Does anyone have a wine rack design they can share..

I had a customer change a design on a cherry cabinet that will be above their refrigerator. This tiny cabinet has become quite a challenge. It is replacing the existing one to make room for a larger fridge and needs to closely match the color of the existing cabinetry. The new dimensions are 16"T x 37 1/2" W x 25"D.

Initially the new fridge was going to be wider but essentially the same height but they went with a different model that is 4" taller which led to the first redesign. The original replacement cabinet was going to have 2 arched doors to match the arched raised panel doors in the rest of the kitchen but these would have glass panels. Given the redesign and the door openings and proportions of the arched doors we decided that they would just not look right ( thank goodness ).

So now the new proposal is to leave the cabinet open and install a wine rack inside. Does anyone have design suggestions for something that isn't super elaborate but will look nice open to the kitchen? They would prefer a diagonal dedign. The only thing I don't have in my shop is a lathe so please keep that in mind.

Thanks

I always try homeowners out with simple shelving. Y'know, shelves that run the width of the cabinet, spaced 4" or so apart. TShelves hold the bottles in the same horizontal position as the more elaborate racks, and they are much much less expensive to build.

Jamie, that is a good practical suggestion. But more importantly a dog gone good sales technique for selling wine racks!!

Thanks Jamie, that would be my first choice. I just realized that I neglected to mention that they want a diagonal design. This is what has me tryimg to figure out a relatively low labor cost solution.

I will edit my original post

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Originally Posted by Evan Stewart

Thanks Jamie, that would be my first choice. I just realized that I neglected to mention that they want a diagonal design. This is what has me tryimg to figure out a relatively low labor cost solution...

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Well, complex design and lost cost don't go together. Compared to shelves, a diagonal rack has lots of joints, lots of pieces of wood to handle, and headaches in finishing. Until I finally got that through my head, I was selling wine racks for free. I finally told myself that if the customer wants the high-labor product, I'll build it, but they'll have to pay for it -- not me! So when folks ask for a wine rack, I quote them what it is actually going to cost to build it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jamie Buxton

Well, complex design and lost cost don't go together. Compared to shelves, a diagonal rack has lots of joints, lots of pieces of wood to handle, and headaches in finishing. Until I finally got that through my head, I was selling wine racks for free. I finally told myself that if the customer wants the high-labor product, I'll build it, but they'll have to pay for it -- not me! So when folks ask for a wine rack, I quote them what it is actually going to cost to build it.

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That has been my experience as well. I have definitely been guilty of giving away extras. This was especially true doing renovation work. I have found the majority of customers when faced with the choice of paying a significant markup for a relatively minor detail or going with a less expensive option they generally choose the latter. Honestly with the small rectangular dimensions I think your original suggestion will work better anyway. I think I'll propose that and see what they say. Thanks

Evan ... attached is a design I did on a cabinet that might provide some ideas. The shelves and racks were the same size and I made them both to fit the movable (32mm) shelf pins. I used solid wood and cut the curves on the bandsaw and then finished with the oscillating drum sander and router. They were polarized for neck and base. I chose the largest diameter base the client had. In the end all faced in (bottoms out) so that the bottles weren't trapped.

Refrigerators are different because they are deeper. I suspect you would want to pull out ... but then would have trouble accessing the back. Might design so that just the back has the bottles and the front has "pantry" swing out units (attached to doors on piano hinges). This would also hide the wine which is a good safety feature. Having exposed wine or booze becomes a tempting break-in target.

You might look at some of the purpose built wine coolers for ideas. In fact, one of the makes (Liebherr?) has wine coolers of the same width as their fridge to allow stacking.

I hope I'm not proposing a hokey solution, but here goes. There are any number of companies online that sell wine cellar racking and accessories. They are set up to offer these components in various sizes that are intended to be put together as kits for custom spaces and situations including very high end wine cellars. Would it make sense to browse the offerings and see if you cannot find a diagonal style wine rack that you can finish to match and incorporate into your cabinet? You might find this avenue to be less expensive than your time.

I don't think there is any product that can rival wine racks for variety of design and materials. Maybe that's why the next owner always tears them out. Sometimes the people who bought them tear them out.

It looks good, Bill. The only issue I have is I think the woman should put down the child before commencing to drink.

If they are committed to diagonal, my comment will not help. I have built two wine cabinets with six parallel levels which were made from 1/2" stock inserted in slots in the sides of the cabinet. The front pieces were "notched" using a Forstner bit and the board cut in half to make two of the rack pieces. A circle cutter was used for the back portion of the racks. IIRC, the front notch is 1 1/2" and the back notch is 4". You can let me know if I should make pictures available.

I was working on a design once, and never followed through. My only suggestion is to make sure that you design to accommodate the various sizes and shapes, as they differ enough to throw things off. Champagne bottles for example, being a lot bigger than a regular bottle.

This is true. Even wine bottles can vary quite a bit in girth and length.

Actually a wine rack above the refrigerator is a horrible idea. Unless they want to store empty bottles of wine, that is the second worst place to store wine. I recently built a new wine cellar for myself. The bottle sizes will range from 2-7/8" to 3-3/4" for most 750ml bottles.

I agree..refrigerators give off lots of heat, and it will rise up to those bottles. bad idea.