Top 5 Aspects To Consider When Building Your Home Bar

1. What kind of space do you have?

Before buying bar equipment and accessories, you need to assess the amount of space you have for everything. We recommend considering your biggest items first, like a bar top or counter space, large dispensers or beverage storage, like a kegerator or wine refrigerator.

Kegerators and wine refrigerators come in a wide variety of sizes and styles to suit your needs. Many people will opt for freestanding models, as these are the most versatile but if you want your units to be seamlessly incorporated into the design of your bar, a built-in model will suit your needs.

2. Where is your home bar?

If you choose to have your home bar be outdoors, be sure you're purchasing equipment designed for the extreme temperatures and conditions of the outdoors. Outdoor kegerators and outdoor wine refrigerators are built to run properly in extreme ambient conditions, include a tarnish-resistant design, and a tarnish-resistant parts.

• Our favorite outdoor kegerator model is the: Kegco 24" Wide Dual Tap All Stainless Steel Outdoor Built-In Kegerator with Kit - This robust outdoor kegerator is built with a tarnish-resistant cabinet and includes a fan-forced cooling system that helps maintain even and fast cooling throughout the whole cabinet.

• Our favorite outdoor wine refrigerator model is the: Perlick 24" Wide Signature Series 20 Bottle Single Zone All Stainless Steel Outdoor Wine Refrigerator - This wine refrigerator is equipped with a stainless steel tarnish-resistant cabinet, which holds up to 20 bottles. With a commercial-grade compressor and a wide temperature range for preserving wines. This versatile wine refrigerator can be built-in or used freestanding.

3. How many people will you be serving on a regular basis?

This will help you determine a variety of aspects of your home bar like, what size kegerator, wine refrigerator, or beverage center you'll need.

If you're serving beer, here is a guide for the size keg and our recommended kegerators. Of course, you don't need to follow these guidelines. Buying a larger keg offers more value per pour and kegs even when tapped, can last 6-8 weeks before it starts to lose its fresh taste.

• 1-3 people - Mini Keg (approx. serving size of 14 pints of beer) Kegerator recommendation: The Kegco HK-46 Mini Kegerator is ideal for the occasional drinker and for small groups. If you like to switch up your beer, this little kegerator is great for serving small batches. Plus, the compact unit easily fits on a countertop.

• 4-10 people - 5 gallon Cornelius or Sixth Barrel Keg (approx. serving size of 40 pints of beer) Kegerator recommendation: Kegerator recommendation: The Kegco 24" Wide Homebrew Single Tap Black Digital Kegerator is the perfect kegerator for a 5 gallon keg or homebrew batch. The wide temperature range allows you to ferment and then serve! The large cabinet can even hold up to a full-sized keg and the digital display allows you to have full control over your brewing and serving temperatures.

• 10-15 people - 7.75 gallon Quarter or Slim Quarter Keg (approx. serving size of 62 pints of beer) Kegerator recommendation: Kegerator recommendation The Kegco 24" Wide Dual Tap Black Commercial/Residential Digital Kegerator is a fully equipped kegerator designed to serve up to two different beers simultaneously. The fan forced cooling technology ensures kegs are chilled thoroughly and evenly. This kegerator is built to continuously pour perfectly chilled beers every time.

• 15 + people - Full-sized Keg (approx. serving size of 124 pints of beer) Kegerator recommendation: Kegerator recommendation: The Kegco 24" Wide Single Tap Black Stainless Steel Digital Kegerator has a stylish black stainless steel cabinet that could suit any home bar and it can fit up to a full-sized keg. This kegerator comes complete with a full premium dispense kit to ensure all your pours are perfect. This kegerator even has a deep chill function to chill you kegs quickly and make them ready to serve in less time than other kegerators.

For more information on Keg Sizes, head to our guide HERE.

If you're serving wine, its more of a matter of how big of a collection you have than how much you will be serving. Here are our recommendations for the best wine storage solutions:

• Small Collections (30 bottles or less) - The Allavino 15" Wide FlexCount II Tru-Vino 30 Bottle Dual Zone Black Wine Refrigerator allows for storage in two independently controlled temperature zones, ensuring your whites and red are stored at the perfect temperature for preservation or for serving. The compact and slim size fits perfectly in most home bars freestanding or seamlessly built into the bar.

• Medium Collections (60 bottles or less) - The Allavino 24" Wide FlexCount II Tru-Vino 56 Bottle Single Zone Black Right Hinge Wine Refrigerator is a compact, yet spacious wine refrigerator for those with a diverse collection. The dual zone temperature control allows you to customize your wine storage solution. This unit also has the flexibility of being built-in or freestanding.

