Bar plans? - Page 2

I bought the plan, well actually you don't "buy a plan". You join the site and it enables you in the members area to view and download the detailed plans, all of them. I like that a lot as in the end, I will likely combine a couple of different plans into the bar I actually build. He builds them pretty much all the same way with finishing details and sizes being the difference.

I have not built yet as I'm still working out of town, but plan to. And for the money I highly recommend buying even tho I have not built yet. Why? Even if you don't use an actual plan, the ideas, suggestions, photos, etc are worth the $16.00 or so $$.

I'm about 3/4 done with my bar. I have all the framing done and completed the tops for the bartender area and bar top (3/4" particle board + 1/4" concrete backerboard).

After discussing "plans" and even joining a site, I basically threw it all out and did my own thing!

I decided I really wanted doors and drawers. So I researched cabinets and found a wholesale cabinet place here in town. Now, standard 24" deep lower cab's were to wide and making a box for 12" upper cab's would not have been deep enough and no drawers. Solution? I found "vanity" cabinets that had drawers and doors and as a vanity they are 18" deep. Perfect. I made a L shaped bar out of these (+ a beverage center), secured to the floor and one wall. I then basically framed a wall on the back side of the cab's about 6" higher then the cab's for the bar top.

BTW, finding the cab's wholesale seems to have worked well and I don't think I could have framed it for much less. I know it would not have been less if I bought enough stuff to hand build draws and doors.

I'll post some pic's in a few days as I have taken photos along the way. I'm going to start the trim work (molding) tomorrow and hopefully the bar tops this weekend. I bought black granite 12X12 tiles for the bar top and "think" I was smart by making the bar top 12" deep and basically the back bar area 12" deep. So minimum of cutting, hopefully.

I have never done anything like this before, a good friend was helping me, but had to go back to work so now I'm on my own. But with a good start I hope to finish by next week.

Oh yea, sorry I mis-spoke. I meant the bartenders work area. I wanted a two teir counter top, one area for the bartender and the higher area for the actual bar top where people sit.

I'll try to get my photos uploaded tonight or tomorrow.

OK photo time! The photos will show better what I did then my terrible explaination!

Here is the proposed layout. Frig in the aprox place it will go with Blue Tap laying out the rest. The door way directly next to the fig is the door opening leading into the bar from the kitchen. The door opening to the right of that is for the laundry/pantry room.



With only 18" cab's I didn't trust the weight to hold them in place so I used a hammer drill and screwed 2X4's into my concrete slab in the grout lines of my tile flooring. (sorry about the bad photo, I had just swept and that concrete dust was everywhere!).



Cab's over the 2X4's that are screwed into the concrete. I then screwed the cab's into the 2X4's. Had to do some shimming due to uneven floor and uneven tiles.



Here is the bartender side with cab's in place. I did a terrible job staining the cabs, so once 100% finished, I'll pull the doors, do a little sanding and put on another coat and a clear coat (I had never stained before).



Here is the frame for the bar top and will also hold the outer "skin" for the bar,



Here is the two different bar tops framed to support granite tile. I also added foam board between the framing of the bar top so when I "skin" the bar with paneling you won't get that hollow sound and it will give the paneling some support.



Here is what it looks like from behind the bar with frig in place



And a dry fit of the granite tile and tin back splash. The bar top itself I made exactly 12" so no cutting except as I turn the corner on the L shape of the bar. The bartender work area "I believe" is just right for one full tile and then a half of one tile. I can use the grout line to fine tune (hopefully). The square hole you see in the tile is a reflection of my sky light overhead.

Thanks, I still have all the detail work to go and have slowed down since my buddy had to leave (we did the above in 3 full days - well full days with lots of breaks for beer and crown royal!).

As you saw, no sink in the bar, but I have a free standing sink I will put on the wall behind the bar. Easy to install, I just moved it out of the way while working.

Not sure when opening day will be, but I'm saving the tiling till last (have never tiled before) and hope to get to it this weekend or early next week.

Sdallnct - Love the pics, I get a good idea of what you're doing now...

Coupla questions:

How are you planning to trim out the outer edge of the bar itself?

I have decorative wood trim that I will use. I thought about tile, but figured for the look I'm going for, wood trim (stained like the cab's) would be the best.

Is 12" of bar going to be enough considering legroom for seating underneath?

The bar top is 12" while the overhang is about 8". In all honest, I wish I had it deeper, but with my room width, it was a far as I dare go. My plan going in was not to have it as deep as say a table, but I hate bars with no overhang, so I compomised. The total 12" bar top was figured based on mainly only having glasses on the bar, but it is large enough for a plate if we have so many people that someone (or maybe kids) need to eat up there. And of course once I decided to tile the bar top, I wanted it the same size as the tile so minimize cutting.

What was a good price for those 18" cabs you put in. I looked around at some unfinished ones at Lowe's last night.

18" cab's were $70 ea and I used three. The 30" was like $120 (it was so much more as it had a bank of drawers). On the long portion of the bar I was actually hoping to use a 30 and 36 in cab, but they were out of the 36 and they weren't sure when they would get. The Lowe's/Home Depots in my area had very little in the way of vanity and all they did have were stained a light honey color.

I had originally planned to stick build the entire bar, and leave the area behind the bar open, filling in the space with wine racks, maybe a very small wine frig, etc. However, I really like the doors and draws and can still put a wine rack or whatever behind the door.

You didn't want to do a corner cabinet? You probably have plenty of storage space anyway, so it might not have been needed. Just curious.

A corner unit would have made life easier, but the place I got the cab's didn't have any in this quality. These are cheap "builders grade" cab's, tho I am happy with them. They had much, much fancier cab's (Home Depot had some to) that had detail work, etc, but most of these were $400+ for a single 30" cab. I suppose it depends are you budget.

Again, looks great so far...like the idea for the foamboard too

Thanks I really appreciate it. Like I say, mainly learning as I go and one day spent about three hours walking around Lowes getting ideas on what would work, look good and be in my budget. My original budget was $1,000 for the entire bar, sink and frig. I have not added everything up, but I will be really close. I may have gone over when I had to buy a hammer drill as my regular drill wouldn't drill holes in my concrete slab .

Have you looked into bar trim? I doubt the local home improvement stores would carry it, but I've seen it on the web. Really dresses up the area and would even add a little more overhang to your bar, I think.

I'll have to check it out. Do you happen to have a link or anythng?

I saw an unfinished corner cab at Lowes when I went, that's why I asked. Can't remember the price, but it had the pull-out double door, which would add a lot of storage room to the space.

Really? And these were 18" deep cabinets? The Lowes and HD had almost nothing that was 18" deep. They had a nice selection of kitchen cabinets, but of course those were 24" deep which was more then I wanted. If you can get a variaty of cabinets, 18" deep that would work well.

Thanks for the links. I had thought about the armrest type trip, but nixed it. Mainly due to budget (that stuff is expensive!). But it is nice!

It is great that Lowes has a good selection of 18" cabs for you, I had to drive half way across town to find these and I live in Dallas!

Nice! Would have not thought of glass block, excellent idea!

You are right, a different look. Since I'm going more for an Irish/Scottish/English pub look, I don't think I would go with glass, but it is a neat look.

In fact, I think I'm going to nix my tin back splash. I'm using a 5" decorative trim in a couple of areas including the front "kick plate". It looks like it would work perfect as the back splash and since I will stain the rest of the cab's think it might just do the trick.