Category Archives: Wine Cellar Builders Chicago

Wine Cellar Specialist, an Award-Winning Wine Cellar Builder

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Wine Cellar SPecialists – Award-Winning Wine Cellar Project
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In November 2012, Wine Cellar Specialists won the Dallas Builders Association ARC

ARC Awards for Wine Cellars SPecialists

ARC Awards for Wine Cellars SPecialists

Award for converting a small kitchen pantry into a fully functional, climate-controlled wine cellar.  This wine cellar project was created for the Dann family in Frisco, Dallas.
The family wanted to transform their underutilized kitchen pantry under the stairs into custom wine cellars Dallas Texas.  The design phase of the project started out with a free 3D illustration provided by Nancy Noga, the owner of Wine Cellar Specialists.  The 3D design provides a preview of what the actual wine closet would look like, as well as outlines the type of racking system.

Click here to contact Wine Cellar SPecialists

Wine Cellar Construction Dallas

Wine cellar construction began by installing green board interior walls, along with proper insulation and vapor barriers.  All these materials are necessary to maintain proper climate conditions for storing and aging wines.

The addition of the racking system was the most challenging part of the construction phase.  Since the kitchen pantry was located under the stairs, the wine closet had a slanted ceiling.  In order to address this architectural impediment, the builders installed a waterfall wine rack that perfectly matched the contours of the ceiling.

The waterfall racking system was placed on the left wall of the wine storage room.  It has 13 ½ inch depth with 1 ½ inch toe kick and base molding and 2 ¾ inch crown molding at the top.  Diamond X storage bins with a horizontal rack above and a little serving table were installed on the back wall.  Diamond bins are ideal for bulk storage because they can hold wine bottles of various sizes.

Racking systems with horizontal reveal display rows were also installed on the back wall, which allow the collector to showcase his favorite wine labels.  A six-inch deep horizontal display rack was placed on the right wall near the entryway.  All the racking systems are designed to hold 750 ml wine bottles.

Watch this video to see the wine cellar design process.

Custom Wine Cellars Dallas Texas

The builders used mahogany in constructing the racking system and had it lacquered in order to achieve a beautiful effect.  For the cellar entryway, they opted to install a Tuscan wine cellar door which has an automatic bottom feature that helps prevent scratching of the wine cellar flooring.

For the refrigeration system, the builders decided to use a US Cellar Systems RM 2600 split system.  In order to hide the cooling unit from view, they built a unique case and grille using the same wood material used in constructing the wine storage racks.
LED-based spotlights were used to highlight wine labels and to set the right mood inside the wine closet.  Lighting systems that are LED-based are ideal for wine cellar use because they produce less heat compared to regular light bulbs.  They are extremely energy efficient and are not susceptible to vibration and breakage.

The wine closet was originally built to hold 496 wine bottles, but upon completion, the Dann family was able to store 514 wine bottles.
Wine Cellar Specialists is the recipient of the 2012 ARC Award for the Best Wine Cellar Remodel, which is a true testament to their commitment to exemplary design skills and work quality.

Click here to read more about this great news – http://www.winecellarspec.com/the-awarded-project-the-dallas-custom-wine-cellars-frisco-texas-job/.

Building a Wine Cellar in California|By Coastal Wine Cellars

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Custom Wine Cellar Builders California, Laguna Beach Project
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Custom Wine Cellar Builders Laguna Beach, California – Processed Video Transcription

Hi! Coastal Custom Wine Cellar Builders is here today in Laguna Beach. Actually, about

Visit Coastal Custom Wine Cellar Builders' website here!

Wine Cellar Builders California

a thousand feet above Laguna Beach at a house that was built in 1956 actually and we renovated an area that we’re going to take you on a short tour of; we’ve added a custom wine cellar Laguna Beach.

What a beautiful gorgeous day we’ve got! We’re overlooking Laguna Beach. Catalina Islands is off in the distance. Come with me, I’ll take you on a short tour

Click here to see more wine cellar designs!

A Dry Sauna Turned Into a Wine Cellar Laguna Beach

of this area. It has been remodeled as early as 2008. This area back here, which we turned into a wine cellar, was originally a dry sauna that was added to the house in 2002 and our clients didn’t really have a need for the dry sauna so we’ve turned this area into a custom wine cellar in California.

