This contemporary wine cellar was created for our clients in Coral Gables, near Miami in Florida. The house itself is a brand new build and this space was allocated as just a bar and entertainment area with a counter in an ‘L’ shaped configuration. The new owners felt they could use the space more effectively if they turned part of it into a wine cellar. As with about 50% of the new houses and residential custom wine cellars built in this area, contemporary looks that are sleek, sharp and ultra-modern are becoming the vogue.
In a recent interview with Jake Duquette owner of Wine Cellar International, we learned more about this stunning and very contemporary residential wine cellar project.
What was in the wine cellar’s intended space before you started the project?
The owner’s original idea was to have the cellar look similar to a European shower in that there would be no visible frame, just glass walls. However, after talking to the owners and realizing they wanted something that would stand out, going for a very contemporary look with brushed steel framing and wine racks would firmly put this wine cellar room center stage.
This wine cellar in particular has a very commercial look to it and is actually built in the exactly the same way a commercial wine cellar would be. It has glass and brushed stainless steel and metal with a heavy gauge commercial grade wine cellar door along with a commercial framework that would be seen in a store. This whole custom wine cellar has a commercial feel and look but in a residential atmosphere and is becoming more and more popular.
The wine storage and display room can be seen from outside the house and when all the lights are out except for the illumination inside the cellar, it becomes a feature not to be missed or forgotten.
How long did the whole wine room project take?
This whole project only took about 6 to 7 weeks after we got the final sign off of the design. This included the fabrication of the racks, frame of the whole custom wine cellar and the brushed stainless steel ladder.
What were the main challenges for this home wine cellar build?
This particular area had a few preset structural conditions; there was a step down that needed to be incorporated so that it looked right. There was also a drop down in the ceiling that had to be made part of the cellar without looking out of place which can be seen in the pictures.
The height of this particular wine room is 11 feet high and in order to get as much wine racking in there as possible, we made sure the wine racks went from floor to ceiling. However, when the bottle of wine you want to access is 11 feet off the floor, the only way to get that bottle is with a custom wine ladder.
The brushed stainless steel is hand crafted in Germany and this is where the ladder came from. Installing this ladder was another challenge, with the bottle racks 3 deep, just leaning a ladder against the wall was out of the question. This meant we needed to get a special bracket, hand crafted, that would hold the rail for the ladder off the wall, enough to miss the actual racking.
How many bottles does this cellar hold?
This particular cellar has the capacity to hold 891 bottles and this includes a display rack at the front of the unit. The racks themselves came from Vintage View which is renowned for their metal wine racks. The shelf unit you see displayed in the front window of the wine cellar was a custom made piece that would allow the owners to display larger wines on the top, magnums of Champagne for instance, or to use it as a tasting table.
After the shelving unit was added to the wine room a shatter proof glass top was added, again following through with the contemporary look of the whole cellar. There was also a ‘reveal’ row in the display rack that allows the owners to display their most favorite wines with the label forward.
Does it have its own climate control system with a wine cellar cooling unit?
Yes, we installed a wine cooling system which was tucked up into the corner against the header. As this is a contemporary wine cellar hiding the actual wine cellar refrigeration unit didn’t need to be done. With a traditional wooden wine rack cellar a wooden grate is usually created in the same wood as the racks to completely hide the unit. In this case the front of the unit has the look and feel of a commercial unit so it fitted in with the décor from day one.
The unit used is a US Cellar Systems RM 6600 which is a split system; this means the noisy part of the unit, the condenser, actually sits outside the home 20 feet away making the cellar almost silent.
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