The best joinery and design ideas for a wine cellar
A wine cellar is an increasingly popular feature that we are asked to include in our interior plans. Traditionally a wine cellar is in the basement of the home but not all our projects have a basement, so we create bespoke wine racks, wine cellars under stairs, and wine cellar shelving to suit our client’s unique requirements
WINE CELLAR IDEAS
Individual requirements for a wine cellar or wine storage area vary tremendously – our clients may simply require us to create a space for a built-in or freestanding wine cabinet, such as those by Sub Zero Wolf or we may be designing Joinery and working out the optimum conditions and positioning for a separate wine room. Each project has different requirements, and those requirements are governed by the number of bottles of wine in our client’s collection. Serious collectors may want to house anything from several hundred to a thousand or more bottles, as they may be laying down collections for several years to come – perhaps for the future coming of age, graduation, and wedding gifts or celebrations! Others may want more modest spaces for storing their favourite wines in the perfect conditions so there is always a correctly stored bottle ready to open. Whatever the situation, our designers will work closely with our Joinery team to come up with the best wine storage system.
WINE CELLAR BASEMENT
The basement is traditionally the most suitable and desirable place for storing wine. Whether the location is a newly constructed basement, or an existing cellar space that needs updating and refining, our Joinery team will be able to build and design bespoke wine cellar storage racks and shelving systems to fulfil each client’s needs. Our designers will discuss numbers and concepts to get an idea of the amount of storage space required, whether horizontal or angled shelves are required, and if the Joinery should match other bespoke themes in the home. Access to the basement will be worked out, as there may be some re-configuration required to enable easy entry and an element of temperature control. The basement wine cellar doesn’t have to be an entire room, as such. There are some wine cellars that descend to the floor via a spiral staircase, such as those from Spiral Cellars. Under-stair storage is a popular concept for a wine collection too and is very suited to bespoke Joinery – our team can build wine storage areas that are exactly tailored to the space available, making good use of odd angles and otherwise under-used spaces.
THE WINE ROOM
Wine cellar design can sometimes be quite straightforward. It may be the case that a particular room will be designated as the ‘wine room’ and then it will be up to our designers and Joinery team to furnish that room – or a single wall of that room – with bespoke shelves and racks to hold the desired number of bottles. A wine room can have its own temperature control system or can be split into enclosed sections – often fully glazed - that can have individual temperature controls. The wine room can be designed as a separate wine wall in a study or library too. Our creative designers can work with our Joinery experts to conjure up perfectly fitted and bespoke solutions for all eventualities, combining open display shelves and enclosed cabinetry.
THE FINER DETAILS
One of the questions we often have to consider is ‘what is the correct temperature for wine storage in a wine cellar?’ The answer depends upon the design and layout of the room. Individual wine cabinets have their own temperature and humidity settings, vibration controls, and UV-resistant tinted glass doors. A wine cabinet with individually controlled storage zones allows for red and white wines (and champagne) to be stored at their optimum temperatures. As far as the flooring for a wine room or cellar is concerned, hard floor coverings such as timber, tiles, and flagstones are preferred, and carpet is usually avoided. For larger cellars, a wine cellar cooling unit may be required. Lighting needs to be precise and easily controlled, the preference is for lighting that doesn’t generate any heat. As with all our projects, our designers are able to collaborate with experts to achieve the best possible results for our clients, so that their wine collections are stored and displayed in the finest conditions for future enjoyment.