Wine Cooling Unit, Wine Cellar Door & Table Top

Learn the different types of wine cellar cooling units here!It’s about 10’ deep and at its widest point maybe 5’ and I want to show you, folks, that here we’ve used a self-contained wine cellar cooling unit.

This is the back end of the wine cooling unit where the exhaust and the fan are away from the wine room. This is an electrical panel that controls all the electrical for the wine room.

Check out more wine cellar doors here!

Barolo Style Wine Cellar Door

This beautiful door is our Barolo-style wine cellar door. It’s a mahogany door with a light-stained finish on it, dual paned glass, and weather-stripping. It’s a total seal to help keep the air for the wine room airtight. So, if you’d come into the wine room, this was originally just a series of benches.

It had the dry sauna material here in the bottom right. There was a Jacuzzi poke because just on the other side of this left side wall is the master bath, so we had some challenges in this wine room we had to overcome. We had to conceal a pump that we couldn’t remove.

Coastal Custom Wine Cellar Builders Laguna Beach actually did a beautiful job of including a removal panel should we ever need to get to that. This wine cellar is mostly single-bottle storage. We obviously have a beautiful, what we call solid arch here. It’s got a pub light here and there’s a nice solid premium redwood tabletop area for decanting or serving.

Wine Cellar Lighting, Tongue & Groove Paneling & Wine Racks

A lot of single bottle storage. The display row we can illuminate here has some LED lights

LED Wine Cellar Lighting

that illuminate this area as well as the LED light for the arch. This wine cellar was originally a dry sauna as we mentioned and at its deepest point is maybe 10’ and its widest point is about 5’ with just about 7’ ceilings.

There was a series of benches, and dry sauna equipment; the entire walls were kind of a tongue and groove paneling if you will with concealed nails, so there were a lot of obstacles in this wine room. We actually created here a removable compartment because of some Jacuzzi equipment back there. But for the most part, we’ve got in the neighborhood of 800 bottles of wine that were stored.

See more wood wine racks here!

Single Bottle Storage Wine Racks

For the single bottle wine storage racks, we’ve got high reveal display lighting or the rope lighting which you can see there. These bottles are pitched to a 15-degree angle. We’ve got a beautiful arched area here for decanting with diamond bins storage below the table top and beautiful wood flooring. Cheers!

Wine Storage – Home Wine Cellars and Commercial Wine Cellars

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There are different ways of storing your wine collection, but if you are a serious wine collector, a wine cellar is an ideal place to keep your vintages.  A wine cellar is equipped with a wine cooling system that controls the climate of your storage room.  Wine cellars can provide the most conducive environment, where the taste and flavor of your wines are preserved and enhanced over time.

There are advantages to building a wine cellar in your own home.  To start with, it offers convenience.  Having a well-stocked wine cellar at your disposal means being able to pair your meals with one of your fine wines at any given time, and no more last-minute stops to the liquor store when you have guests to entertain.

Storing your wines in a home wine cellar can also increase their value, should you decide to sell your collection down the line.  The climate-controlled environment of a wine cellar helps keep the quality of your wines intact, and the wine labels in pristine condition.

Custom Wine Cellars Chicago - Under-the-Stairs

Custom Wine Cellars Chicago – Under-the-Stairs

The interest in incorporating home wine cellars into the architectural design of a home is gradually increasing as more and more people engage in wine collecting.  Home wine cellars add value to the home – in the monetary and aesthetic sense.  They are also a great place to entertain guests and show off your wine collection.  A home wine cellar is not only a safe haven for your wine collection, it is also a reflection of yourself.

Basement wine cellars and spiral wine cellars are two common types of home wine cellars.  Basement wine cellars, as the name implies, are located in the basement of your home.  Installing a cooling unit and keeping the walls, doors, and ceilings well-insulated should help maintain the ideal environment for storing and aging your wines.

If space is limited and you are on a tight budget, a spiral wine cellar is an answer to your storage woes.  Spiral wine cellars are cylindrical structures that are installed into an opening.  This type of home wine cellar can be submerged in any part of your household – the kitchen, dining area, or even the garage.

