I like it. Keep it and drink :)

Hi, Lindsey--

Millennial homeowner here. I'm with the folks above - why push around the bar carts people loved last year when you have the real thing already plumbed in? Tweak the space to your style and it'll feel like part of your overall plan and flow, not an afterthought you were lukewarm on.

It also looks like it adjoins a hall closet with bifold doors, so two closets next to each other might raise some eyebrows over time.

Some ideas:

- maybe consider changing the style of shelving to opt for a picture rail above, or match your crown molding in a shelf profile for leaning art or books. In mine, I added an short overhead cabinet with doors to store more glassware and did a solid mirror backsplash, with the side splashes clad in my countertop slab material all the way up. Came out slick.

- since your wet bar is inset behind a door portal, you may want to see if there's some right-sized lighting you could add in, either above like a centered 4" overhead can, or at sides like a slimline sconce pair (anything on dimmers) so it's as warm and inviting as the rest of your room. Looks like there may already be a light up in there, too.

Plus, if that French door at left is your main entry, it's a great central place to stage some pre-poured beverages that greet your guests upon arrival. You lucked out - this is a plus. Cheers!

I have always been confused by the need for water at the bar. Who would wash dishes in such a small area. PITB!! The home-pictured has a visible kitchen very close. I can see a bar/display area for serving guests but the "wet" part --I don't get it. The glass shelves are nice, but I am not a fan of the hanging system they used for a living space. It could be done better. If the plumbing weren't in the way a wine fridge or ice maker would be handy if drinking is the point of this.

The wet part is more for a sink to prepare drinks. I’m a cocktail nerd, so love to learn a new drink and perfect it. For example, for a Manhattan or a Martini you are supposed to fill the coupe you will be serving in with ice while you prepare the drink in a mixing glass. Then when it’s ready you dump the ice out of the glass and pour the drink into the now frosty coupe. I don’t have a sink at my bar, so when I’m entertaining I keep a small tub on my dry bar to dump the ice. I’d love to have a sink!

I think it is a great asset. A small fridge under the sink. The shelves look dated. Remove them and tile using same as your pretty backsplash in the kitchen and add floating shelves. Everybody drinks, it doesn't have to be alcohol. Congrats, your new house looks beautiful.

We have a large custom ( approximately 7’ long ) built in bar / buffet between the living & dining rooms. I love it for storage & for setting out drinks & appetizers... I did opt to omit the sink ... I think it looks too “ kitcheny” for my space &, as arcy stated, I don’t intend to wash glassware there & I use bottled water for drinking. Unless it’s in a rec room or basement ( which we don’t have in California ) I don’t want one. I also omitted one on my kitchen island .... with proper lighting & shelving & other tweaks yours could look great. And don’t use your kitchen tile in it...

Thanks all for your input! I'm not opposed to wet bars and do drink (albeit more wine than cocktails :)) My main concern here was the location of the wet bar - IN the main living space as opposed to hallway, etc. and how to give it an updated look. My first thought was to put in upper cabinets with glass fronts, but since it's within what I assume used to be a closet, that's out, as they would not be able to open. There is a light in the ceiling above. Would it look silly to replace with a statement pendant light hanging down over 2 floating shelves? You can't tell here but the counter top is super dated - do I replace that with something that matches the kitchen? Can't decide at all whether to keep the sink or not - is that a large part of what's causing it to look dated?

PCC - the view of the side of the fridge never bothered me, but probably now forever will!

If you call it a wine bar or a bourbon bar, then it’s still trendy lol.

I noticed when I was searching for ideas for my own house to get people out of my kitchen that there were not a lot of pics of wet bars. If you change the search to wine bar, however, there are more pics.

I wouldn’t like it as a feature in my living room. I’d close it off with a door.

I would remove the sink, replace counter with a nice stone or? There are thousands of choices, remove the shelving there & replace with quality glass shelves ( the thick, not skimpy kind without the green edge look, more expensive but you’re are smaller, nice recessed LED lighting & you could back the recessed area with something like grasscloth if you like that look, or a paint, many options.

It would a fun project to update that space. A great place for a pop of color or really expensive wallpaper.

Annette - what were your search terms to find these pictures so easily? These are exactly the ideas I'm looking for, but having trouble finding!

Since we don't drink I'd find a way to turn in into bookcases. It's a lovely home!

The supports for the glass shelves are wrong. They make it look like a storage closet. I would think about soapstone for the countertop. I know it is expensive, but you only have a small space.

