Coffee & Spirits Bar
In addition to the wine refrigerators, earlier this year the Stewarts purchased a commercial beverage holder, shown in this photo. Typically they store a case of white wine and about four cases of beer here, though the fridge could hold more. To the left of the refrigerator, the Stewarts have placed some wine racks that can hold another 24 bottles. In total, with the refrigerator, the racks and the mini fridges, the couple have space for about 12 cases of wine. Eventually, they plan to do some work to this side of the room as well. This photo shows the view of the basement kitchen from the vantage point of the den, which is just around the corner.Tall refrigerator: Glass door refrigerator, Model No. SCR 1300, Summit Appliance; see more
Over the long weekend, Stewart picked up the butcher block for the countertop at Ikea and found the steel piping for the upper shelf at Home Depot, where he also had it cut to the length he needed. The upper shelf itself is a piece of butcher block donated by a friend. The biggest challenge of this project was mounting the shelving to the wall, which connects to the home’s garage and is made of concrete brick. “I wore down two bits trying to drill through that wall,” Chris Stewart says. “I had to have a friend come over and help me drill the holes.”To get through the wall, Stewart’s friend, who is a commercial architect, used a drill bit designed specifically for poured concrete or masonry. Once Stewart and his friend made the holes, they attached the 1-inch pipes to the flanges and screwed the flanges into the walls with masonry screws, using the holes they’d made with the specialty drill bit. The caps on the end of the pipes are purely decorative.The countertop is actually resting on the two side-by-side refrigerators; Stewart used a circular saw to cut it to perfectly fit around the bump-out in the wall. Each of the wine fridges stands 24 inches wide and holds 53 bottles of wine...
Wine Storage Center at a GlanceWho lives here: Chris and Liz Stewart and their 4-year-old daughter, FleurLocation: McLean, VirginiaWhen Chris and Liz Stewart bought their home outside of Washington, D.C., it had two kitchens: one on the main level and a second in the basement. The couple had no need for two kitchens — but they did have a desire for a place to store their wine collection. “My wife and I are very into wine,” Chris Stewart says.
This shot shows the wine storage center to the right, as well as a blackboard wall where the couple keep their family calendar, as well as a space for whimsical drawing. The den is just beyond, through the opening to the right.
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