How To Build Your Own DIY Bar Cabinet On A Budget

Nothing makes us happier than constructing something for the family while not doing anything for our home. What a fun undertaking! We desired to ensure that this DIY bar cabinet has a few features, including:

• Sufficient storage
• A place where wine bottles might be stored openly
• An area for storing
• Lots of room to create entertaining drinks

After several sketching and design iterations, we finally settled on a hutch bar cabinet layout. Additionally, we thought it looked beautiful on top of everything else. Ready to construct your own? Let’s get DIYing now!

What You Need To Know Before Building Your Own DIY Bar Cabinet

We offer all the information you need for a bar cabinet, whether you’re looking for a corner bar cabinet or a straightforward home bar unit to pour your drink. Imagine that you are seated at a pub that is not particularly busy. In the background, your favorite music is playing. Your favorite beverages are arranged in a row. You can visit this bar. Do not be shocked!

Right in your own house, it is doable. Simply having a bar cabinet in the house will do. Now, it makes sense that you could be perplexed about how to set up a bar in your house. And besides, the bar would be a place to relax alone and occasionally host others. We’ll get you there, so don’t be concerned.

Let’s Locate A Bar

Once you grasp the many advantages of owning a home bar and all the accessible alternatives, you will spot the right bar cabinet in no time. As you can see, many different bar cabinets are available for your house. These cabinets come in various shapes, sizes, uses, and storage configurations. To converse about each of them is ideal. What purpose does a home bar cabinet serve?

Believe it or not, having a bar in your house has several advantages. 

• Savor the brands and spirits of your choosing.
• Work as a bartender creating various flavor mashes
• Drop by whenever you like, whether it’s late at night or midday.
• You are protected from the dangers of driving while intoxicated
• A higher standard of hygiene and safety

So how should you select a bar cabinet to build?

Understand The Different Types

Bars That Hang On The Wall

These are the ideal choice for storing and showcasing your elegant collection. The units are quite practical in addition to improving the aesthetic appeal. There are horizontal and vertical variations available.

Convertible Bar Cabinets

Expandable bar designs give your home the best in elegance. The doors may be opened to provide additional storage for booze, glassware, or other bar supplies.

Wall Cabinets For Bars

Wall-mounted shelves update the design of your house and give it a contemporary feel. These take up a sizable portion of the wall without making the space appear smaller.

Know The Trends

Wood Cabinets For Bars

These lovely pieces, which are elegantly made, give your house a consistent appearance and enhance its aesthetic appeal. These are often constructed of Sheesham wood, which is extremely durable but needs frequent polishing.

Bar Cabinets With Mirror Inlays

A mirror is one of the classic designs for small bar cabinets. Their presence simultaneously enhances your home’s appearance, fashion, and refinement.

Glass Cabinets For Bars

These are manufactured of high-quality materials and utilized to give your home a decorative appearance. These, however, are delicate and break quickly. So, consider your options carefully before doing anything.

Variable Bar Cabinets

Stainless steel bar cabinets are incredibly robust, dust-resistant, and simple to maintain with a damp cloth. These give your house a natural, clean look.

Understand Its Use

Solely To Store Alcohol

These cabinets solely provide room for storing alcohol bottles. The bottles can be positioned vertically or horizontally.

Alcohol And Glasses

Alcohol and bar stemware can both be stored in these cabinets. The bottles are arranged vertically for storage. A metal wire is used to suspend the glassware in the air.

For Bar Equipment

These cabinets offer space for storing equipment in addition to alcohol and drinking glasses. For instance, cocktail shakers, ice buckets, and openers.

To Combine And Serve

These cabinets are ideal all-rounders. The top surface of the bar cupboard is used for mixing and pouring beverages, while it also provides storage.

Recognize Your Poison

The majority of us believe that alcohol is eternal. But that is untrue. It matters a lot how we keep the fine booze. Here are some suggestions for more effective storage; utilize them to pick the best kind of bar cabinets.