Are wet bars still cool? Definitely. As cool as you want to make it :) New counter and shelves would transform it. I like Sherry's suggestion of soapstone, so versatile for whatever decor you're going for.

Keep the wetbar but change the cabinet, the partial overlay style looks old and cheap. Use a light-colored flush panel cabinet rather than a stile and rail cabinet with a centerpanel. Use white and find a different, neutral top that doesn't stand out as much.

Yeah, it's a tad silly being so close to the open kitchen. I'd probably turn it into a closet because the location looks like...a closet. You can't beef up the trim to make it not look like an ex-closet because of its location. You could turn it into a wall cabinet--think of old fashioned built-in linen storage.

But if you keep it, or while you wait to get around to turning it into an awesome recessed cabinet, you can make it look good. You don't have to use it for anything more than display. The cabinets match the kitchen, I think? Change the hardware. Better shelving, lighting, and wallpaper would make it cool again! Am I the only one that thinks in most cases (except some modern designs where sleek is the thing) full overlay feels like a budget choice? It takes more carpentry skill to do any of the other door types. These are nice doors. Keep them if you keep the bar.

Congrats on the house. If this is the only thing that's bugging you about it, you did great! Cuz it's not really that bad!

I'd put doors on it. It will be useful when you entertain but I would not want to look at it all the time.

I do think there is no need for the "wet" part of a bar closet. We took an old bedroom closet and turned it into a bar in what is now our breakfast room. Door was cut in half horizontally - bottom was hinged in the regular way, and there is a shelf in that part - also a dog crate - perfect place to hide it! The upper remaining 1/2 door, was then cut in half length-wise so it opened like a french door. A countertop was installed (used black formica that looks like slate), and the old closet shelves removed (but wood supports left in place. Shelves were put on each side, front to back (cut down old wood ones) and at the back two new glass shelves were installed. No sink no running water - just a pitcher of water if entertaining plus an ice bucket. It's been great over the years - all the liquor is on the counter under those front-to-back shelves. Oh - there is also a drawer under the counter - cocktail napkins, wine bottle opener etc in it.

Lindsey D, we just built a home and paid for the upgrade of a wet bar so obviously we love them. It's in our billards room, makes for some fun games of pool. I love the inspiration pics that Annette found, such a cool and modern take on what can be a dated look. I think the predictable and boring thing would be to make a closet or bookshelf. Set your house apart from the rest and do a look like the inspiration pics. I think it would give your house a young, fresh vibe.

If you should ever decide to remodel your kitchen, you’ll be so thankful you have a wet bar at your disposal!

Color me predictable and boring, I would much prefer for that space to be a closet. A wet bar in a billiards room/basement makes sense to me, even if I were to probably not choose to have one. But a wet bar two steps from the kitchen, right off my entryway makes no sense to me.

As for how "in" wet bars are, Suzanne Kassler, whose style I really love, says they are a must have, so you have that.

SO we closed on this house 2 months ago and all the comments here inspired us to keep the wet bar! This is how (un)far this renovation has made it, but it's time to tackle it! I've been getting quotes on replacing the counter top..can't decide whether to splurge and go with a pretty white marble or quartz, or a cheaper darker something that would match the slate of the fireplace across the room (picture from listing.) I know for sure I'm going to do a hanging glass pendant light, 2 wooden floating shelves, under-mount sink, and new faucet/cabinet hardware. Undecided on counter color, shelf and cabinet color, and whether the keep the existing grass cloth that matches the rest of the room. Help?!

Hi, Lindsey--

Exciting news! I really like the grasscloth in the nook, and the fact that it continues the statement from the larger room's wall treatment seems to suit the style of the home overall - would keep that in there, especially with floating shelves going on.

Quick question: what's your kitchen countertop material? Do you like it and plan on keeping it as-is? If nearby, I usually like to do wetbars in that same material to add correlation across the spaces if the material lends itself to both settings. The good news is that material sizes this small can usually be done from remnants to help keep your surface costs down. Cheers!

With it being such a small spot, I think I'd splurge.

I think they are "in" because they are an upsell for kitchen designers. I just don't get it. Most these days are kitchen cabinetry (!) and counters (!!) in the living room, spitting distance from the kitchen. How is this one useful for entertaining? It is too small to gather around or make drinks at. It is a place for your glasses to collect dust and it robs you of an opportunity to put a nice piece of furniture on that wall.

