How is an appliance garage any different than using a cabinet?

Hmmm....we grab things out of upper cabinets all the time in a kitchen and that seems easy enough. Not sure why that would be so difficult for the booze bottles. We have ours in a lower cabinet of a bar which is really less convenient than upper cabinets where they're at eye level but our uppers are glass so glassware goes in there.

I've always found appliance garages to be a PITA and would never choose to have one for anything.

Appliance garages never get closed. Custom liquor drawers with the magnetic locks are for liquor. Or, just buy a fireproof job box for flammables off of Marketplace and give it a spray paint with a good keyed, not combo, lock to keep it shut. That's about as secure as any home is going to get.

My husband tells stories of his teen friends picking the locks on parent’s liquor cabinets. locks only stop honest theives :)

How about the sort of cupboard drawers that hinge open then slide back into the cupboard. That way when open they are not extending out into the work area or counter.

We keep our liquor in an antique highboy whose doors are secured with an ancient skeleton key lock. Standing instructions are to never ever lock the doors, because they are impossible to unlock. For some reason we have not disabled the lock and thrown away the key. I guess the atavistic idea that da fine likker should be secured is difficult to throw off.

Anyway, I’d just install locks on the existing cabinet doors.