Vine Crates

When it becomes too dry, the cork typically shrinks in wine bottles with damaged corks. As a result, air enters the delicious wine, lowering its acidity level. Sadly, the wine begins to taste bad. Rest the wine bottle flat to ensure that the liquid is always in contact with the cork to prevent this.

Whiskey Bottles

Scotch bottles must be kept in a cold, dark location. Considering that scotch emits dangerous compounds when exposed to sunlight.

Beer

Additionally, keep the beer in the cooler compartment. The chilly environment inhibits yeast growth, which can result in infections and other health issues.

DIY Bar Cabinet: Tools

• Table saw (optional)
• Cabinet hardware jig
• Multi-mark tool
• Shelf pin jig
• Drawer slide jig
• Kreg 720
• Nail gun
• Drill
• Miter saw
• Rip-cut circular saw guide
• Accu-cut circular saw guide
• Circular saw

What you’ll require:

• 2 sheets of 3/4-inch 4×8 plywood (we used primed)
• One-half-inch 48 plywood sheet
• 4×8 beadboard sheet, 1 1/4″ thick
• 1 1/4″ x 24″ piece of plywood (we used maple)
• Optional: For the glass bottle rack, use one piece of 3/4-inch 4×8 plywood (we used oak)

• 1 primed 2.25″ MDF Casing
• 1 primed 3.25″ x 8″ MDF baseboard
• 3 pieces of 1/4x3x3 poplar board
• 3 x 3/8″ long, 3-foot square dowels
• Sandpaper with wood glue (180, 220 grit)
• 1″ nails
• 1.25″ nails
• 1 x 1/4″ screws
• Kreg 1.25′′ screws
• Kreg screws inch
• Two cabinet door pulls, and 3 drawer pulls
• Three 16-inch drawer sliding sets
• Non-mortise hinges in two pairs
• Two door catches with magnets
• Eight movable shelf pins
• Acrylic caulk (if painting)
• Spackle or wood filler (if painting)
• Either paint or stain

It is challenging to cut everything from two pieces of 3/4″ plywood. Ensure that you arrange everything first. Three pieces of plywood are probably required if you want to have everything oriented in the “correct” way and intend to stain your creation.

How To Assemble A DIY Bar Cabinet At Home

Step 1: For The Main Structure, Cut What You Need

Cut the bottom, back, sides, top, bar counter, center dividers, and bottom supports for the main construction. We utilized both the Kreg Accu-Cut & Rip-Cut Circular Saw Guides to reduce the size of these boards. These make it easier for us to correctly cut plywood without struggling to get a large piece of plywood around the table saw.

Step 2: Drill Pocket Holes

Drilling several pocket holes is a pleasure with our Kreg 720; our favorite aspect of this tool is the auto-adjust clamp! We’ll set our Kreg Jig to the 3/4″ setting for this project. To build the main framework, drill the necessary pocket holes:

• The bottom, top, bar counter, and center divider boards have four pocket holes on either short end.
• Three pocket holes are present along the bottom support boards’ long side.

Step 3: Assemble The Major Structure

We will use glue and 1.25′′ Kreg screws to secure everything together to form the primary framework. Attach the bottom to the side after setting the 1st side on the table. 3.25′′ will be left at the bottom. We like to butt the bottom near the bottom support, which we lay flush with the bottom of the side. It enables us to get the desired spacing with little measurement.

Put a center divider next to the bottom piece as a spacer before adding the middle piece. Make sure the pocket holes on the centerpiece point downward and towards the bottom before butting it against the divider and fastening it. Next, align the top to flush with the side’s top. We’ll insert the dividers first. Then we’ll attach the second side.

After we apply the trim, the dividers would be positioned such that we look to have 3 – 14.5′′ divisions. Attach your dividers by measuring and marking 16 inches from the bottom and middle on either side. Everything should be positioned such that it is flush with the front and has a 1/4″ indentation along the rear. Next, join the other side.

Connect the bottom supports. No need to measure these precisely. They should be roughly similarly spaced along the bottom, but not precisely.