Home wine cellars are usually built by private individuals who embark on collecting wines for personal enjoyment and as a form of investment.  A private wine cellar is the best location to keep your investment from harm’s way.

On the other hand, commercial wine cellars are mostly used by restaurants and bars.  These wine cellars have larger storage capacities compared to home wine cellars.  Commercial wine cellars can hold anywhere from around 300 to an unlimited amount of wine bottles for commercial wine displays and storage.

Commercial Custom Wine Cellar at the Loft 610

Commercial Custom Wine Cellar at the Loft 610

Like home wine cellars, most commercial wine cellars are incorporated into the design of the store or restaurant, which enhances and elevates the appearance of the establishment.  It is an elegant way for restaurants to display their collection of fine wines to their regular diners.

These wine cellars also have built-in cooling units to help stabilize temperature and humidity in order to ensure that wines are stored in optimal conditions.  Commercial wine cellars are a lot more expensive to install than private wine cellars and they require larger space.

2012 Builders Association Award – Wine Cellar Specialists – Dallas & Chicago

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Builders Association Awarded Project Dallas Custom Wine Cellars

Wine Cellar Specialist +1 (972) 454-0480  – Were pleased and surprised to receive the 2012 Dallas Builders Association Award for our innovative Dallas Texas wine cellar design project.

This award is given to local companies in the Dallas Texas area.  Wine Cellar Specialists have design offices in both Dallas and Chicago.

This residential custom wine cellar project was a kitchen pantry renovation.  All the original structure, walls, ceilings, and shelving were removed and replaced with mahogany custom wine racking, a wine cellar cooling system, and a purpose-built wine cellar door.

The room layout itself was an inspired wine cellar design making use of limited space to create both looks and maximum storage.  Click on the images to see the full story behind this stunning and affordable Dallas-based custom wine cellar.

Have a home wine room conversion project of your own you wish to get started? Contact Wine Cellar Specialists

Dallas Texas Office: +1 (972) 454-0480
Chicago Illinois Office: 773-234-0112
and get a free 3D Design Package

Wine Cellar Refrigeration Systems Chicago, Basic Components

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Get a clear understanding of how the cooling system in your wine cellar works. At Custom Wine Cellars Chicago we are always on the lookout for helpful content that helps our clients understand all about their custom wine cellars. We think this video by Dan Phillips of US Cellar Systems does a great job of explaining the basic processes of a cooling system.

Wine Cellar Cooling System – How It Works

Enhanced Video Transcription, Wine Cellar Cooling System – How It Works

Hello, my name is Dan Philips owner and technical adviser for US Cellar Systems. Today we’re going to go over the basic components of a wine cellar refrigerated system and how refrigeration systems work generally.

This will give you a basic understanding of how the cooling system for your wine cellar operates.

The Primary Components of a Wine Cellar Refrigeration System Are:

  1. The Compressor
  2. The Condenser
  3. The Metering Device
  4. The Evaporator Coil

The refrigeration cycle starts with the compressor, which brings in a low-pressure, low-temperature gas from the evaporator coil.  It then compresses the gas into a high-pressure, high-temperature gas and then forces it into the condenser.

The condenser condenses the high-pressure, high-temperature gas into a high-pressure warm liquid.  It does this either by moving air across the coil or by using some other medium that can be used to take the heat out of the refrigerant.   Then this high-pressure warm liquid will move through the system to the metering device.  The metering device causes a drop in pressure where the gas goes from a high-pressure, high-temperature liquid to a low-pressure, low-temperature liquid.

It is this change in pressure from, low to high that causes it to get very cold.  The liquid, on moving into the evaporator, thus absorbs heat from the room in just about the reverse process of what the condenser does by the warmer air coming in across the evaporator coil.  The ambient heat in the air is being absorbed causing the air to cool, this cooler air is then returned back to the room.

Dan Phillips US Cellar Systems Owner & Expert – Wine Cellar Refrigeration Units

This process turns the liquid refrigerant back into your low-pressure, low-temperature gas and it returns back to the compressor to repeat the cycle.

Visit US Cellar Systems at WineCellarRefrigerationSystems.com to find a reseller near you or call +1 (562) 513-3017.  US Cellar Systems is a Trade Only wholesale supplier of innovative wine cellar refrigeration equipment.

