Storing Wine In Your Kitchen: Mistakes to Avoid

As a follow up to my Storing Wine In Your Kitchen Series, I want to share with you some mistakes to avoid.

1. Make sure the openings for storing wine is deep enough so that the wine bottle doesn’t stick out too far.

2. Don’t make the opening so tight it only fits the standard size wine bottle (750 ml). The 1.5 liter size wine bottle (magnum) is also very popular and I recommend that your openings be able to fit both sizes.

3. Pay attention to the location of the kitchen windows and make sure sunshine will not shine directly on your bottles of wine.

4. If you store wine behind a cabinet door and want to be able to lock that cabinet, inform your builder/cabinet maker before the cabinets are made.

5. Consider any physical restrictions you might have that would prevent you from stooping over to retrieve wine stored below the kitchen counter or reaching high to retrieve wine stored above the kitchen counter.

6. If you have young children, make sure wine stored below the counter is located behind a door which can be locked with a key or childproof locks can be applied.

7. Though in the series I showed some photos of wine stored above the refrigerator, it is important to make sure the heat generated from the refrigerator motor does not reach that area as it can dry out the cork and spoil the wine.

Source of photo unknown

8. Avoid storing wine above an oven due to the heat that escapes when the oven door is open.

9. Ice makers generate a lot of heat so make sure if you are storing wine near an ice maker it will not be affected by the heat.

10. Spend time calculating how many bottles of wine you will be storing so you do not end up not having enough storage or you end up wasting space with too much storage.  In the photo below over 100 bottles of wine can be stored under the island. If you do not have that much wine, a better use for some of the space would be to add  cabinets, drawers, or shelves for cookbooks.

Source: The New Smart Approach to Kitchen Design by Susan Maney

11. Make sure if you use decide to have individual storage using the criss-crossed design that the wood is substantial enough so it will not split or break.

Source: Kitchen Ideas That Work by Beth Veillette

My hope is that you enjoyed this series- giving you ideas and preventing mistakes!  Blessings.  …susan

PS I forgot my laptop at home when I left town this past weekend so I skipped my Spiritual & Inspirational Sunday Post.

Storing Wine In Your Kitchen Series Part Five-

Welcome to the final post of my Storing Wine In Your Kitchen Series. To view the previous posts, click here for post one, here for post two, here for post three, and here for post four.

During the time that I have been working on my Storing Wine In Your Kitchen Series, I happened to have dinner at Giovanni’s- which happens to be my favorite restaurant in Nashville. With wine storage options on my mind, I was drawn to the enormous wine bottles on display in the bar (see photo below-note in front are regular size bottles of wine to give you a visual comparison). I asked Giovanni if I could take a photo as he rattled off the names of the bottles and told me there are some that are even larger. I had seen a Jerobaum which is 4.5 liters and assumed that was the largest size. Little did I know. What about you, did you know there is a size called a Sovereign which is 25 liters and it pours 125 glasses of wine?  I could barely lift the largest one in the photo below and in comparison it is half the size of the Sovereign.  I cannot imagine anyone trying to lift and pour the Sovereign. I will ask Giovanni if it is used purely for display and if not, how is it poured and report back with the answer.

From the back row right-to-left is Nebuchadnezzar, Balthazar, Salmanazar, and the last two on the left are both Methuselah. It appears the second to last is larger due to the height but both are 6 liters. The diameter of the bottle on the left is extends higher to counter for the height. I placed standard bottles of wine in front of these monsters to give you an idea of the size of these bottles of wine.

Giovanni’s is located close to Vanderbilt University and Music Row.

Giovanni came to the United States from Northern Italy in the mid-seventies making New York City his new home.  He learned to speak English and in 1982, he opened his first restaurant in New York City. In 1994, he moved to 55th between 5th and 6th in 1994 and remained at that location until closing the doors this year. He opened Giovanni’s in Nashville in November 2008. Many Nashvillians were customers in his New York restaurant and became friends of Giovanni and his lovely wife, Nieda. In fact, he and Nieda, have had an apartment in Nashville for sixteen years. They now call Nashville their home.

Below is a list of 19 bottle sizes which gives you the name of the bottle, size, and number of glasses it will pour.

