Bar Design Steps

Intro

bar OBJECTIVES:
Your one-of-a-kind MapleTree bar will achieve the following:
1. It will be a unique bar that is really “you”, with its own special charm and character, reflecting your tastes, fitting your space, meeting your functional needs, and meeting your budget.
2. It will make your guests’ jaws drop when they see it, as they involuntarily exclaim, “Wow!” upon seeing it.
3. It will be a “people magnet”, drawing people to it and making it hard for them to leave it, feeling that they are in a special and exciting place.
We have designed and built dozens and dozens of bars, each one unique, each one carefully designed by working closely with our customers, and each one meeting the above objectives. Let us empower you by sharing our vast experience with you, so that you can learn and benefit from our experience and that of our numerous previous bar customers – and, thereby, further extend the limits of custom home bar design!
Let’s get started!
BAR DESIGN STEPS:
Follow our twelve easy steps, answering the listed questions. Then, provide us with the dimensions of your space (or call us for a house call to take measurements) - and we will develop design drawings for you. Through discussions with you, we will improve the design until you tell us it is perfect for you. We will then send you a priced proposal, with detailed specifications, offering to build your dream bar. (We do all this at our expense and our risk. Whether or not you place an order, our reward is the knowledge that we have educated one more family as to MAPLETREE’s vastly superior service and capabilities, knowing that you will be telling your friends about us and that you will contact us for any future furniture needs. Our mission is the building of good long-lasting relationships in our community and we have proven that this approach is a win-win, in the long term.)
Follow the links below to see examples of features you can incorporate in your bar and the linked images will allow you to return to these Design Steps - to continue the design process.
*We have recently launched this upgraded site and are still in the process of finalizing this section. Please bear with us: There are a few links yet to be closed, and some referenced photos have yet to be added.

Bar Checklist

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STEP ONE: LOCATION
As the real estate saying goes, “Location, Location, Location!” What is the best place for your bar? Which way should it be oriented? If you have not already decided this, or if you would like us to apply our experience to confirm your planned location, we can help - by developing an overall plan of your home’s basement and experimenting (on paper) with different bar locations and orientations. Our AUTOCAD drafting software makes it easy for us to do this. In general, here are a few things to consider in finalizing a bar’s location and orientation:
A. Location of plumbing connections (water pipes and drains).
B. “Grand Entrance” effect: A MapleTree bar is a “Wow!” generator, and, ideally, your guests should see the bar as they enter your home’s lower level (see Glover).
C. Big screen television viewing: Typically, the bar adjoins a seating area with a big screen television, and the people at the bar become the “back row” of the television viewing audience, looking over the heads of the people seated on the adjacent sofa. (See diagram: plan and elevation.)
D. “Centerpiece” effect: Ideally, the bar should be located so that is the “hub” or “center stage” of your home’s lower level, viewable from all areas, e.g., the billiard table area, the home theater area, the entry area, etc. (see Young).
E. Traffic flow must be considered, with adequate space behind bar stools for people to access the bar or pass by it.

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STEP TWO: BAR SHAPE
We make bars in all shapes and all sizes. As a starting point, which of the following basic shapes is most appropriate for your selected space?
A. Peninsula: Guests sit in a straight line, with the host’s seat at one end. (Day, Carney, Izena)
B. “L” Guests sit on two sides of the “L”. (Shepard, Jones, Erlain)
C. Island: The host can access the bar from both ends. The island can have a straight front or a bow front. A guest can sit at each end of the island. (Glover, Eppley)
D. Corner Bar. The bar is a boomerang shape. The back bar wraps around a corner, along two walls. (Corsi, Whitford)
E. “J” This is an extended “L” shape, providing three sides for guests’ seating. (Heinz)

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STEP FOUR: REMOVABLE OR BUILT-IN?
We can design and build your bar so that it can be relocated to another home in the future, while looking completely “built-in”. (For example, Whitford's Bar). All MAPLETREE bars are completely pre-assembled in our shop, and then re-assembled in your home, taking less than one day to install. If you live out of state, we make it easy for local installers to install our bars.

