Do you have a dream about having a gorgeous wine room? Do you have a spot in your current house in mind or are you building from the ground up? Is this a new idea for you and you have no idea where to start? If any of these apply to you - then this post is just for you.

Planning a wine room can be a daunting task. Whether you are considering adding refrigeration, planning for glass walls, or “simply” trying to determine the best layout for aesthetics and maximum bottle storage - so many factors have to be considered. 

Step 1: Think About What You Want

Consider the following questions:

Are you wanting a small wine room/more of a wine closet?

Do you want an under the stairs wine cellar or maybe one for your basement?

Do you want it to be easily viewable/accessible?

How much wine do you want it to be able to hold?

Will you be able to fill the space so it doesn’t look empty?

Are you needing refrigeration?

What sort of entrance/opening will it have? Sliding metal and glass doors? Glass doors?

What sort of displays are you going with? Metal? Wood?

Will you need mounted shelving? Are you going to want a wine display table?

Step 2: Determine The Space

After you’ve decided on what you want - now you need to see what’s doable. If you already have the space - perfect! Move on to the next step. However, in some cases, you may be building something from scratch which means you will need to get with a designer/architect/contractor to figure out where you can put it. This is even more applicable when building a larger custom wine cellar as you will need to plan for adequate and efficient refrigeration.

Step 3: Plan the Layout’s “1st Draft”

After you’ve figured out where you are going to put the wine room/wine cellar/wine closet, now it’s time to plan the initial layout. Keep in mind that this is the first draft and will likely need tweaking along the way. This is a good time for you to take some initial measurements of your own and consider where you would like everything to be. For some people, this may be the most daunting step - if this stage feels like a bit much - go ahead and call in some help early by moving on to the next step - whether that be a designer, architect, or a wine room expert (like us!).

Step 4: Bring in Some Knowledge

Now that you have a solid starting plan to work with/or if you need a little extra help in planning, it’s time to call in the people who do this sort of thing for a living. After all, a wine room represents a significant investment - especially the larger wine cellars, and this isn’t the sort of situation where you want to skimp on the details. The last thing you need is to order things for your custom wine room and have it not fit.

Involve your interior designer, an architect, a GC, a wine room expert - whoever you have working with you on this project in the process. They can help to take measurements and give advice to help you get exactly what you want - AND NEED. It can be easy to have an idea that’s not practical or doable when it’s not your field of expertise - and this is where bringing in outside knowledge comes into play.

At this point, you can work with them to develop the final plan and get some drawings made up so you have the opportunity to visualize the end goal. This includes the layout as well as refrigeration, final vendor selection for glass and wine displays/wine storage, etc.

Step 5: Prep the Space

Now that you have a plan in place, it’s time to prep the space. Now, it’s likely that most of this will be done by someone else on your behalf, but this is where making sure you have appropriate support in your wall for shelving (like plywood blocking) and mounted wine racks comes into play. Luckily, there are heavy duty wine racks like ours that can be mounted without the need of studs/blocking - however, it’s always ideal if you have some.

Another example of space prepping involves using tape to mark where you plan to place wine racks and shelving.

This will also be the most likely stage for walls to be painted, the flooring to be finished, and maybe even the glass enclosure put into place depending on the size of your project.

NOTE: This stage is often when the most significant/unexpected design changes may end up taking place. For example, if there was a trim change or an outlet was added/moved, a change in ceiling height due to a suspended/dropped ceiling - etc. all of this will have an effect on the overall design. Be sure to stay in constant communication with your wine display vendor about your plan and be sure to understand what their policies are when it comes to making changes to your order.

Step 6: Final Measurements/Install

At this point, you are ready to take those final measurements and finish your wine room installation. Make sure to either read up on how best to install your wine racks or hire a pro team to install them for you for your peace of mind.

Step 7: Enjoy it!

You have your new wine room/wine cellar/or wine closet and now that the project is done, you can just sit back and enjoy it.

We hope this has helped you and if you are looking for some help with planning your wine room - be sure to reach out to us at questions@urbanironcraft.com as we are always happy to help!

For additional inspiration - check out our Instagram to see more of our installs.