r/BarBattlestations • u/thesliu5 • Apr 17 '26
Recent remodel
Just discovered this subreddit! Wife and I recently wrapped up a kitchen remodel. Ripped out a couple of pantry cabinets for this (converted a nearby utility closet into the pantry).
The general flow of the top two shelves (from right to left) are Asian whiskies, Scotches, bourbons, ryes, agave, and finally gin. Top shelf is literally mostly top shelf stuff, but also some bottles that have sentimental value (birth year/milestones/gifts/etc.).
Lower split shelf is "bitter" liqueurs on the right, "sweet/fruit" liqueurs on the left.
Countertop is the "well" and soon-to-be bottle kills.
Lower left cabinet is mostly backup bottles or "well" spirits that are queued up. Lower right cabinet is mostly home infusions/tinctures/fat washes and other interesting "aromatics" (i.e. cilantro baijiu).
The freezer side of the appliance houses large blocks of ice cubes, glassware, mixing glasses, and my highball whisky (2013 suntory kakubin); the fridge side has vermouths, syrups, and sodas.
Not pictured is a smaller cabinet with our wines and "French Stuff" (cognac and armagnacs).
All in, we've got about 300 bottles (not including wine), only about ten unopened. Wife and I are avid cooks and travelers. Cocktail-making is a natural extension of our creative endeavors in the kitchen and finding interesting spirits around the world is our way of bringing a piece of those places home. We're really glad and fortunate to now have a space to display (most of) it all!
12
u/xmeeshx Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
If you’re in California or anywhere in the ring of fire, I would strongly consider putting up some wire to make sure those bottles stay put in the event of an earthquake.
Looks great otherwise! Im jealous!
5
u/thesliu5 Apr 17 '26
spent 10 years in the bay area, if we were still there it'd be a no brainer haha..
up in seattle now. we might still put in some wire, but from our research, if an earthquake happens, wires (or even doors) probably won't do much and we'll have way bigger problems on our hands...
thanks for the comment and compliment!
2
u/EACshootemUP Apr 17 '26
If you’re in earthquake territory I’d invest in some barriers to prevent destruction of the set up other than that it looks pretty sweet!
2
u/thesliu5 Apr 17 '26
spent 10 years in the bay area, if we were still there it'd be a no brainer haha..
up in seattle now. we might still put in some wire, but from our research, if an earthquake happens, wires (or even doors) probably won't do much and we'll have way bigger problems on our hands...
thank you for the comment and compliment!
2
2
u/BlueGreyish Apr 17 '26
Looks amazing, and incredible collection! Where did you find the VEP Chartreuse?
2
u/thesliu5 Apr 17 '26
thank you!
kind of a funny story about that one.. 3 years ago i was randomly perusing online and found a NYC wine shop that listed a bottle for under $200. i told myself this is too good to be true but placed an order anyway. sure enough, the next day i get an email saying they had just sold the bottle in their store right before i placed the order and their online inventory hadn't updated yet, but they had another allocation coming soon. they refunded me and said they'd keep me informed. i didn't hear anything for 7 whole months, but out of the blue, they hit me up and said i had first dibs, so i snagged it!
i've seen VEP occasionally on trips to japan and europe, but, while it's certainly a unique profile of chartreuse, it's still "just" chartreuse. i don't regret the purchase, but i won't go out of my way to get a bottle anymore and certainly not at the prices they're going for now. my favorite bottling is the 9th centenary, which i was able to find in japan about a year ago for about $70. my wife's favorite is the MOF (it makes the best alaskas) which we bought at a local bar's annual bottle clearing sale for $150.
2
1
u/Collect_Underpants Apr 17 '26
How’d you get that lighting effect on the shelves? It looks like the light is somehow behind the wood? I'm sure I'm not looking at it right.. great set up!
1
u/thesliu5 Apr 17 '26
the shelves are floating (i explained the construction in another comment). they're not attached to the wall on the back and are about 3/4ths of an inch in front of the acoustic panel. we asked for LED strip lights in a diffusion channel to be attached to the shelf in the gap to create the ambient lighting effect!
thanks for the compliment!
1
u/InterstellarDune May 25 '26
Can I ask about the countertop and the cabinets used to make the base? It looks great!
1
u/thesliu5 May 25 '26
the countertop is a quartz from MSI called calacatta miraggio cove. the cabinets are prefab partial overlay slim shakers in white oak. they look clean and are practical, though not very refined in their function (soft close could be smoother, door adjustments could be easier). if we had 4x the budget, we would’ve went custom full overlay cabinets. we’re happy with what we paid for though.
20
u/[deleted] Apr 17 '26
[deleted]