Bottle
Size
Number of Glasses
Comments

Mignonette
5cl to 25cl
-
Is used as a sample

Piccolo
20cl
1
1/4 of a standard bottle

Chopine
25cl
1.25
1/3 of a standard bottle

Half bottle (or demi)
37.5cl
1.875
Also known as Split or Tenth

Fillette
37.5cl
1.875
Same as Half
In Loire Valley only

Bottle
75cl
3.75
Standard bottle

Magnum
1.5l
7.5
2 standard bottles

Marie-Jeanne or Dame-Jeanne
2.25l
11.25
In some areas it can contain 3l

Double Magnum
3l
15
4 standard bottles

Jeroboam
4.5l
22.5
In Bordeaux
In Burgundy and Champagne, Jeroboam is 3l
First king of Israel

Rehoboam
4.5l
22.5
In Burgundy and Champagne
Son of Solomon and King of Judah

Imperial
6l
30
In Bordeaux
8 standard bottles

Methuselah or Mathusalem
6l
30
In Burgundy and Champagne
Patriarch in the Bible

Salmanazar
9l
45
12 standard bottles
King of Assyria

Balthazar
12l
60
16 standard bottles
Regent of Babylon

Nebuchadnezzar or Nabuchodonosor
15l
75
In Burgundy and Champagne
20 standard bottles
King of Babylon

Melchior
18l
90
In Burgundy and Champagne
24 standard bottles

Solomon
20l
100
Very rare

Sovereign
25l
125
In Champagne, rare

A glass is 20cl of wine (0.21 US quart / 0.42 pint / 6.75 oz)

Liquid measurements
1 liter = 0.26 US gallon / 1.05 US quart / 2.11 pint / 33.8 oz
1 standard bottle (75cl) = 0.2 US gallon / 0.8 US quart / 1.58 pint / 25.35 oz

Source:: Terrior-France website

Thank you for visiting my blog. I would love to hear from you in a comment!  Blessings. …susan

Storing Wine In Your Kitchen Series Part Four

Welcome to Part Four of my Storing Wine In Your Kitchen Series. To see Parts One, Two, and Three, click here, here, and here.

In Part Four, I am featuring walls of cabinets that serve as bars/coffee bars that are part of the kitchen area.

Source: Kitchen Ideas That Work by Beth Veillette

^The generous amount of counter space in the wall of cabinets shown above creates many uses. I could see the counter below the stained glass window being the beverage center for a buffet dinner or other gathering. Another option would be to use it for serving coffee and desserts. If having a smaller gathering, a buffet dinner could be set up there.  Of course, the entire unit could function as a bar. When entertaining you could place a tray of wine and cocktail glasses on the counter. Did you notice the wine glasses hanging under the left upper cabinet?

Source unknown. If you know the source of this photo please contact me so I can note it.

^I find the wall of cabinets in the photo above to be very functional and very attractive.  It is a combination of a butler’s pantry, a bar, and a coffee bar.  I love the symmetry in the upper cabinets. I am a fan of the appliance garage holding the coffee maker with the coffee cups stored conveniently in the cabinet above.  It appears to have dishwasher drawers or perhaps they are refrigerator drawer (bottom right side of photo). To the left of those it appears to be an ice maker. I am thinking the vertical pull out cabinet in the bottom center of the photo is for trash or it could hold whiskey bottles.

Source unknown- if you know the source of this photo please contact me so I can note it.

^I found this wall unit to be quite interesting. Instead of storing wine, this homeowner chose to store bottled water.

My hope is that the photos in this post have given you ideas for your dream home. Blessings.  …susan

Storing Wine In Your Kitchen Series Part Three

Welcome to Part Three of my Storing Wine In Your Kitchen Series. This post will focus on storing wine below the kitchen counter. To see Part One, click here. For Part Two, click here.

 

Source of photo unknown.

Above and below are two ideas for under cabinet wine storage.  As noted in the first post of this series, when storing wine beneath the counter you need to take into account the stooping that is required as well as not being able to childproof when there is no cabinet door. 

Source of photo: Kitchens by Chris Casson Madden

^In the photo above, creating the wine storage was a nice use of narrow space that would have otherwise been wasted.

