Expedit wine rack and bar

Mike turns the Expedit bookshelf into a standing bar unit.

He says, "I needed a bar unit to hold some stemware, liquor, and wine. While my new place has tons of vertical space (3 meter high ceilings), I didn't have a lot of floor space in my dining nook. Therefore, I decided a tall, vertical rack would be best. When I was unable to find one that suited me, I decided to make one out of a few parts from Ikea.

The base unit is an Expedit shelving unit, the single-wide, 5-cube 185 cm (73") model. The height, width, and depth were all perfect for this.

I assembled the unit normally, but left out the topmost inside shelf to allow for tall bottles of liquor to sit comfortably. I then added 2 stemware holders purchased online to make use of the remaining vertical space. My most frequently used wine glasses sit there, with plenty of room for long stemware such as champagne flutes. The remaining shelves hold other stemware such as martini glasses, and barware such as ice buckets, coasters, shot glasses, strainers, etc. I then added some touch-sensitive under-cabinet lighting that I had lying around (I purchased it for maybe $20 at a hardware store some years ago) to show off the contents of the unit a bit more.

Now I just needed a place for the wine. I picked up a 110 cm x 50 cm Stolmen shelf from my local store, cut it into 3 pieces to match the size of the leftover shelf that I removed for the upper portion of the unit, and then cut those pieces with a jigsaw to form a tic-tac-toe style interlocking grid for the bottom. Perfect fit! I now have a 9-bottle wine holder at the very bottom of the unit. (And for a very nominal cost, the shelf was only about $25 or so.)

Last step (not shown in attached pictures), I filled in the additional side holes where the missing shelf should be with spare finish from the Stolmen shelf. I then tucked away all of the wires, making small grooves in the wood to get them flush, and lastly covered the exposed rear of the unit with two Minde mirrors, which happen to be the perfect width!. Both were cut to 90 cm (35") each, with the seam being covered perfectly by the middle shelf. Now the contents of the unit really shine, especially with the overhead lights turned on.



Updated! February 25, 2009
Carl's version
He says, "I wanted something for the kitchen to display some glasses and tableware, but also utilising the brilliance that is the Expedit range, so after seeing a hack on your site using the range I thought I'd give it a go myself!

I used the fairly new 5 x 1 Expedit in white, drilled through 2 shelves for the 2 Rationell Variera wine glass racks, and also a pack of Lots mirrors to place on each shelf to give it (I think at least!) an even better look. Add in the campness of the mirror ball and I'm over the moon with the result that matches my white kitchen perfectly!"

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