We have a bar area, but because of busy little grandkids, we are keeping ours in the cabinet above our wall oven for now....it is large and easy to reach.

Good question! I have it stashed all over the place. Didn't plan for a spot in the kitchen because I knew there wouldn't be space. I keep hoping to put in a dry bar someday. ;-)

In a dining room cabinet, with the most frequently needed in decanters on a bar cart.

The good wine is in the "cave" in the basement
and other liquors are in the dining room in a cabinet.

We designed the shallow cabinet on the front of our island
with locks and keys for the alcohol we use regularly
because we were tired of the teens sampling it.
(I don't have anything against sharing a small glass of wine or beer
with the teens as part of a proper family meal.
But I hate it when 75 dollar bottles of scotch just disappear.)
Even if most kids are angels, I recommend a locked liquor cabinet for those with teenagers.

We also have it in a dining room cabinet which serves as a bar when we entertain.

Bar area in the kitchen, but DH's bourbon collection is outgrowing our space. Thinking we might need a bar cabinet in the dining room, but with two boys 9 & 7, maybe I should keep an eye out for one with a lock per Francoise's post!

Good point about the lock, francoise! No kids here, but easier to plan it in than retrofit.

I'll add this to the list of reasons the next house will have a dining room. Our "great room" is too small for a real dining area. We could put it easily in the basement, but that's not very convenient.

Right now DH's hooch is kept in the over the fridge cabinet, and his small stash of wine is in an open holder on the kitchen counter. When we move into the 'Mule House', all those things will go in the dining room.

Wow, $75.00 bottles of Scotch! Ummmm, good. Oh, wait, what am I saying as I don't drink anymore. : )

Hey how could I not open a thread with a title like this!
We too have it stashed in different places.

We have a 6 shelf metal wine rack from Crate & Barrel along the side wall of our hall closet. Similar to the one in the link.

Cab over the fridge or range has some alcahol and fixings for margaritas and mai tais. Not a whole lot on hand unless needed for or left over from a party and that would be stored in a pantry cabinet in our attached garage.

Would like an undercounter beverage fridge if space allows in our remodel, but need that more for my diet coke addiction than the wine and beer shelves.

This designer hid a liquor cabinet with pull out shelves behind a panel in the dining room using the dead space under stairs. Love it. Check the gallery pictures for the remodel called "Swedish Influence" http://www.robesondesign.com/gallery.html

Here is a link that might be useful: C&B wine rack

It is in a cabinet in my butler's pantry, but as my oldest is turning 13 this year...guess I need to retro-fit a lock. This should be included in the "Small Things that Get Overlooked" thread in the Building Forum!

We have 6 cubbies under our glass front cabinet, each large enough for 2 regular size bottles or 1 oversize bottle. It is not enough space. ÃÂ : (

We are struggling right now with what to do with the overflow. Would drawer be a bad idea ? I have 2 empty bottom drawers right there (one 36" wide and one 21" wide). I dont like the idea of bottom drawer though. Not sure why. I could maybe put overflow on a top shelf in the cabinet right next to the glass front cabinet, but then we wouldn't really be able to reach without a stepstool I don't think. 45" upper cabinet, I am 5'3". That cabinet is 15" deep, so that helps

The glass front cabinet houses all the different serving glasses ... wine, martini, margarita, beer pilsner, champagne, shot, etc. as well as pretty ice bucket and pretty glass mixing pitcher.

LOL about the lock! We went on vacation and locked our bedroom door because my DH had rifles in his closet. DS climbed up on the balcony outside our bedroom and gained entry to get a sleeping bag he needed. No problem! Where there's a will there's a way! But no point in tempting them, make them work for it!

Hard liquor is in the cab over my fridge, wine in the pantry, beer in the fridge. No kids to lock out. My parents always left the liquor accessible, and it was freely sampled, but I knew better than to take an entire bottle.

we just had built a corner fireplace in our mstr bdrm and they added a cabinet where we keep the espresso maker and the booze i add to it.
nocello, frangelico, and dh's sambuca.
beer is in the mudroom fridge and wine in the tool cellar.

lol, i guess wherever i turn i can find something to drink!

