There are projects that the Whole Cellar team is particularly proud of, not just because of how they were able to implement it, but because of the difficulty they experienced in achieving that perfect job. The Playa Vista wine cellar under stairs project is one of those jobs.

Why was it singled out among the many projects the team completed, you might ask? Well, it has to do with the “unusual” wine cellar area proposed by this client to be turned into a wine cellar: underneath the stairs of his house. Yes, the picture you are seeing above really was the area where he was asking the team to set up a wine storage area in his home. As you can imagine, there were a lot of structural hindrances that the team had to consider before drawing up a plan for the project in the first place.

But hey, Whole Cellar did not win the Best of Houzz 2015 awards for nothing; the team is well-accustomed to accepting challenging jobs that require a high quality of craftsmanship, and the Playa Vista project proved no different. Read on to discover how they took up  the challenge; the process is documented below!

Is it ‘Cool’ Enough?

Even though this was the first time the client had requested that contractor provide him with a wine cellar, he had an impressive knowledge of wine storage principles that he was already portraying. For one, he already owned a standalone refrigerated cabinet by Le Cache, and he knew that a standing temperature of 57-degree Fahrenheit was needed to ensure that his fine wine collection matured properly. Of course, it just so happened that the space underneath the stairway was the only place available for this purpose.

Los Angeles Home Wine Cellars – Playa Vista Project Wine refrigeration systems can be notoriously bulky. The original idea of making a glass wall enclosure–on which the front of it was supposed to be refrigerated–in the area underneath the stairs was quite improbable for this project. And, not to mention, very costly too.

However, since the client already owns a single refrigeration system, the team suggested he move 200 of his fine wine bottle collection to the Le Cache refrigerator and leave the rest of his collection to be stored “passively”–that is, to be put inside the wine cellar for the sole means of displaying it to visitors.

The client agreed to the idea, and then the team set about designing the wine racks that would be used for the cellar.

A Mix-and-Match of Racks

As you can see from the picture above, the Whole Cellar team had to account for the slope of the stairway above the area, in order to design the wine rack accordingly. They also decided to include some “elements” from popular wine rack designs like diamond bins and rectangular storage bins to create a custom wine rack that is truly one of a kind.

Since one of the main purposes of this wine cellar project was to display the client’s wine bottle collection, having a high-reveal display row was of the utmost importance for the rack. Pitched at a fifteen-degree angle, this angle afforded the wine rack a sleek and thoroughly modern look.

All openings in this wine rack were also made to be “universal”; in other words, it has been designed to be wide enough for just about any large wine bottles like champagnes or burgundies to be stored inside it.  A modified countertop was also included in the design of the wine rack so as to allow people a simple “table” where they can set wine bottles or glasses, in case they would like to have an impromptu wine tasting session.

Finally, the wine rack came in an Alder wood design, and it was finished off with a rustic stain look that perfectly matched the flooring in the rest of the house.

A Unique Addition to the Whole Cellar Portfolio

The client was very pleased with how the Playa Vista wine cellar under stairs project turned out after three months of hard work. If you have a similar idea in mind, but do not know how you can go about it, then you can always call Whole Cellar’s toll-free number at +1 (888) 735-8889 and get a FREE 3D wine cellar design!

Closet conversion is becoming popular in the design and construction industry.  Many home owners are considering having a vacant small or large space in their home converted into something useful.

One residential owner in Newport Beach contacted a California wine cellar builder to request help in converting his closet into a custom wine cellar.  The client wanted a wine storage and display space that was both functional, and elegant.

Vintage Wine Cellars, the California wine cellar builder that the client contacted, came up with a gorgeous custom wine cellar design.  It featured a stunning wine rack design to store and display wine bottles, a wine cellar cooling system to cool the wines, a glass wine cellar door, and matching wine cellar flooring.

Wine Rack Design Features

The wine storage and display racks are a combination of several different wine rack designs, including:

• Single bottle storage wine racks
• Horizontal display wine racks
• High reveal display rows
• Arched tabletop
• Diamond bin cases
• Rectangular bins

 

The single bottle storage wooden wine racks store 750 ml wine bottles individually, in cubicles with 3 ¾ inche openings, which are perfect for easy bottle access.  The bottle holders on each cubicle are hand sanded, to protect wine labels from scratches.

