Cellar Design

We are in the final stages of building our new cellar and we are about to order our racking. Here is our design. Would love to hear everyone’s suggestions before we make our purchase.

Thanks!

Looks like it will hold about 500 bottles, with a variety of storage options, and a little serving space(?) with glasses, in a 5’ x 6’ space, I think it is very nice.

I agree with Steve that your plan looks very nice.
Having “commissioned” my cellar just last November, I already would appreciate the opportunity to revisit my plan to provide more cells for 750s and larger format bottles ( reducing the triangular storage areas) and utilize more double racking were possible.
Good luck and enjoy!

Its a tight space. Depends upon whether its aesthetics or maximising wine storage is your priority.

All wine cellars run out of space with cartons on the floor etc. Is there capacity and strength in the construction to store cartons (may be six packs) on top of the shelving? Or can you have space for cartons at the base and extend the bottle storage right up to ceiling. (You will need to keep a step ladder handy to access wines from the top. I do that and it works).

Do you really need wine glasses stored in the cellar? Personally, I would do away with it.

Looks nice from here too.

Looks like there’s a lot of room on top of the racking (other than in front of cooling unit). think about getting a topper for racking so you can use that space for OWC or additional storage of some sort. I realize it’s not going to be easy to access, but, hey, storage is storage!

I personally would go with much more double deep single bottle storage, do away with the glasses and minimize the bulk.

In the end (to me at least) its function over form over the long term.

Generally looks pretty good. Before you have space for glasses/display I would find out how many bottles spaces you are losing. I am also not a fan of diamond bulk racking, though it breaks up the visual…not sure if it adds capacity or not. You also might consider double deep on the whole back wall and whether it gains you capacity (less on the sides since they will be shorter). Ultimately you cannot go wrong so the key is to be happy with it from a functionality standpoint.

I can’t say I like the width, height and functionality of the diamond cubes on wall 2, with such a small space IU’d be inclined to get rid of the opening.

Diamond bins and cubes look good but the function is terrible. I’d do rectangle bins on wall 1 & 3 towards the door and the rest as individuals.

Do away with the glass display and add more racks unless you know for sure without a doubt what your max storage will be. I’d go with double deep racks on the back wall and take advantage of the room up top for storing OWC or like others said, more racking. Please post pix of your finished cellar. I bet your excited!

Quick .02c., and only because you asked. I’m sure it will be nice.
Too many diamond bins and in a space so small the glass-hanging section seems useless. It’s too small to linger and drink in there and it takes up rack space which you will run out of if you are as nutty as most here. Looks like about 450-475 bottles.

Are you sure that it will hold the750 ml bottles with very large circumferences?

I would ditch all the cutesy stuff and go for max single bottle storage unless you buy case lots. You will run out of space before you know it.

Disagree with others - diamond bins are great - they store more bottles for the same size versus individual racking. They also store every size. I would, however, ditch the glass storage.

Lose the diamond bins…

TTT

On second thought, this seems better . . . it’s 5x6 without racks. That means about 3x5 with racks - barely enough room for standing comfortably and tasting. I would ditch the idea of having a tasting room in this space, and double deep should get the equivalent of an extra 2 linear feet of racking (you’ll lose a foot on each side wall, but gain 4 feet on back wall.

I have about a 12X6 space and very similar design. I would definitely without a doubt lose the diamonds. Never again. Pain of trying to get to the right bottle. They can fall unless you stick all the same size bottle and ALWAYS wasted space. I would also get rid of the glasses space. I never say - man wish I had less room for wine and more for glasses. Same on the displays. Looks like wasted space on sides and top. If I had to over again - I would go floor to ceiling with the racking.

At end of day, I want to maximize storage but leave room for a shelf to stand up and leave a decanter in. Nothing else really matters in places this small.

PRIMO advice!!!

TTT

If its a tight space, and it looks like it is, you need to make maximum use of the vertical space. Rack it to the ceiling, I would rather be on a ladder/step stool with a single bottle, than trying to wrestle a case up that high. Also you buy six of something that fits perfectly in those diamond bins, you drink down to only two left you stack other bottles on top that don’t fit as well then you digging down for those last two original bottles and disaster.

Agreed.

JD

I took this approach and now wish I had a few diamond racks to store large format bottles and for more flexibility. I would say replace the glass racks with racking, and do just a small amount of diamond racking. Looks nice though.