Since there seem to be a number of cellar related threads going, I thought I’d start a new one on a topic I don’t recall seeing. Opposite end of the pretty, custom, multi-tens-of-thousands high-end spend pro cellars. There must be enough engineers, handy, crafty people here. Lets see your self made, hacks, mods & totally utilitarian cellars. Racks, shelving, cooling or old school space ideas. I’ll take & post some pics of my overflow crawlspace passive cellar, when I have a chance.
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Totally utilitarian, that’s my cellar. Exterior door, 2x6 studs, ventilated shelving, lots of box space. But this stays a nice constant 61 degrees using an almost 20 year old Breezaire unit. Now that parts of my collection are ready to drink, though, I’d like a higher rack-to-box ratio 
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My girlfriend at the time, now my wife, helped me frame and insulate this. I bet there aren’t too many guys whose wives helped them frame their cellar .
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Fine, fine, ok. Once more.
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Joe, is that whole left side bedrock?
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What about a cellar made from the Wine Enthusiast modular rack kits?
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Took me 18 months to build start to finish. Love it, can’t imagine ever doing it again.
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Lets see your self made, hacks, mods & totally utilitarian cellars.
Don’t assume something people build on their own is going to be a hack. I wouldn’t hire someone to build a closet any more than I’d hire a gardener or a cook.
I don’t think he means “hack” in the “lack of talent” sense, but the “workaround” sense.
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???
Wire racking, unobstructed airflow.
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and the purpose of this is . . . .
Nice work. That is a beautiful cellar.
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To irritate wine board people? Economics? Preference? Easier line of sight?
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+1. Nice job.
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Yes - cheap, functional, quick/easy to cut to size and install.
C’mon guys, no pretty cellars allowed .
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Clint, Nice looking cellar. Did you use unfinished walnut?
Here is mine that I build under the house in my walk-in crawl space. I did everything myself including the racks. The racks are double deep on the left size, total capacity of 680 bottles. It took about 3 months and was a ton of work, but I’ve been very happy with it.
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Yes, all unfinished walnut. You can’t tell from the pics, but I also have walnut board on the walls instead of paint for a more “cabinetry” look.
Are you using that window a/c tricked out as your cooling unit?
I was lucky (or intelligent enough, depends on how you see it) to buy a house with a cellar space completely underground built into the hill, 15m2 … so it´s completely passive with a temp. of 12°c (summer) and 8°c (winter).
I designed racks on 3 sides made out of (very cheap) wooden bars (those for roof construction under the bricks) … 2" x 2" vertically and 2" x 1" horizontally, with bins for 12 and 6 bottles each, and some single bottle racks.
The 4th wall is for stocking cases … but there are also many cases in the middle of the room actually, and due to the increased # of bottles I have to store cheaper bottles outside (which is also quite cool).
Very happy with it principally … not high-tech nor “showy”, but inexpensive - storage costs me a few cents per bottle.
Only problem is to keep track of the contents, which is due to a lack of care in tracking what I buy and drink.
I have created an access-file exactly for my personal needs that works very fine - but the work of keeping it update is my main problem …
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