We have a small wine fridge in the kitchen for the wine, our old fridge went into the laundry room for the beer and extra milk and my kids (sons - early 20's) have another small fridge for their beer. I just went looking for a can of beer to boil sausages in before barbecuing them and didn't find one single beer - including my DH's. My sons will be shopping tonight.

We have very little hard liquor and it's kept in a shelf beside the fridge in the laundry room.

We also have teens... our booze is in a locked cabinet in the walk in pantry.

We used to use a wine/beverage ladder rack from crate and barrel. It had a pretty small footprint. It was great until the kids came around. We removed it right after DS crawled away while dragging a bottle wine. Awesome parenting moment. Oops. Lol. We've whittled down our wine and liquor stash so that it currently fits above our fridge. We don't have time to drink anymore anyway.

Our new house will have a wet bar just around the corner from the kitchen. Right now it's not locked, but I'm sure we'll be adding those in no time.

One of the two lower door cabinets (24") in the island has a pullout for hard likker and a smaller pullout on top for shorter bottles, cutting board, lime squeezer, etc. Wine goes in an under-stairs closet in our mudroom area. Works great so far...open the door, pull out the drawer, pour the stuff!

For those of you who were kind enough to answer this question, could you also please post your home addresses? ;^)

Dh has a bar in our basement.

Our older kids are old enough to drink and our younger kids are still into Legos.

But good point about locking up the booze.

{{gwi:1382520}}

Ours are all of age and don't live here anymore. We keep the bottles in a bottom pull-out in the pantry. NOT a good spot for those with kids but great for adults. The pull out gives you access to everything without moving other bottles. Tall pull outs are perfect for tall stuff - who would figure? Back when ours were teens, we kept no hard stuff in the house, small amounts of beer and wine in the fridge, no wine cellar. Remodel includes wine fridge and bar area. We're free to be decadant unil grand kids show up.

We have a hutch in the LR with the wine and hard stuff

A few spots:) cabinet above the fridge for hard liquor, there is a temporary wine rack on my counter for reds, whites go in the beverage fridge on the bottom. I already plan on adding a lock and moving the wine when my oldest turns nine in four years. Yes, nine. It's not just teens who are experimenting these days. School counselor here handing out some free but sad advice:(

LOL, Angie. I'm feeling a little slow tonight. My first reaction was "Is she interested in which states have the most drinkers"?

Lol, mulehouse!

We don't drink much, but the problem we have is DH loves to sample new bourbons, and anything unusual. So we have lots of bottles. Might have to have a "clear out the liquor cabinet" party to see what we really need to keep around day to day :-)

I have been thinking about building out the wall around a window in the great room (it's the only other space on the first floor) for storage, might have to really think about that. I'm so focused on the kitchen at the moment it's hard to think about that room. It's turn is coming, but not until we recover from the kitchen in May!

We have a Carrier wine fridge as big as an upright freezer in the garage and the only liquids the kids drink regularly is milk from the gallon and tap water so didn't feel the need for a beverage fridge in the new kitchen. DH stores his beer in vintage Hotpoint in the garage.

I wanted to plan for the hard stuff in the whole house reno so I shortened up the backside of the corner walk-in pantry to make more space in the DR. The result is what I call the beverage service area. Booze, wine and other glass, and all manner of cocktail accessories are stored here. This serves as the spot for serving alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks when we entertain to keep guests out of the kitchen. Lots of storage and counter space.

(The wall painting has been finished, but the room still sports those stylish, hip, industrial chic, bare bulb sconces.) Btw, we don't just drink the stuff. I cook and bake with it also. :)

Hard liquor, which I seldom drink is in the top cabinet above the stove. I can barely touch it on my tip toes. When I want a margarita, I get out my step stool!

Wine is in my lazy Susan right now. Beer in the fridge's crisper drawers.

Wow, I really don't drink so I'm kind of shocked by these answers. Mostly, I'm shocked by how much people are different and how easy it is to forget it.

I have cooking wines in a 6" pullout next to the stove. Vermouth, cheap'os, sherries. I may not "drink" but I sure manage to cook with a lot of it.