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STEP FIVE: STYLE
Your bar will be unique (your own personal style), but, to help us get started, tell us which of the following is closest to the style you would like:
A. Traditional (Glover)
B. Contemporary (Levine)
C. Southwest (Whitford)
D. Classic (Eppley, Shepard)
E. Ornate (Heinz)
F. Mission (Santilli)
G. Hunting Lodge (Gumto)
H. Other (e.g. Irish Pub, German Rathskellar, French Wine Bar, Rustic)

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STEP SIX: SINK LOCATION
The location of your home’s existing roughed-in plumbing is a key factor in laying out your bar, because this limits your bar configuration options, to some extent. If the water supply pipes and drain are not in the ideal location, we can use wainscoting to hide pipe extensions, as long as adequate drain slope can be provided. We need to know the locations of these pipes in order to develop workable layouts for you. Popular sink locations include the following:
A. Centered in the back bar area, as a focal point. (Day, Eppley, Castillo, Jones)
B. Centered in the front bar. (Shepard)
C. At the side. (Carney, Heinz, Wolf)

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STEP SEVEN: APPLIANCES
What appliances do you want to house in the bar? (You might want to make provisions for future appliances, even if you don’t want to purchase them now.) The most popular appliances are as follows:
A. Dishwasher: Conventional or Mini-Drawer type?
B. Refrigerator: Front loading or top loading?
C. Wine Chiller
D. Beer Meister
E. Microwave (Conventional, or hidden top-loading drawer type?)

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STEP EIGHT: COUNTER HEIGHTS
Bar counters are always 42” high and standard bar stools are appropriate for this height. Behind the bar counter, the counter used by the person tending the bar is usually at 36 inches, the height of a standard kitchen cabinet, but some people prefer a single level counter, at 42 inches. Here are the options:
A. Single level (42”)
B. Two-tier 42” bar/36” serving counter. (This provides 4.5” of usable vertical space between countertops.) (Shepard, Jones)
C. Two-tier 42” bar / 32” serving counter: This lower serving counter level allows the sink to be partially hidden under the upper bar counter, with headroom for sink faucets under the bar counter.

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STEP NINE: BACK BAR UPPER AREA
The classic arrangement is a large central mirror with cabinets to the left and right. Here are several things to consider in designing this area:
A. Do you want a television in this area? Centered in the bar, or at the side? (See Carney, Erlain and Harbaugh, for examples.)
B. Center mirror? Arched? Corbels? (See Eppley)
C. Do you want the upper cabinets open (no doors)? (Heinz, Jones, Santilli, Whitford, Corsi)
D. Plain glass doors? (Day, Eppley)
E. Mullioned glass doors? (Castillos, Carney, Wolf)
F. Stained glass backs, with back-lighting? (Jones, Wolf)
G. Mirrored cabinet backs? (Mirrors create surprise views and serve to amplify the available space.) (Jones, Erlain, Heinz)
H. Wooden backs? (Corsi, Whitford, Santilli, Shepard)
I. Wine bottles’ storage? Lattice racks (drawing) or cleated shelves (Wolf, Jones, Whitford)?
J. Stemware racks? (Jones, Izena)
K. Glassware shelves? (Jones, Corsi)
L. Shelves between cabinets, to reduce cost? (Jones, Erlain)
M. Glass cabinet sides? (Carney, Levine, Wolf)
N. Lockable liquor storage required? Above countertop level? Below countertop level?
O. Bottle tiers at center mirror? Mirrored tiers? Hidden Bottle Lighting? (Carney)

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1. Wooden footrest (Eppley, Shepard)
2. Brass footrest?
3. Drawers: Number and location?
4. Doors: on cabinets under the bar? (not visible to guests)
5. Paneled cabinet sides: Flat panel or raised panel? (Day, Shepard)
6. Bar Front: Raised panels (Jones) or flat panels (Santilli)?
7. Lower Back Bar Area: Flat panel doors, to reduce costs. (Jones)
8. Illumination of the Lower Bar Front: Rope lighting can be supplied to wash the bar front paneling.
9. Accommodate bulkheads in your ceiling, by judicious determination of cabinet heights, with high cabinets where space allows, stepping down to miss bulkheads, while adding interest. (Jones, Eppley, Santilli) Justify Right
10. Upper Façade over Front of Bar. (Gumto, Carney)
11. Decorative Carving Embellishments: Corbels, Capitals, Onlays, Ornate Moldings. (Day, Heinz, Erlain, Eppley)