Step 4: Framing It Out

The top and bottom trim parts you cut out of the plywood should be attached first. Fear not—these are only the surfaces to which the finishing detail trim will be attached. Glue and 1.25′′ nails affix the bottom component flush with the front of the cabinet’s bottom.

Next, connect the top piece to flush with the cabinet’s top. The 12 planks that will be utilized to fill out the remainder of the front may now be fastened. The majority of them will be fastened with glue and 1.25′′ nails. We’ll let you know when there is an exception about how to attach it. Ensuring they are flush with the cabinet’s exterior, we began with the long vertical planks.

The horizontal planks were then fastened. The bottom one will sit directly on top of the bottom trim piece, and the center will flush with the bar countertop. This board’s top should line up perfectly with the bottom of the top trim board. Two pocket slots on either end will be used to attach the top horizontal board.

The 3/4′′ setting will be used to drill these pocket holes, which will then be fastened with glue and 1.25′′ Kreg screws. The bottom of the horizontal frame flush with the bar countertop will be 5.75′′ below the bottom of the subsequent one. The drawers and the doors will be divided by this frame. Two pocket holes along either end will also be used to attach it.

We prefer to create a spacer board to ensure we have the spacing correct. It must be large sufficient for the cabinet fronts to fit while not being so massive that the sides have enormous gaps. The short and medium vertical frame boards will next be attached after these, ensuring they are flush with the interior of the middle cabinet. These 1x2s should protrude by 3/4″ over the side cabinet boxes. 

Step 5: Add The Trim

Instead of using the traditional crown molding for the top trim, we used the door frame trim. It’s time to add additional trim to the top and bottom to elevate it further now that it’s completely framed out and beginning to resemble a true piece of furniture. Either is possible; it all depends on the style you want.

We used glue and 1′′ nail to affix the trim to the top and bottom. We cut off the sides and front, and we mitered the corners. The bar cabinet’s back has no trim.

Step 6: Add Rack Pin Holes

When it’s feasible, we like to create adjustable shelves since it’s wonderful to have the flexibility to alter the arrangement to fit everything you need to store. Both of the side cabinets’ shelves will be movable. We use a spare board that we cut to 10″ as a spacer at the base of the cabinet box. Then, we drilled the slots for the stack pins using the Kreg Shelf Pin Jig.

Step 7: Build Shelves

The two distinct shelf sizes we’re building for this project are one long shelf for the top area of the hutch and two racks for behind the cabinet doors. The same method will be used to create them. Use glue and 1.25′′ nails to secure a 12 to the plywood panel’s front to create the shelves.

The 1×2 would be flush with the plywood top for the cabinet shelves. The 1×2 would be flush with the plywood’s underside for the top shelf. We’ll put in the shelf braces for the top shelf when the shelves are constructed.

The bottom of the shelf should be 21 inches from the bar countertop, and the supports must be indented 1/4 inch from the rear of the sides. Glue and 1.25′′ nails are used to assemble the shelf supports.

Step 8: Make Drawer Boxes And Construct Doors

We utilized 1/2′′ plywood and 1′′ Kreg screws to construct these drawer boxes.  You may alternatively create the doors utilizing pocket holes if you don’t have or don’t want to use a table saw.

Step 9: Prepare For Staining Or Painting

Using wood filler, fill up any holes. Sand it all with 220 grit sandpaper when it has dried. For a more flawless finish when painting, seal any seams beforehand.

Step 10: Paint Or Stain

We chose Sherwin Williams Evergreen Fog, an Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel with a satin gloss, for this job. We used Minwax Rustic Beige stain and Minwax Soft-Touch Finishing Wax to finish the wine bottle storage. The wine bottle storage, however, wasn’t stained until much later in the project. 

Step 11: Build The Wine Glass Holder

The backs of the wine glass holders were set flush against the shelf’s back. The first holder was positioned around 2.5 inches from the shelf’s edge.

Step 12: Add Hardware To The Doors And Drawers

We installed the door knobs and drawer pulls using the Kreg Cabinet Hardware Jig. After setting the jig’s depth to 2.75′′, adjust it to match the spacing between your components. Label the center of each drawer, then align the mark with the jig’s center lines. Continue drilling and attach your hardware.

