Compact Home Bar

This bar features a small cabinet, pull-out speed rail, prep surface and extended bar front. This is the first project I designed and built by myself so please excuse the haphazardness of construction. Perfect for a dorm room or cramped college apartment (like mine).

Step 1 Bill of Materials

Here was my shopping list (spent 120 at the local hardware store) and some scraps I had laying around that I used.

2: 8' 2"x4"
2: 4'x8' sheets of BC grade plywood, 1/4" thick
1: 4'x18" sheet of laminate shelving
1: 8'x4' sheet of laminate shelving
2: 8' strips of
6: hinges
3: chrome handles
2: 8' strip of outside corner (there's a better name I'm sure, but you'll see it in the pics)
18" slide
minwax poly and stain in one

scraps of 1"x2" (about 5 ft)
scraps of 1'x4" (about 5 ft)
lots of oval nails
lots of brads
paint brush
sandpaper

Comments

[abadfart]

id suggest you put a mini fridge in the bottom with a wine rack next to it and your hard licker where your speed rail is then put a glass hanger and some place to hang mugs up top 

[TRBrew]

Nice job on the description, but please rotate the pics before you upload them. TRBrew

[holypit]

wheels on the bottom

[darkavatar]

seams to me like you could use a small stainless steel sink that would drain to a bucket inside the bar.. you can hold you ice in there in a bag or use it to wash your glasses or blender in between drinks.

[sk8erpunk51592]

add a kegerator or small sink for 2.0

[ftlstrings]

if you seal both the sides and the edges of the doors with paint, shellac, whatevah you should not have problems with warping.

[radiorental]

I always have trouble with ply warping when it isnt sealed properly. Especially things like the two doors on the bottom of the unit. How did you get around that? or do you live in an extremely dry climate? thanks

[tonyperry]

The warping was a problem. For the larger pieces having the 2"x4" to brace helped a bunch. I don't know of any tricks to get around the warping problem other than to be very selective about the wood you choose and try to keep your pieces of plywood small whenever possible, I just put it together yesterday so I haven't noticed any warping in the doors yet. If that becomes it would be easy enough to reinforce it on the back side with some wood scraps.

[jah_temp01]

I would at least seal the inside of the doors, as they don't have bracing to keep them from warping, and any warpage of them will be extremely obvious. If any of the sides warp, it won't be as noticeable.

[thediscobar]

I just saw you're from Madison, WI. Me too! Currently located in Milwaukee for college.

[thediscobar]

You might experience some minor warping in the bigger pieces. If you look at my bar project, you'll notice I used ply wood with paneling over the top, and the doors have warped a tiny bit. It didnt start to warp until 4 months or so after it was built. Although, it looks like your doors are about half the size of mine, so I wouldnt worry about it too much.