We’re building a cellar in our basement that will feature individual bottle slot racks, site built by our contractor. The original intent was to use all-heart redwood, but he is having an extremely difficult time finding material here in the central plains. The contractor has canvassed a 5 state area and still hasn’t found anything close to the quantities we need. He’s now suggesting that we consider an alternate material for the racks. What’s our next best choice? I see mahogany on the websites for a number of the “semi-custom” rack companies. Is that a good option? I know I don’t want pine or cedar, at least.
Was going to suggest cedar as an alternative - not sure why you’d reject it, as it has a lot of similarities with redwood.
That said, mahogany is highly regarded for use in wine cellars, so if you can find it in necessary quantities you’ll likely be happy with the results. (I have redwood racking - prefab - and cedar siding in my cellar.)
Smell I would think
Redwood is beautiful, but not necessary as the wine cellar is not exposed to sun and rain. I see nothing disadvantageous to using fir, or any hardwood if you want the look. Mahogany wood that is available is plantation raised, and not special at all.
We have mahogany and like it very much.
Yes, the objection to Cedar is smell. I suppose there may be less aromatic cedars, but I’d prefer no smell. i’m also hoping for a fairly uniform color, and the cedar I’ve been around has pretty wide color variation.
It’s worth noting that the cellar door will be Sapele mahogany, and the overall theme of the basement is tropical / tiki bar. So a tropical wood like mahogany would be somewhat appropriate. I’d probably use “traditional” mahogany that has a more reddish cast than the Sapele.
My wife has always liked Cherry and Walnut for furniture, but I’m not sure it’s appropriate for cellar racks. If it’s ok, it would be worth considering.
cherry
Aromatic red cedar and western red cedar are different woods (different species)
I used western red cedar in my cellar for the walls, put a finish on it, and there’s no cedar smell.
FWIW, Walnut and cherry are both extremely nice woods as well.
I just finished doing a wine cellar for my oldest son, he bought mahogany racks from wine enthusiast on their Black Friday sale, 450 bottle capacity with slots wide enough to handle Champagne, burgundy and Bordeaux width bottles.I must say they are furniture grade in looks, and a piece of cake to assemble, with pre drilled holes.
Cost was $1500 all in ,tax and shipping inc.I personally have redwood in my 25+ year old cellar, but would buy mahogany in a minute for the$$
Who doesn’t like the smell of cedar, has zero effect on the wine.
It also prevents moth taint.
White oak, excellent moisture resistance
Any hardwood should be fine. As should the softwoods, as mentioned. Cedar won’t smell very long either. It may smell while you’re cutting and putting it together, but in short order, that smell pretty much disappears. You can also use oak, which is widely available and common.
There’s nothing at all wrong with cherry or walnut, both of which are very beautiful and expensive. Cherry will darken considerably over time. Some woods have a more pronounced color shift than others. If you want to retain the original look, use a water-based polyurethane, which won’t yellow with time. Or leave the wood unfinished, but it’s easier to clean if you finish it.
A little bit? No one much I imagine. A sealed room built entirely by it? No thanks
A whole room would be a little much agreed, I have done just the ceiling with good results, if I recall on my cellar 6 or so months for little to no smell.It does make a beautiful look for a ceiling
Let a dedicated racking company build them. We use Vigilant for custom racking. You can design it or they will offer a design for free, just send your room dimensions. The wine rack my local custom carpenter built looks out of place or should have swill bottles stored on it. There are several good racking companies out there and it is hard to build racking as cheaply as they sell racking, unless you are retired with nothing to do for 3 months and have all the tools.
last cellar was mahogany. The one being built now is using alder. Mahogany was 20% more expensive.
Ahem.
I have a Mahogany wood cellar. Love the look and quality of it. Was supposed to be more money than Redwood but he did not charge me any extra as he some left over from his previous job. However I was stupid to think a 1000 bottle capacity would suffice…
We’re going to explore African Mahogany as a first choice. Sure, it’s likely to be plantation raised, but the grain character will match the other tropical woods in the room better than any native North American hardwood.