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Every host knows the moment. Coats are off, people are standing around the kitchen island, and the evening hangs on how fast the first drink shows up.
If there's no real bar, that's when the host is digging through drawers for a corkscrew and apologizing for the ice. A well set-up bar makes it a thirty-second job.
We'd sort it out in early October, while the holiday calendar is still fairly open and there's time to deal with placement, wine storage, glassware and ice before the first party.
Where the bar should go
Bars often end up wherever there was a spare wall. A better spot is usually on the path between the kitchen and the main entertaining rooms: a butler's pantry, a niche off the dining room, or a built-in wall in the family room. Guests can get a drink without wandering into the cook's way, and the host can pour without leaving the conversation.
If you entertain outdoors, look near the terrace doors. On a mild fall evening the party drifts outside, and a bar by the doors serves both rooms.
Keep it out of hallways and away from the main prep sink. Give it enough counter to set down a tray, and leave floor space in front. We'd plan at least 42 inches of clear aisle, the minimum the National Kitchen & Bath Association recommends for a one-cook kitchen work aisle, and 48 inches (NKBA's figure for multiple cooks) if two people will be working it at once.
Wine at the right temperature
Think of the bar as the everyday end of a wine collection. The cellar holds the long game, and the bar holds what you'll open this month. We covered serious storage in 9 Wine Cellar Design Ideas Only Found in Serious Homes. This is the pouring side.
Get a dual-zone undercounter wine refrigerator. Two separately controlled zones let reds sit a little cool while whites and sparkling stay properly cold, so nothing reaches the table too warm.
Venting is where people go wrong. Built-in units breathe through the front and can sit flush in a cabinet. Freestanding models breathe out the back or sides, and boxed in under a counter they overheat and wear out sooner. Check which type you're buying before the cabinetmaker sizes the opening.
Before the holidays, set aside a few reds you like, a crisp white, and more sparkling wine than seems reasonable. You'll use it.
Ice matters more than people think
A practiced guest notices the ice. Cloudy cubes that taste like the freezer can undo a crystal glass.
Clear ice is dense, so it melts slower and waters a drink down less. You can make it at home with a directional-freezing mold, which freezes from the top down and pushes trapped air and impurities to the bottom, or with a clear ice maker.
If you host a lot, an undercounter ice maker at the bar keeps ice out of the kitchen freezer and away from last night's leftovers. Most need a floor drain or a drain pump, though, and that's a plumbing conversation to have before the cabinets go in. For occasional parties, a countertop maker pulled out that afternoon is plenty.
Glassware
We'd rather have six very good glasses than a cabinet of mismatched ones.
A good crystal set in a universal wine shape (Zalto and Gabriel-Glas both make well-regarded versions), a pair of old-fashioned glasses for spirits, and coupes or flutes for sparkling will cover nearly everything. What makes a glass feel expensive in the hand is a thin rim.
Glassware on display should be edited. Open shelves or a glass-front cabinet with warm, dimmable light work well for a dozen matching stems, but put every glass you own up there and it looks like storage.
Backbar lighting should match the layered evening light in the rest of the house. You want the bar to glow. Glare kills it.
Decanting and open bottles
We'd keep a decanter at the bar. Younger reds benefit from the air, and older bottles can be poured off their sediment.
Coravin is the best-known wine preservation system. Its needle goes through the cork and argon fills the space as you pour, so a bottle can be revisited weeks later (screw-cap bottles need the company's separate cap accessory). Having one on the bar means you can pour three different wines by the glass and not feel you have to finish all three bottles that night.
The zero-proof shelf
Plan for the guests who aren't drinking. Good sparkling water, a non-alcoholic aperitif or two, lemons and limes, and the same glassware as everyone else. Handing someone a soda can at a party like this feels careless.
The holiday bar checklist
Four weeks before the first party, the bar should have a settled spot with a clear counter, a wine fridge that's been running at temperature for a while, glasses that have been counted and polished, and an ice plan. On the day, stock the ice (with a cooler of backup), open or decant a couple of bottles before the doorbell, chill the zero-proof drinks, and put out tools, napkins and a towel.
Skip the temptation to display every bottle you own, and keep the bar out of the cook's path.
If you're listing, stage the bar with a few good bottles, matching glasses and a bowl of lemons, with the lights on warm. Buyers touring luxury homes in late fall are picturing the holidays, and a set bar shows them where the party happens.
After the first pour
For more on the rest of the evening, see The Art of Autumn Entertaining: Creating a Home Designed for Memorable Gatherings, and if people end up staying the night, Guest Suites in Luxury Homes: What Buyers Want Now covers the guest room.
Short on time? Check the wine fridge temperatures and try a batch of clear ice this weekend, and leave the rest for November.
