Building Beautiful Glass Wine Cellars Under the Stairs in a Home

The team at Custom Wine Cellars Scottsdale are experts in building home wine cellars under stairs. In this project for a client in Phoenix, Arizona, we converted the space under the stairs into a beautiful, glass-fronted modern wine cellar. The client wanted to showcase his growing wine collection with his friends. Continue reading to learn more about how we create beautiful, modern, under-stair wine cellars like this one. 

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How We Design Glass Wine Cellars Under Stairs

The client contacted Jason and gave the dimensions of the area under the stairs. He also shared inspiration photos of other under stair home wine cellars he had found online. These are very helpful to Jason and his team, as they help the custom wine cellar designers clearly see the vision of what the client wants for their home wine cellars.  Jason discussed the photos with the client and talked about what would work well within the home, as well as ideas that might not be as effective. And from there, they finalized the design for the custom wine cellar. 

Jason gave the client a ballpark figure on what this wine cellar project could cost. Most of our clients are not familiar with the process involved in constructing wine cellars under stairs in a home. So, an estimate helps to make things clearer and get both the client and the design team on the same page. Building an efficient residential wine storage room requires installing a sizeable cooling unit. For this home wine cellar, a commercial-grade split system was the perfect fit. Jason’s team of experts installed the cooling system with precision so that it will serve well for years to come.

Custom Wooden Wine Racking 

Various wine racking styles in your wine cellar allow for lots of flexibility in storing different wine bottles.

The client wanted wooden wine racking for the wine cellar. For this project, the team used oak for the custom-made wine racking. They then applied an espresso stain to it, which helps preserve the wood while giving it a dark and luxurious hue. The espresso stain matches well with the dark handle and dark frame of the glass doors.   

Our goal is always to balance the capacity and aesthetics in every wine racking system — modern or traditional — we build for our clients. For this wine cellar, the racking system features reveal rows, single bottle cork forward racks, and wine shelving. It’s a beautiful and effective mix of form and function, and our client was extremely pleased with how it turned out. 

Crafting the custom wooden wine racks took about 10 to 12 weeks to be finished. Then, it took the team another two days to assemble it in the under stair wine cellar. 

A Functional Cooling System for the Modern Wine Cellar 

A wine cellar cooling specialist performed a heat load calculation in order to select and install the cooling unit in the walk-in wine room. There’s a big difference between refrigeration in a wine cellar and air conditioning in your room. So, it is only practical that an expert should do the heat load calculation for this wine cellar.

Installing a cooling system in a home wine cellar under the stairs can be a challenge, as space can be limited and most of our clients want us to hide the bulky machinery. In this case, louvered wooden panels keep the cooling system tucked away out of sight. In fact, it’s barely noticeable from outside the wine storage room.   

This under stair home wine cellar installed a split-type cooling system in the wine cellar. The condenser was placed outside the house. The component installed inside this Phoenix wine cellar is called the evaporator and is concealed nicely by the custom-made wooden enclosure. It was a perfect solution, as the cooling system maintains the proper temperature and humidity for wine storage while also remaining unseen and mostly unheard from outside the cellar.

The enclosure of the refrigeration system was designed so that it can be easily removed as a provision for future maintenance. Annual or semi-annual maintenance visits for the cooling system are recommended to prolong its lifespan.  

Insulation Helps Optimize the Cooling System Performance in this Phoenix Wine Cellar

Cork-forward wooden racking is a great way to add lots of wine storage to your cellar.

Ordinary glass is usually not the best choice for home wine cellars like this one. It can be prone to condensation inside the wine room. The team instead used a double-paned tempered glass to prevent this from happening. We can install either wooden-framed glass doors or frameless glass wine cellar doors. 

Spray foam insulation was also applied inside the wall cavity. It prevents the formation of water droplets due to condensation between the walls.  

Both the double-paned tempered glass walls and spray foam insulation helped to optimize cooling in the custom wine cellar. Insulation is an essential factor in any wine cellar. Wines need to be stored at their optimum temperature and humidity (59°F and 75%, respectively), or their quality may be compromised. A poorly insulated wine cellar won’t maintain these optimum conditions due to unwanted condensation in the wall cavities and inside the cellar. Also, the cooling unit won’t last long as it was designed to due to frequent fluctuations in temperature and humidity in the wine cellar. You’ll be losing a lot of cash and risking your valuable wine collection in the long run. 

The Final Product – A Beautiful Home Wine Cellar Under the Stairs and a Happy Client

The space under these stairs wasn’t being used and has now been turned into a gorgeous and practical home wine cellar.

Both the client and the Custom Wine Cellars Scottsdale team take pride in the final result of this custom glass wine cellar under the stairs project. It looks beautiful from the outside and the inside and is truly a great conversation piece that the client can enjoy with his friends and colleagues. The cooling system is also working efficiently. And, lastly, the custom wooden wine racking system gives the wine cellar a classy look.  

Want to build a custom wine cellar in your home? Call us NOW at (602) 399-7220 and we’ll get started on your own home wine cellar design. 

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