The rest is just dozens of years old. In some cases, a hundred, actually. DH has a prohibition-era old "book" that is in fact hollowed out with glass containers in it for the hooch. There's still stuff in there, crystallized.

And when we moved here we bought a couple bottles of whachamallit, Thunder bird or some-such as a joke for an outing with others. We didn't finish it and it's still here. That was nearly 20 years ago.

I've taken to writing the name of the gift-giver on bottles of wine that show up here as a present, and the year of gifting. Otherwise, I don't even know what's a $3 bottle and what's a $30 gift ... still, they all mostly just sit here. These are in a really, really ugly piece of furniture my grandmother left behind. It's about 1' x 2' x 2'.

There are a couple bottles of beer hanging out in a second fridge. Don't know why....

I may not get the booze-thing but it's interesting reading about everyone's stashes!

We have a wine room in the basement for wine and the supplies for DH's home brewing hobby.
In our kitchen, we have a beverage fridge in the island which includes a few bottles of DH's homebrew and some bottles of wine, along with soda, bottled water,seltzer and other beverages.
The hard stuff, which we don't use often, is housed currently in an old armoire in our front room (it was previously our entertainment center).
We saw a DIY posting on GW long ago where someone had converted an old armoire into a drybar, so we have that bookmarked for 'someday'.

Lately I've been thinking on the same subject. Here's a picture from my inspiration file. There is something about it that I love. A cozy nook with a liquor cabinet? I wish I could credit the photo, and see more of the kitchen for that matter, but I didn't keep track of the source.

(I tried to post this a million times yesterday. Praise be! Finally the picture upload works!)

We have a really pretty french armoire that was fitted with a marble counter, light and mirrors (ok i could have done w/o mirrors) by the PO. It is in a transitional area between DR and LR

We're not big alcohol drinkers at all beyond my pitcher of margaritas for a cookout or the occasional White Russian for a Big Lebowski Cohen brothers film marathon. But we do drink coffee.

In the current (interminable) remodel, I'm creating a shallow "beverage" bar/buffet/china cabinet in the dining room (open to the great room and kitchen, so easily accessible). It will house all of the coffee stuff, liquor and liquor glasses, and some pretty china as well. A copper bar sink and counter, beverage fridge, and a X wine cabinet along with closed cabinet storage for the liquor composes the bottom, and a to the counter glass hutch will house the sparklies.

I'm toying with doing the lower doors in copper as well, as I picked up the cabinets at Habitat for Humanity and they are just plain slab doors that I was going to recover with a rosewood veneer to get that MCM Danish Modern vibe. I have some brass shim stock, and can get stainless sheeting as well, so it may end up being my own interpretation of Brutalism.

Sorta like this, but with the different metals emphasizing the patchwork nature of the piece.

Or this.
{{!gwi}}

Who knows, maybe even both. I could do the bottom in the rosewood, and do a mirror frame in the metal to hang above it......or the reverse. The table is rosewood and teak that I got for a steal from a client who couldn't make it work in her space. Right now though, the DR wall where it's going has the french doors that are going to be installed leaning up against it, so I can't do anything until that project is done.

And the giant bottle of rum is sitting on the counter by the coffee maker, easy to access when I get frustrated that "the cobbler's children have no shoes".

In my Wisconsin home, we had a basement. Oh the glorious basement, how I miss you!! I had two metro shelves and I placed slats of wood to shorten the long shelves and stacked wine 1/2 way on one side, and half on the other. I easily held 800 bottles with a little room to spare. The hard liquor was in a closet pantry on the floor (too much cat hair and dust, but we don't drink much hard liquor; DH not at all).

In this new to me house, I re-purposed an entertainment center that no longer works for the flat-screen TVs. I have one or two shelves in there for hard liquor. I have space for extra bags of coffee, tea, wine openers, etc. and it is tucked in a corner in the dining room.
I have a wine rack that holds about 100 bottles that I use as a room divider. Not ideal but no real place to put it.

Liquor in basement pub. Some wine and beer on hand in kitchen. Wine cuubies in beverage center cabinetry and dedicated space for a 6 pack in fridge. all other stock in basement. Hoping to get a overflow fridge someday. We'll need to lock it up soon too.