Source of photo: The New Smart Approach to Kitchen Design by Susan Maney

^I like the wine storage idea shown in the photo above. It appears to hold five bottles of wine deep and six bottles of wine vertically which totals 30 bottles.  Though in this particular photo the pullout cabinet is not below a kitchen counter, I included it because it could easily be made to fit below the counter. One concern I have which I cannot tell if it is addressed in this photo is if the bottles move when the cabinet is pulled out. That could be an easy remedy working with your cabinet maker.

The next three photos were in Part One of this series. I included them again because they can be used below an island or below a kitchen counter.

Source of photo unknown.

Source of photo: Kitchens by Chris Casson Madden

Source of photo unknown.

I hope you have enjoyed the series so far. There is still more to come!  Check back for Part Four which will focus on storing wine in the kitchen bar counter or coffee bar counter. Blessings. …susan

Storing Wine In Your Kitchen Series: Part Two

Welcome to Part Two of my series Storing Wine In Your Kitchen.  To see Part One, click here. This post will feature ideas for storing wine in your kitchen’s upper cabinet area. Enjoy!

 

Source of photo unknown.

^Though there is no custom cabinet work for wine storage, this homeowner found an area on top of their upper cabinet that works well for wine bottle storage. If you like this idea, you need to make sure there is an appropriate amount of space between your upper cabinet and the ceiling to place wine bottles. You could work with your cabinet maker to come up with an inexpensive design to tilt the bottles in order to keep the cork wet and to prevent them from rolling around when a bottle is removed. Note that in this particular photo the ceiling is vaulted.

Source of photo unknown.

^In the photo above, a small area above the refrigerator could have easily been wasted space with decorative wood panels applied.  Don’t you think taking that space and creating storage for 24 bottles of wine was an excellent idea?

 

Source of photo unknown.

^In the same vein as the previous photo, a homeowner took what could have been an easily wasted space and created vertical storage for wine.

Source of photo: The Smart Approach to Kitchen Design by Susan Maney

^Instead of using the space for an open shelf, in the photo above, this homeowner created a wine storage area which holds 15 bottles of wine.

Source of photo: Kitchen Ideas That Work by Beth Veillette

^Can you believe 40 bottles of wine fit in the space shown above? 

Source of photo: The Smart Approach to Kitchen Design by Susan Maney

^The picture above does not tell the whole story because we cannot see how high the wine storage goes nor how far across.  What we can see is storage for at least 24 bottles of wine with at least six vertical cubby holes for mail and other correspondence. 

 

Source of photo unknown.

^After seeing the first photo of this post, another option for this homeowner would have been to create a single row for wine storage above the refrigerator in the narrow wasted space. This could have been in addition to the storage shown above or in place of the storage shown. However, I do like the aesthetic look of the wine storage in the photo above.

 

Source of photo unknown.

^In the photo above one has the option of adding cabinet doors, either glass or solid.  Cabinet doors would give them the ability to lock the cabinets, see illustration below. I like the fact that the cabinet designated for wine is at the end of the counter and near the living area which keeps the person retrieving wine out of the kitchen work area. Isn’t this an interesting home with a tree trunk in the kitchen?

^In a friend of mine’s kitchen shown above, a wine rack was built into an area above the mircowave and oven. Though a nice look, the heat that escapes when the oven door is opened might not be the best thing for the wine.

Wine storage illustrations from my

book,

Designing

Your Dream Home

 

 

 

 Check back to view Part Three of my series. It will focus on options for storing wine underneath the kitchen counter. Blessings.  …susan

Storing Wine In Your Kitchen Series Part One

Welcome to my “Storing Wine In Your Kitchen Series”.  In this first post, I am focusing on storing wine in your kitchen island. Subsequent posts will look at other options for storing wine in your kitchen.

How many times have you found yourself standing in your kitchen in the middle of cooking dinner- maybe you are frying chicken, stirring gravy, keeping an eye on the rolls in the oven- (makes me hungry typing this!) and you need a bottle of wine. You need a bottle to serve with dinner or to drink with a friend who stopped by or you just want to sip some wine while you cook. It is a crucial time in the cooking process and you cannot possibly leave the stove to go to the wine cellar located in the basement or to your bar which is located on the other end of your home to get a bottle of wine. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a place to store a few bottles of wine in your kitchen?

