Bar on Riser at Rear of HT

Here's one.

Here's another!

In fact, we just got the bar stools for it yesterday, but no pics of that yet. They're a little lower than we'd like, and may trade them in for the standard 30" height, but it's still a great space!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1377460

Old screen. bar not on riser.

One of my favorites is indygreg's Big Red theater: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2&post14187032

Hey BIG, could you post dimensions of your bar behind the riser? I am planning one similar, and would like to know your height, width, depth of the countertop, etc. And 4 people sit there comfortably? Thanks!

Great timing on this thread, as I am within weeks of finalizing my design for a build. Actually, my setup is more stadium seating, and the bar/countertop will be quite a bit higher than the seats in front of it.

Looks like some put the bar and stools on the riser and others do not. Is this just a matter of preference, or is there a reason to do it one way or the other?

Copied in from my multi-year thread. I think it is 42 inches tall.

First the finished granite top is 135 inches long, 17.5 deep at the ends, 25 deep in the middle. Yes, finding a slab that long turned out to be a problem I had to go to the regional wholesaler to pick out the slab and then my fabricator ordered it. When I planned it the fabricator had one long enough but it was gone by the time I needed it.

Final view:



Some of the framing, basically a 2x4 short wall, with 2x6 wings (purely aesthetic) screwed to the back of the riser and to the floor. you can see I changed my mind on how deep the riser needed to be. 6ft didn't cut it.



Covered it with a combination of plywood and MDF. The wings are MDF.



The designs were scraps of wood that I wondered if I could ever use. It started out life blue but I changed it later.

I ended up rounding over the edges, Added base molding and repeated under the top. The base molding was a build up of a 3 step and then another piece making it a total of 4 steps.

decided it looked better gray.

Available head room is one reason, If there is going to be a lot of space behind the riser like my open concept then having it at ground level is safer.

Check out my build thread, also, you'll find the bar towards the end of it. It sits on the riser, with two seats behind, though it could probably hold 3. It's smallish, but my room is 15.5 by 21 ft.

I stole some ideas from just about everyone, but I'm sure they don't mind...!

Cheers!

Big do you have any line of sight issues from the bar seats? Most of the "pros" i have talked to have told me to put the bar on the riser but I will have about 5' behind the bar top so I would have to either pull the riser all the way to the back wall or leave the bar at ground level. Just wondering if it makes those bar seats less than desirable when there is someone sitting in the second row?

It is all a function of how high the riser is and how low the screen whether you will have line of sight issues. When I sit at the bar the first row tops are closer visually to the bottom of the screen than the second row primarily because you are sitting right on top of the second row seats. I have no problems a sub 5 ft person might.

There is another example of a ground level bar here

http://www.avsforum.com/t/628588/show-your-before-and-after-pics/0_40

If you're using bar stools, you'll be fine with the bar built at ground level. Just look at the seat height difference between the chair and a barstool. 12" difference there would be the same as a chair on a 12" riser...

My bar was built on a riser, so I used normal chairs instead of barstools. My concern was finding barstools comfortable enough for a 2+ hour movie. Finding a comfortable chair, however, wasn't much easier.

Jeff

BIG, how did you get the wire over to your riser? My theater already has 3/4" OSB down and I need to get power over to where the riser will be eventually. I'm wondering what the best option is short of cutting a whole sheet up?

The best code legal way is to dig a trench in the concrete floor and bury a line. I cheated and ran a wiremold on top of the carpet and I kick myself that I was so lazy that when I did a 5 ft trench to my bar I didn't do a 3 footer to my riser.



In your case I would be tempted to cut cut a trench in the OSB and cover it with a metal shield so that a carpet staple or the carpet tack strip anchors don't pierce the wire.

Good recommendation, thanks.