Standard Bar Dimensions

You could grab a beer from the refrigerator or walk into the dining room and try to browse through your hard liquor bottles to find a glass of evening refreshment, but why? Home bars are often built for two reasons; convenience and cost savings. The convenience comes from having all of your alcohol, and alcohol related accessories, in one spot where you can easily access them. The cost savings come when you and your friends decide you would rather hang out in your home bar than drink expensive club drinks.

Before you start buying plywood and building a bar in your basement, there are a few DIY things you should know to make the entire process easier. Take your time to compare your options and you will find that the final project comes out looking better than you could have ever imagined.

Pick A Dry Spot

If your basement leaks when it rains, then that is not where you want to put your home bar. You either need to get a contractor to stop your basement from leaking, or you need to find a new spot to put your bar. Moisture in the air will cause mold to build up around the wood on your bar, and it will also cause a lot of problems with your alcohol as well.

Plan Ahead

You have decided that you want a 30-foot long bar that has a 10-foot mirror behind it and professional looking keg taps. The only problem is that the spot where your bar is going is only 20-feet long. Take real measurements of your proposed spot and plan out the exact kind of bar you want before you start building.

Type Of Bar Top

Should you put a granite top on your bar, or solid wood? Maybe oak-topped plywood would look better and fit your needs better. When it comes to the top of your bar, budget and location play a huge role. Can you really get a huge, granite bar top into your basement in one piece? Will your basement stairs support that kind of weight?

A solid wood bar top looks professional and has a nice feel to it. A solid wood top does not need as much finishing work as an oak-topped plywood bar, but the plywood approach can save you money. Plywood can also be much easier to work with and mistakes are easier to correct with plywood as well.

Bar Dimensions

Your bar can be as long as you want it, but professional bars are 42-inches tall. The average bar top is between 16 to 20-inches wide, and the average bar overhang is 8-inches. You may want to extend that overhand by a couple of inches to make it easier for people to sit at your bar without banging their knees against the bar wall.

Most bars allow for 24-inches of space for each bar stool, but you can extend that to 30-inches to accommodate your friends who need a little more room. Even if your bar stools have foot rests around the bottom, you should still put a foot rail on your bar approximately nine inches from the floor.

Remember to include a serving counter behind the bar that is approximately 12-inches lower than the bar top. You should also include a drink lip on the serving side of the bar to make sure that your area behind the bar does not get soaked with spilled drinks.

Bar Rails

Bar rails make your bar look more professional, and they give your guests a comfortable place to lean on when they are sitting at the bar. You can buy pre-fabricated bar rails that you can cut and stain to your need. Consider padding your bar rails and covering it with vinyl that will be easy to clean.

Lighting

Ditch the creepy looking fluorescent shop lights and invest in some nice LED fixtures for your bar. You can run LED lighting rope along the serving area and light it up to make it easier to serve drinks. LED lighting is easy to install, requires less energy than conventional lighting and can be programmed to any color or brightness you want.

When you decide to build your own home bar, there is some planning you need to do before you get started. But when you take everything into account, then you can create a bar that you and your friends will enjoy for years.