We will provide advice to homeowners and design consultants and can put you in touch with professional installers should you have a custom wine cellar or commercial wine display cabinet project.

Chicago Custom Wine Cellars – Design and Construction

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Chicago Custom Wine Cellars Design and Construction

Just about any room in your Chicago home can be converted into a high-capacity and great-looking wine cellar.

A residential ‘custom wine cellar’ by definition means creating a unique place in your home to store your wine collection with the racking customized to the shape and size of the room.

There is, however, much more to create a custom wine cellar than that. A true wine cellar will be climate controlled, efficient, and potentially also a place to show off your wine collection by creating a beautiful display.

On this blog, Custom Wine Cellars Chicago will, through a series of articles, talk about all aspects of creating and using customized wine cellars. In this article, we will focus on the first step, ‘picking the right room to convert in the first place. We will discuss the primary things to think about when making this initial decision.

The bottom line is that the room you pick to convert can make a significant difference to the annual cost of maintaining your wine cellar’s climate-controlled environment.

In most climates, a wine cellar cooling system of some kind will need to be installed. This is particularly true for Chicago but also relevant to most locations in the U.S. This is because wine needs to be stored in a stable environment of about 56 degrees Fahrenheit, 13 degrees Celsius. Steady humidity of about 60% is also an important factor. Most homes vary dramatically outside of these levels, through day/night and seasonal cycles.

Chicago Wine Cellar Experts – Discuss Wine Room Construction and Design Ideas

The room you select therefore needs to be structurally converted with appropriate insulation, correctly installed vapor barriers, and sealed around all access points in order to maintain this environment continuously. Getting this wrong can lead to higher costs due to:

  1. An overpowered Wine Cellar Refrigeration Unit that otherwise might be necessary
  2. A cooling system that runs far too much due to climate leakage, can lead to excessive cooling costs and the cooling system breaking down through over usage
  3. Mold forming in the room over time
  4. Your wine collection not aging correctly or even spoiling

These are common problems caused by custom wine cellars being installed by general builders and inexperienced contractors.

It’s important to take all these factors into account when starting a home wine cellar project.

For example, selecting a room that is poorly insulted on a south-facing external wall can therefore be a maintenance nightmare.

Getting a great wine cellar design can make a big difference to the overall capacity of your wine room, how good-looking the final result will be, and most importantly how stable it is.

The design plans of the wine cellar should include all factors important to your wine cellar, not just the racking. Consider insulation, vapor barriers, a wine cellar door that will seal and withstand the difference in climate over time, and lighting that will both look good but not upset the climate by generating too much heat.

In future articles, we will discuss these topics in more depth and many other aspects of wine cellar design. Up for discussion will be aesthetic choices of materials and products you can make use of to make your wine cellar one that stands out from the crowd.

Some of the topics for future discussion:

  • The correct size and type of wine cellar cooling system
  • The size and use of your wine room
  • The floor of your wine cellar
  • Wine cellar lighting ideas
  • Planning for the wine your cellar will need to store
  • Different types of wine racks
  • Sizes: 750ml, magnum, smaller split or half size
  • Materials, wood species, metal types
  • Styles, standard, display, ‘X’ cube, ‘X’ bin, horizontal label forward, solid, lattice, case storage, waterfall displays, and many more
  • Special features, display tables, arches, hand-carved features
  • Purpose-built wine cellar doors
  • Glass walls
  • Budgeting and growing your wine collection
  • Wine parties and entertainment
  • A wine cellar as a feature in your home and its impact on resale value

Clearly, there is much to think about from both aesthetic and engineering perspectives when building a wine cellar.  Everything starts with a great custom wine cellar design that takes into account where your room is situated in your home, its current construction, and how you plan to actually use your wine cellar.

Some experienced Wine Cellar Designers, Construction Experts & Resources:

Chicago Wine Cellars Experts
Wine Cellar Designs Dallas
Coastal Wine Cellars California
Wine Cellar Designs New York
Wine Cellar Designs & Accessories San Francisco
International Wine Cellars Florida

Wine Cellar Refrigeration Experts

Wine Cellar Cooling Installation California
Wine Cellar Refrigeration Equipment for the Trade