How many times have you had a party and everyone ends up gathering in the kitchen? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a few bottles of wine stored in your kitchen to serve your guests?

As you design your dream home or remodel your kitchen, it makes sense to plan for a place to store wine even if you have a wine cellar or a bar (unless the bar in your home is located next to the kitchen). 

There are many decisions to be made about storing wine that are not right or wrong but are a personal preference. How many bottles of wine do you want to be able to store? What is the range in the size of the bottles of wine you plan to store?  What type of storage do you prefer? Hopefully the photos in this series will help you to identify the storage solution that is right for you.

^In the island above, the homeowner is able to store twelve bottles of wine; one bottle per square hole. The holes are large enough to accommodate the circumference of larger sized bottles of wine, though I cannot tell by this photo if the holes are deep enough to handle the height of the larger bottles of wine. Personally, I feel that this design takes up quite a bit of space to only hold twelve bottles of wine. However, I understand the symmetry of three drawers across and three cubby holes for wine as well but I think there are better designs, like the one shown in the photo below, that would look appropriate and provide more storage.

Source of photo above unknown. Please contact me if you know the source and I will note it.

Source: The New Smart Approach to Kitchen Design by Susan Maney

^Before you read any further, take a guess at how many bottles of wine you think can be stored in the photo above?  Obviously, wine is very important to the homeowner who lives in this home. Each of the diamonds holds nine standard size bottles of wine plus the six half diamonds hold three bottles of wine and the four quarter diamonds hold one bottle for a total of 103 bottles of wine.

Source: The New Smart Approach to Kitchen Design by Susan Maney

^The wine storage shown in the photo above is simple yet functional.

Source of photo above unknown. Please contact me if you know the source and I will note it.

In the contemporary kitchen shown above, the wire wine racks work well in the center of this island. They are far enough recessed so that the person sitting on the bar stool will not bump their knees. It appears that there are a pair of wine captains on each end of the island. It is important when retrieving wine stored on an island it does not interfere with the cook.

Source of photo above unknown. Please contact me if you know the source and I will note it.

^The criss/crossed wine storage used in the photo above is not a favorite of mine for several reasons. First, it is expensive to build because there are two rows of the criss/crossed pieces of wood – one to hold the neck of the bottle and one to hold the base. Second, the wooden criss/crosses are usually thin pieces of wood and they can break.  It is an expensive repair and an eyesore. Third, you have less bottle storage because of all of the wood.

Source of photo above unknown. Please contact me if you know the source and I will note it.

^This vertical storage of wine- bottle on top of bottle works because the bottles are only three deep. Imagine if you have more than three bottles and you were trying to pull out the one on the bottom? I think the large diamond design shown in the third photo would have been more functional.  I do like the custom door used on the wine captain. 

Source of photo above unknown. Please contact me if you know the source and I will note it.

^For the amount of space dedicated for wine storage in the island shown above, this design works.  If you are a senior citizen, you may not want to bend over to retrieve wine from a lower shelf.  If you have children, this design will not be safe for the young children or for the wine.

Source of photo above unknown. Please contact me if you know the source and I will note it.

I cannot tell from the photo above and below if these drawers are located in a kitchen island, a lower cabinet in the kitchen, in a bar, or perhaps in the butler’s pantry. However, this storage method would work in all four areas. The drawer above is more custom fitted to the standard size wine bottle. It appears that the bottles fit rather snug so when opening the drawer they will not roll around.

Source of photo above unknown. Please contact me if you know the source and I will note it.

^Unlike the wine in the drawers in the previous photo, the bottles in the photo above do not appear to be tilted downward in order to keep the cork wet.  A slight tilt to keep the cork wet is a good idea. Personally, I do like this wine storage method because you can pull out a drawer and easily see the bottle labels. There are four drawers above with each drawer holding nine bottles of wine. That is a pretty good inventory in a small amount of space. An added feature is the labeling system on each drawer. Because there is a cabinet door in front of these drawers, a lock could be added if that is the preference of the homeowner.

Be sure to check back for Part Two of this series.  Blessings.  …susan

Source: Kitchens by Chris Casson Madden