The door knobs were positioned 2.5 inches from the top and were centered across the 13 at 1.25 inches.

Step 13. Install The Drawers

We made use of the Kreg Drawer Slide Jig to install the drawers. Before installing the 2 outside drawers, we must fasten a replacement board to the interior of each cabinet side. The drawer slide supports will hold the drawer slides in place so they may operate without running into the face frame.

We put them in with two 1.25′′ screws after positioning them only a hair above the horizontal face frame. Once put in position, you may attach the Kreg Drawer Slide Jig to the face frame before mounting the drawer slide. For the required setback, check with your drawer slides; ours needed 3/16″.

We bolted the drawer slide to the unit by positioning it 15/16′′ from the face frame’s front to allow for the face frame/drawer front. Unclamp its drawer slide jig, then re-clamp it so that it extends out of the drawer after attaching the drawer slide to the cabinet. Place the drawer box on the jig with the front of the box aligned with the jig’s 1″ line by extending your drawer slides.

The distance your drawer slides require from the front of the cabinet should be lined up correctly (3/16′′ for us), and then attach the drawer slides to your drawer.

Step 14: Installing Doors

We positioned the hinges 2.75′′ apart from the doors’ top and bottom to attach them to the doors. You may install the doors in any way that works best for you. We experimented with a new method for this cabinet, which was successful. Playing cards were then placed on the door’s top and bottom until the space was uniform, after which we inserted the door into the aperture.

The hinge locations were then marked with tape. We unlocked the door and aligned the hinges with the tape as we put the hinges in. If you utilize this technique, place the hinges just above the tape rather than below where the tape is.

Step 15: (Optional) Create The Wine Bottle Storage

You can add a rack or 2 of open storage and leave the central area unfinished. Alternatively, you may construct your wine bottle rack.

Step 16: Install The Shelves And The Back

Add more glue to the support at the top shelf, then position the shelf so that the rear is aligned with the rear of the support. Insert a couple of 1.25′′ nails into the cabinet support and through the shelf. Slide the back flush with the structure’s top, bottom, or center. We pushed some 1″ screws into the back to keep it in place. However, you can simply just use construction glue.

If you do choose to nail, exercise extreme caution. Make sure the nail gun is level, and double-check your dimensions. The interior of the cabinet shouldn’t be exposed to the nails. Note: We painted the main structure before installing the back; you may do the same. However, it would have been much simpler to attach the vintage glass shelf if we’d left the back off.

We could have slipped the wine rack in via the rear rather than going to the front and unintentionally chipped a piece of the frame off. Seal each of the seams after installing the upper cabinet and back. Add additional touch-up paint once the caulk has dried to make everything appear smooth. Choose the height at which you wish the adjustable shelves to be installed.

Once your shelf pins are in place, move the shelf until the pins support it. You have it now! Your very own DIY bar cabinet is now complete! It’s time to stock it and invite your buddies over to help you break it in. Enjoy!

Conclusion

No	Name	Image	Details
1	Offex Modern Metal and Wood Bar Cabinet with Wine Storage - Teak		VIEW PRODUCT
2	furduzz Kitchen Sideboard 59” Buffet Storage Cabinet with Glass Doors, 2 Drawers and Display Shelves,Wooden Coffee Bar Cupboard Server Console Table Floor Cabinet for Home Living Room,Nut Brown…		VIEW PRODUCT
3	South Shore Furniture Vietti Bar Cabinet with Bottle and Glass Storage, Black Oak		VIEW PRODUCT
4	Crosley Furniture Lafayette Expandable Top Bar Cabinet - Black		VIEW PRODUCT
5	Home Source Charcoal Corner Bar Unit with Built-in Wine Rack and Lower Cabinet		VIEW PRODUCT

Building your DIY bar cabinet is a fantastic way to save money while still getting a great product. It’s also a fun project you can do with a friend or family member. With a little time and effort, you’ll have a beautiful piece of furniture that will envy all your friends. Cheers!