We built a locked lower cabinet next to what will soon be the beverage fridge. It has heavy duty pullouts that can handle all the weight.

Love those ideas, Greendesigns, very unique!

Modern_mom, what size is that cabinet? That's probably what we'll end up with though I was hoping for a eureka! moment. Good point about the extra weight, definitely need to plan for that.

Ours is kept in the formal dining room (only two adults living here)

Not done yet, been too busy all summer to even grout.

This is the sideboard we are building in - use to belong to my Grandma.

The armoire is by the butler's pantry, and it has a lock with an old brass key on that door, so we can take the key with us when we leave. Wine and beer are in the fridge on the island, more wine stored in a cooler in the basement.

It's about 22" wide and 25" deep. It holds a ton - happy with it so far.

Ours is in the angled cabinet - I originally was going to put it up higher but realized that we only use a couple bottles on a regular basis - then I have some even less used items on the top shelf of our pull out pantry

Downstream - I will have my mother's Willet buffet (a furniture builder from the 50s and 60s) and will probably move it all to the buffet.

We built a bar area into the kitchen with a pull out for the bottles.

We haven't thrown a cork out in 30 years and DH was bugging me to do something with all those #@!!!@# corks. So I made the backsplash.

Alcohol is all over our house. Most of the liquor is in a cabinet at the bottom of the basement stairs on the finished side of the basement. Wine is in racks on the cooler side of the basement. There is a wine rack in an upper cab in the kitchen that holds about 10 bottles of table wine. In the bottom of the pantry cupboard next to the cooktop, I have things like brandy, sherry, marsala, etc. of a grade used for cooking. There's a bottle of eau de vie that lives in the frig - it tastes best really cold.

Wow - I never thought of locking it away from teen DD! I'm Italian-American, so I drank wine at holiday dinners when I was a child and teen. I believe in letting children learn about responsible, moderate use of alcohol in a family setting - isn't that the European model? She's allowed to drink a little in front of us, but she doesn't really care for it much. I can understand why parents would be careful, though. Even if your own kid wasn't going to sneak your booze, friends can encourage bad behavior. Teens' IQ's seem to decrease in indirect proportion to the size of the group they're in.

Annie, LOVE that backsplash !!!

Yeah, Ginny20, it's the other kids. We don't always have our liquor under lock and key -- rarely, in fact -- but you never know. Sometimes there are kids over I don't know that well. And the way the laws are these days, I sure don't want to get busted for some kid taking a bottle from my house and getting in an accident.

My own don't really like to drink very much, we tried champagne in Austria last year, and even my teenage son isn't much for beer, so .... oh well.

Don't kids even try to water it down anymore so you can bust 'em fair and square? Geez.

I've been trying to figure a spot for our liquor for awhile now, so this thread is helpful...

I'm Italian-American, too. We never tried to steal any of my parents' vast quantities of unopened liquor bottles (my aunt owned a liquor store) due to the fact that we knew our paper routes wouldn't be enough to pay for reconstructive surgery.

Yes, marcolo, when I was young, we were afraid to do things like steal liquor. We were under the impression that "My parents would kill me" was not just a figure of speech. I'm afraid I have not been able to instill this healthy fear in DD. And as for other kids, whose legs I'm not allowed to break (and, even worse, whose phones I cannot confiscate)... maybe segbrown has a point.

I need a drink.

I'm so glad you asked this question! We got this "bar book" that tells you how to make authentic basic cocktails, but it also tells you about every other possible to drink cocktails and it is always so fun to look at them! Ooh - a blue margarita! That sounds fun! We just need to find blue curacao! Ooh - I've heard of this Negroni - just need to get sweet AND dry vermouths and some Campari! A Lemon Drop! Gotta get some lemon-flavored vodka!

We aren't really in to "cocktail hour" or the cocktail habit, so some of these bottles are REALLY old.

Anyway we have a LOT of bottles and I'm hoping that our ROTS will work well for that. Like modern_mom

No kids so no need to lock up.

I have a cabinet above the tap here where all my hard stuff is stored, but the vast majority of drinks come directly out of the double tap.