled for larger gatherings.
What should you have in a cocktail cabinet?
That’s a rather open-ended question, as it depends on whether it’s a cocktail cabinet for day-to-day use or for a particular party when specific cocktails are going to be offered. But as a general guide, we like our cocktail cabinets to be kitted out with the following:
A good selection of specific cocktail glasses – six to twelve of each as a starting point, depending on your party and entertaining style!
Coupe – stemmed glasses with a rounded bowl that are perfect for shaken cocktails, without ice, served from a cocktail shaker. Also known as champagne saucers, although champagne and sparkling drinks are generally served in flutes nowadays.
Martini – conical stemmed glass for a simple, classic martini. Often used for margaritas too.
Highball – a tall glass used for cocktails that contain crushed ice, a large proportion of mixer and garnish, such as a mojito or bloody Mary
Lowball – a short glass, usually with a heavy base, used for serving neat liquor such as whisky. Also called an Old fashioned or rocks glass – as ‘on the rocks’
Flute - a tall, elegantly stemmed glass for champagne and sparkling drinks – the smallmouth stops bubbles disappearing too quickly. Also used for champagne cocktails.
Our cocktail bar must-haves
A beautiful tray or platter for all the accessories, which should include a bottle opener, foil cutter, cocktail shaker, measures, a selection of mixers and tonics, cocktail napkins, coasters, cocktail sticks straws and stirrers, a full ice bucket that can be replenished easily (keep an eye on the ice supplies in the freezer). And the final must-have is a good repertoire of cocktail recipes – so we think some cocktail rehearsals could be in order for special occasions! The Home Cocktail Bible by Olly Smith is a very good place to start.