Tips For Sizing Your Bar Cabinet To Fit Small Spaces
Having an elegant home bar to store wine, spirits, and barware is a wonderful amenity, but finding the space for it can be tricky in a small home. Fortunately, there are many compact bar cabinet designs made specifically to fit in limited areas. With some careful planning and selection, you can install a bar cabinet that takes full advantage of every inch while seamlessly blending with your existing decor.
From narrow footprints to interior storage hacks, keep these essential tips in mind when shopping for a bar cabinet scaled to maximize your square footage.
Take Precise Room Measurements
Before even beginning your bar cabinet search, carefully measure the exact dimensions of the space you plan to place it in. This includes height, width, and depth. Account for any existing architectural details as well like baseboards or moldings. Consider the flow of furniture and traffic around the area too. You want to avoid sizing a cabinet that ends up cramping the room. This upfront step will allow you to zero in on scaled-down cabinets guaranteed to fit.
Opt For Compact Footprint Designs
Once you know the precise area you are working with, look for bar cabinets specifically engineered for small spaces. Many manufacturers now offer narrow or slim profile options with a smaller footprint compared to standard cabinets. Vertical designs, including tall cabinets and towers, are excellent space savers. They store more while taking up less valuable floor area. Freestanding cabinets typically claim less area than built-in cabinetry as well.
Evaluate Interior Storage Capacity
Storage capacity is a crucial consideration for small-space bar cabinets. After all, the entire point is having ample room to organize liquor bottles, glassware, bar tools, and accessories. Compact cabinets designed for tight spaces are specifically engineered with limited storage volume in mind. Look for integrated racks, shelves, interior dividers, pull-out trays, and other space-saving elements that make the most of the storage. Evaluate your overall needs to ensure the cabinet's storage capacity can accommodate everything.
Consider Portable and Modular Options
Movable bar carts provide wonderful versatility in small homes where space is at a premium. They can easily roll from room to room as needed. Modular storage cubes and shelves are adaptable options as well, allowing you to reconfigure them as needs evolve. Both mobile and modular cabinets provide flexibility difficult to achieve with stationary built-in cabinetry.
Choose a Style Complementing Your Home
Just because it is compact does not mean you have to sacrifice style! Today's space-saving bar cabinets come in a diverse range of interior design styles. Look for sleek contemporary or mid-century modern options with clean lines. Consider industrial-chic cabinets featuring a mix of wood and metal. Or go for classic charm with cabinets sporting glass doors, built-in wine racks and louvered fronts. Whether you want understated or eye-catching, you can find a scaled-down bar cabinet aligning with your overall home's design aesthetic.
Incorporate Multi-Functional Features
By selecting a bar cabinet with built-in elements serving multiple purposes, you can fulfill all your storage needs in a smaller footprint. For example, cabinets with wine bottle racks, stemware holders, and pull-out trays for bar accessories consolidate everything in one furniture piece. Some even have flip-down countertops for food prep or glass chilling. Wall-mounted pegboards or backsplashes outfitted to hang barware take advantage of vertical space. Every inch of storage working hard for you is critical in compact surroundings.
Add Storage-Maximizing Interior Organizers
The interior fit-out of your small-space bar cabinet significantly impacts storage functionality. Clever elfa-style organization systems, adjustable shelves, and pull-out trays increase access and capacity. Glass racks keep stemware upright and secured. Removable interior dividers customize compartments to fit various bottle sizes. Even lighting, such as LED strips or puck lights, helps items remain visible. Optimizing the cabinet's inner workings is just as important as its outer footprint when space is tight.
A thoughtfully designed and properly sized bar cabinet opens up a world of stylish entertainment possibilities even in the most pint-sized urban apartments or limited spaces. Keeping scale and dimensions front of mind while shopping allows you to tailor the piece seamlessly to your existing layout. Compact footprints, moveable flexibility, multi-functional elements, interior organizers and a style suited to your home combine to create the ultimate space-saving cabinet. Cheers to finally maximizing that unused corner with your own elegant home bar built for small spaces!