Why You Need a Kitchen Beverage Station, and How to Design the Perfect One for Your Home
Kitchen beverage centers are designed to meet your needs, whether it’s a morning espresso or an evening dram of scotch.
Do you drink a lot of coffee throughout the day, or like to fix yourself up a cocktail on a Friday night? Do you find that you’d like to free up some counter and cabinet space? Maybe you’ve heard about home beverage centers, or you’ve seen some examples on Houzz or Pinterest for coffee or wine.
Today’s kitchen beverage centers are reminiscent of your parents’ 1960’s wet bar, but with a wider variety of functionality that goes beyond entertaining the neighbours on weekends.
In this post, we discuss what a home beverage center is and how you can create the perfect one. Read along, and hopefully it will spark some ideas and provide you with some tips on how to create a drink center that’s just right for you!
What are Today’s Home Beverage Centers?
A home beverage center is a designated space in your kitchen where you can fix up a drink or grab a soda, away from the cooking area. It can be a large or small space and can be used for anything from coffee and tea to wine and cocktails. It’s a little luxury that can add ease to your day and keep your kitchen organized and tidy. It can also help free up space in your large refrigerator while creating a cohesive storage space for your favourite beverages and beverage supplies.
Beverage centers also add flair to your kitchen and dining area. This is especially true whether they’re custom-designed to coordinate perfectly with your cabinetry and countertop, or to stand out with a contrasting shade. If space allows, you could even have more than one center – one for hot drinks like coffees and cocoas and one for cool drinks and alcoholic drinks. The possibilities are endless.
Kitchen beverage centers are typically comprised of four main elements—especially with wine or cocktail centers:
- A refrigerator.
- Adequate lighting. (Commonly LED under-cabinet table lights.)
- Secure storage for items such as drink glasses, bar utensils, coffee or Keurig pods, etc.
- Built-in cabinetry with drawers and/or roll-out trays. This will help to maximize your storage and counter space.
Reasons to Consider a Custom Beverage Center in Your Home
- Find a drink without interrupting the chef’s progress. Guests can stay out of the cook’s way at times when there might be a lot going on in the kitchen.
- The extra storage space provides a fantastic home for a collection of coffee and espresso machines, a kettle, teapot, cocktail shakers and more.
- Entertaining is streamlined. If you find that you often entertain your friends or family or host a lot of dinner parties, beverage centers allow you to be social and still chat with/entertain your guests while pouring and serving their drinks.
- An extra fridge is always useful. The fridge component is also very useful, as it will save you from having to go down to the basement or garage to restock on bottles or cans and other supplies, or save your guests from having to go into your main fridge for a refill. A bar fridge could be the answer for those extra opened bottles of white or rose.
- Have a beverage ready for break time. With more of us working from home these days, a coffee, tea, or juice bar will also be helpful when you’re at home and you find that you’re stuck in that midday lull.
- Channel your inner barista. You’ll be able to make the perfect latte or other drink of choice, right at home.
There’s a Beverage Center for Every Kitchen
Now that you’re considering adding a beverage center to your home, you’re probably wondering if you have the space for one. The good news is that you can add a center to just about any size kitchen, customized to your preferences and tastes. Maybe a built-in wine rack? Maybe a special space for your vintage whiskey collection?
Beverage centers can be integrated into your custom cabinetry and most beverage fridges can fit under any standard counter height, at just under 25” wide. If you have the option and extra space, your kitchen beverage center can be installed along the path from the kitchen to the living room, or dining room. This will create a natural flow between the two rooms and when you have guests, you can all move seamlessly between each space.
How to Get Started on Your Kitchen Beverage Center
It’s time to get inspired! The first thing to do before setting up your beverage center is to seek out some ideas for how you want to design your center for your kitchen layout. There are tons of websites online to help give you inspiration, such as Houzz, Pinterest, and Dwell. Woodmaster Kitchens also has an informative article that you can check out.
After you have a rough idea of what you want for your beverage center, the next course of action is to contact Incredible Home. As your local cabinetry and custom design experts, we will be your best resource in designing your center so that it makes the best use of your space.
If you’re in Victoria BC and looking to get started with your new beverage center or a full custom kitchen, contact us today at Incredible Home. 100% locally owned since 1982, we have been proudly serving the community for almost forty years, and we take the utmost care in providing top quality products and exceptional customer service. Find out more about us and watch our videos online, or visit us at our showroom on Burnside Road from 10am-5pm, Monday to Saturday.