• Large Collections (170 bottles or less) - The Allavino 24" Wide FlexCount II Tru-Vino 172 Bottle Dual Zone Black Wine Refrigerator is a large but sleek wine refrigerator that will suit many home kitchens to home bar areas. The versatile cradling shelves allow for a wide variety of bottle shapes and sizes to fit inside the unit. This large, yet slim unit can easily be placed freestanding inside a home or be built into cabinetry or a bar.

• Extra Large Collections (300 bottles or less) - The Allavino 32" Wide Vite II Tru-Vino Series 305 Bottle Single Zone Black Wine Refrigerator can contain up to 305 bottles of wine of a variety of bottle sizes and shapes! The sturdy shelf design allows you to stack multiple bottles and the shelves glide out easily to provide access to your collection. The fan-forced cooling technology provides even cooling throughout the whole unit.

4. Which beverages will you be serving?

Whether you're a beer, wine, or cocktail drinker, the best part of a bar is that they always have your drink just the way you like it. To achieve this at home, you'll need the proper equipment.

For the beer lover, a kegerator is going to give you the best-tasting beer every time. It can also be extremely cost-effective depending on the type of beer you choose to serve and homebrewers save even more every pour.

For wine enthusiasts, a wine refrigerator is a home bar essential. Not only does it help contain and preserve your wines, but it also allows you to have your wines at the ideal serving temperature. A regular wine refrigerator just doesn't cut it when it comes to preserving wine and the much colder temperatures can significantly alter the flavors in your fine wines.

If you and your guests enjoy both wine and beer, we have the perfect bar solution for you. The Kegco 30" Wide Side-by-Side Dual Zone Wine Refrigerator and Single Tap Kegerator is a combo unit that gives you the best of both worlds, all while fitting perfectly in a bar or an under-counter space. The dual zone offers maximum flexibility for wine storage, while the kegerator dispenses up to 7.75 gallons of fresh draft beer.

Serving cocktails at your home bar? The worst thing that can happen is running out of ice! Keeping a bag of ice in your freezer takes up too much space and your refrigerator ice machine doesn't have a great capacity or ability to produce what you need. We recommend getting a compact but high-quality ice machine. If you have a smaller space, we recommend these countertop ice makers but if you have the room to have a built-in ice machine into your bar countertop, these produce much more ice.

5. Do you have the appropriate glassware for your beverages?

Glassware is a huge part of the bar experience and having the appropriate glassware really changes the way you taste and experience a beverage. We have several tips for choosing glassware for your beverages of choice.

For beers:

• A Pint Glass or a Pub Glass is always a good choice and is compatible with all beers.
• German Style Ales and Lagers are poured best in Willi Becher Glasses, which displays the beer's clarity and color and the tapered edge helps with head retention.
• Ideal for light beers, the Pilsner Glass allows you to appreciate the color and the carbonation of the beer. The wider mouth of the glass allows for head retention and enhances the aromas of the beer.
• A Belgium Beer Glas or Snifter is typically compatible with stronger beers like IPAs. They help enrich the aromas of the beer and the rounded shape allows you to stir up the volatiles in the beer, giving the beer and even more intense aroma and bringing out the strong flavors.
• Can Glass these novelty glasses have become increasingly popular at breweries to serve a wide variety of beers into and they suit a wide variety of beer types.
• Munique Beer Glasses are designed to trap and maintain the head of the beer and enhance the flavor and aromatics of hoppy and malty beers. These are often used for stronger brews like IPAs and Belgian Ales.

For Wine:

• Ideally the thinner the glass, the better, The thin rim of the glass allows the wine to properly flow onto your tongue, impacting how you taste your wine. The thicker and more rolled the rim of the glass, the more it will inhibit smooth flow onto your tongue and can accentuate acidity and harshness in the wine.
• Stemless vs. Stemmed Wine Glasses are partly a personal preference but we always recommend stemmed wine glasses because they allow you to hold your wine without heating it up and altering the flavors of your wine.
• Traditionally, you would choose a glass with a wider bowl for red wines because they allow the bolder flavor and aromas to emerge.
• Glasses with narrow bowls are ideal for white wines because they help cannel the subtle flavors and aromas to your nose.
• Champagne flutes are often tall and narrow to prevent the loss of the carbonation.

For Cocktails:

• Rocks Glasses are the standard glassware at most bars for a variety of cocktails. These are versatile glasses for any concoction or some straight liquor on the rocks.
• Pint Glasses are a good versatile glass for large cocktails, as well as beer. These glasses allow you to layer and mix a variety of liquids to create complex cocktails.
• There is a huge range of Specialty Cocktail Glasses from martini glasses to hurricane glasses. Choose these glasses according to what you plan on serving on a regular basis.

Let our team help you build out your dream home bar, contact our product specialists at 800-710-9939 to learn more about the home bar options available!