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A drinks cabinet has a job most cabinets do not: it holds bottles standing up, glass that must not knock together, and it needs a surface to pour on. Get those three right and it works. Get them wrong and you have a cupboard with tumblers rolling about in it.
We make ours to order, sized around what you own — the tallest bottle, the number of glasses, and whether you want wine stored on its side in the same piece.
What a drinks cabinet has to do
Stand bottles upright with headroom. Spirit bottles vary considerably in height, and a shelf set for the average leaves the tall ones lying down. We set the internal height from your tallest bottle.
Hold glass without rattling. Shelves are set at glass heights, and drawers divided and baize lined so stems and tumblers stay put.
Give you somewhere to pour. Either the top of the cabinet, or a slide — a pull-out board that comes forward at chest height and goes away afterwards.
Take weight. A loaded drinks cabinet is heavier than it looks. The carcase is framed and panelled, and the shelves bearered rather than simply housed.
The cabinets we make
Three-door drinks cabinet. The standard pattern: three panelled doors across the front, shelved behind, with the centre section usually the working part and the outer two for storage.
Four-door drinks cabinet. The longer version, and what most people want if the cabinet is also carrying glass for a dining table.
Three-door drinks cabinet with drawers. The same carcase with a full row of drawers, for stoppers, foils, corkscrews and the small equipment that otherwise lives in a kitchen drawer.
Drinks cabinet with an integral wine rack. One section given over to bottle cradles cut from the solid, so wine lies on its side in the same piece. The rack can go left, right or centre, and the bottle count is set by you rather than by the drawing.
Square panelled drinks cabinet, #148SP. The plainest version: square flat panels rather than raised and fielded ones, with a simple moulded frame. The pattern that sits most easily in a contemporary room.
Carved drinks cabinet. Carved detail worked into the door panels, frieze and stiles. The dressiest option, usually specified for a panelled room or beside a carved refectory table. Standalone wine racks are made separately where you would rather keep wine out of the cabinet.
Timbers
Oak, cherry, mahogany and walnut are the standard four, and every drinks cabinet is made in all of them. Mahogany and walnut suit the carved pattern, oak the panelled ones, and cherry darkens over the first few years into a deep red-brown.
Specials, on application: character oak; pippy oak in light, medium and heavy grades; oak selected for medullary ray, the silver figure across quarter-sawn oak; and clean timber with no knots at all, worth considering on the square panelled pattern where a knot has nowhere to hide.
Finishes: polished, painted, limed, sand-blasted, rub-through paint, natural, or colour matched to a sample. We can match furniture that is 100 years old to new reproduction purchases made the year before.
Order free timber and finish samples. A drinks cabinet stands next to something the room already owns, so it is the match that matters.
Made to your size
Almost every drinks cabinet is altered, because everyone’s bottles and glasses are different.
Common changes: internal height set to your tallest bottle; shelf spacing set to your glassware; a pouring slide added; drawers divided and baize lined; a wine rack section added, moved or sized to a bottle count; width set to an alcove; a lockable section, secured with brass furniture locks as standard.
If what you want does not exist yet, our designers draw it first. See bespoke and commissioning.
Prices
Quoted individually, because the internal arrangement is different every time. Tell us the number of doors, the width, whether you want a wine rack, and the timber and finish, and we will give you a guide price. Special timbers and finishes are on application. Lead time is typically ten to twelve weeks.
Frequently asked questions
How many bottles will a drinks cabinet hold?
That depends on how you divide it, so we set it from your number rather than ours. Tell us how many bottles you want standing and how many lying in a wine rack, and we will lay the interior out before anything is made.
Can you fit a wine rack into a drinks cabinet?
Yes. One section is given over to bottle cradles cut from the solid, positioned left, right or centre. It can also be a separate wine rack in matching timber and finish.
Can the cabinet be locked?
Yes. Brass furniture locks are fitted as standard, in keeping with the solid brass ironmongery on the rest of the piece. Tell us at drawing stage which doors or drawers you want secured, because a lock affects the door construction.
Is there a surface to pour on?
The top of the cabinet, or a pull-out slide that comes forward at chest height and pushes away afterwards. The slide is better where the cabinet top will be used for something else.