We decided to keep ours and just got new granite and cabinets. My husband insisted on keeping the original wallpaper and glass/shelves LOL. We entertain a lot so it definitely gets use. As you can see its also a catch all for junk lol.

I would love to do a butler's pantry or wet bar with something like this spigot & drain

And you could name your pub The Spewing Stag.

Like the way the put the sinks to the side and got the wine frig in there.

You can get beverage or wine coolers as narrow as 12" to 15"

If you're going to put some sort of stone top on there, replace the cabinets, too. It's cost less than $1000 to get a quality cabinet installed in there. Once the top is on, there's no replacing the cabinets unless you're ready to start over with a new top.

Congrats on keeping the wet bar!

Don't do marble for a counter. Spills and splash are part of mixing and pouring. I had a marble table in my bar/media room two houses ago. And what I mean by that is I had a horribly stained marble table in my bar/media room two houses ago.

We have had these, and always use them as our “Espresso” bar! More relevant to our coffee-loving lifestyle.

Congrats on the house! It looks wonderful.

I’d get a stone or quartz counter - it does not need to “match” fireplace. Compliment, not match. You can likely get a remnant since you need such a small amount.

As for your original question - wet bars are very common where I am, though mostly found in basement levels as part of a man cave/theatre area, etc. We plumbed in for one and it will be a good sized wet bar when finished (with sink, wine cooler, small fridge, lower and upper cabinets). My sister actually built a full bar into her basement - much more modern than the 1970s burgundy padded bar that was in one of my childhood homes though (my parents ripped that out fast along with the orange shag...)

Still working on styling (and my wine rack needs a restock!), but here’s the finished product for now. Appreciate all the advice and opinions! Cheers!

Very nice. Nice update without blowing tons of money. The glass shelves, faucet, and granite make it look SO much nicer. That is a new sink also isn't it?

Dude, you did it! Entertaining home base. This so rocks - great job!

Not sure about family pics in a bar?

Haha thanks Kate, I just threw some things on the shelves for now, this picture of (not my child) included. :)

That said, I would love some styling suggestions! This area is in the living room and steps away from the kitchen, so drinking glasses seemed weird to me?

I don't see why one of the hanging wine glass holders would be out of place. Especially if they were very pretty or sentimental. The family pictures would fit also. Sometimes they are why you need to relax at the end of the day, lol. Especially if they are teens or your adult children. A picture when they were sweet and innocent????????????

Hi Lindsey, the bar is looking good! I agree that I would not do pictures of any kind. I would just maintain the focus of bar items. I would move the liquor bottles up on the shelves above and leave the counter space free to mix and serve drinks. Also, I would think about a mirrored tray instead of the woven one, a prettier look for a bar I think. Then just add an ice bucket, cocktail shaker, a cocktail recipe book that you can refer to, things like that.

I would take out the sink, do different shelves and use it for a bookcase. The area underneath will make useful storage for umpteen different things. The books will add color and warmth to the room.

Honestly, it doesn’t really look like a bar. It looks like a sink with a collection of stuff on it.

Ingrid, the OP is kind enough to update us on her lovely bar. She just replaced the counter top and sink, why suggest she take them out and add bookshelves? Not helpful.

As far as "styling" goes...I would treat it like a bar cart..I don't put pictures on my bar cart, but I would like to see a couple of pictures on the wall above the top shelf of yours...something like this..

Whatever the main color in the pictures is, carry that through with a small vase of the same color flowers...

I do have flowers and decanters and a couple of "good" glasses and a cocktail shaker and a kitschy ice bucket that I picked up from the goodwill of all places. I have some vintage swizzle sticks and I picked up some little paper umbrellas from Party City.

Williams Sonoma has some really cute barware...

I find wet bars odd (as if you’re going to wash up when the “real” sink is in the kitchen just a few feet away). This one looks particularly odd as it’s small and cramped. It obviously was a tiny linen closet that’s been retrofitted, but looks oddly placed within the room and cramped. I say, be done with it. Hang a door on it. If drinks are your thing, even a modest bar cart centred on that wall will look far better, more styled and less a product of make-do patchwork.

Still popular. Love it. I would put a backsplash in it like the one in the kitchen.

There’s a photo above that shows a bar with a mirror backsplash and glass shelves filled with alcoholic beverages and glasses. That clearly looks like a bar whereas it’s not clear what the purpose of yours is.

I hope to have such a space in my next home with room for a beverage fridge. It keeps everyone out of the way in the kitchen. I would likely remove the sink to fit a fridge and plan for glassware and alcohol above.