The horizontal display storage with a high reveal display row runs on the entire length of the walls.  This feature angles the wine bottles at 15 degrees, keeping the corks moist and the bottle tightly sealed.  An LED lighting fixture was also added, to illuminate the angled wine bottles on the display row.

At the center of the wine closet is a tabletop with an archway, where wine pouring or decanting can be done.  It features a lovely art piece, which is highlighted by a puck lighting.

At the bottom of the tabletop are solid diamond bins, which store wine bottles one on top of the other.  Diamond bins are ideal for bulk wine storage.

At the side of the wine closet are rectangular bins, which maximize the small storage space.  This wine racking style gives the wine collector an option to store wines by group (by variety, origin, size, age, etc.). This wine rack design is a wise option for storing 1.5L and 3L bottles.

The wooden wine racks are made of Premium Redwood, one of the best wood types used in the wine racking industry.  A dark walnut stain was applied to the wooden wine racks.  The natural aesthetic appeal of the stained redwood adds beauty to the wine cellar.

The total storage capacity of this wine closet is 840 wine bottles.

 Efficient Cooling using a Fully-Ducted Wine Cellar Cooling Unit

This Newport Beach California wine closet is highly functional, as it is equipped with a wine cellar cooling system.  This maintains the right balance of temperature and humidity inside the wine closet.

Vintage Wine Cellars installed a fully ducted wine cellar cooling unit from Wine Guardian.  It is a self-contained wine cellar cooling system, and it can be installed either indoors or outdoors.

For this Newport Beach California wine closet, the cooling unit was installed indoors, in the attic located just above the wine cellar.  The wine cellar cooling system is assembled in a platform with a drain pan.

The duct system of this wine cellar cooling unit supplies cool air into the wine cellar and exhausts hot air outside. A louvered grill that matches the wooden wine racks covers the cooling unit.

Wine Cellar Entryway and Flooring that Attractively Matches with the Wine Racks

The cellar door used is a Barolo style dual-paned glass wine cellar door.

This entryway has two door openings, and it has certain features that ensure a tight seal to the room, and these include weather stripping and a concealed door bottom.

The wine cellar door was coated with a Chestnut wood stain, creating a beautiful contrast against the Premium Redwood wine racks.

To enhance the look of the wine cellar, the owner chose a unique tile flooring. The color scheme of the flooring matches charmingly with the wooden wine racks.

Get Started with your Own Wine Cellar Design!

Vintage Wine Cellars did a great job completing this Newport Beach California wine closet renovation project, considering the limited space their team had to work on. Vintage Wine Cellars specializes in wine cellar design, installation, renovation, and even maintenance, for both residential and commercial locations.

If you have a custom wine cellar project in mind, whether in Southern or Northern California, just contact Vintage Wine Cellars California Wine Cellar Builder for a free design consultation. Visit their page at http://www.vintagewinecellars.com/.

Wine Cellars by Coastal & Arctic Metalworks Yorba Linda California Project – A Processed Video Transcription

 

 Custom Wine Cellar Yorba Lina CA by Coastal with Wine Cellar Refrigeration by Arctic .

Hello!

I’d like to take you on a short video tour of a custom wine cellar Yorba Linda CA project recently completed by Coastal Custom Wine Cellars.

The project is located in Orange County, Yorba Linda, California, actually.

We partnered with Arctic Metalworks who provided the wine cellar refrigeration components for the enclosure; and, we also partnered with David Lincoln Construction who provided all the general contractor services.

So, as you can see we had a small niche to work within this home.  This is about roughly eight-foot wide, I believe eight-foot tall and 30 inches deep.

I’ll take you to a series of photographs that will show you the progress as we move forward towards completion and I’ll also take you on a tour of our three-dimensional design package that’s offered to everyone who visits Coastal.

As you can see, we had a niche here; we took this particular niche, we demoed it, we sealed the area to protect the home from dust.

Before this beautiful brick veneer was placed on the walls, behind the walls we have our vapor barrier, our insulation, all the electrical was roughed in as well as the mechanical line set, the refrigeration lines and the condensate drain line.

Wine Cellar Refrigeration Yorba Linda CA Installation

Now, this particular enclosure called for a split wine cellar refrigeration system.

So, outside the wine enclosure is a remote condenser; inside the wine enclosure is your fan coil, cold air supply and the cold air return.

This also has a remote LED controller or thermostat, that one can monitor the temperature inside the wine cellar.

The Wine Cellar Design 

Let’s take a look at the actual wine cellar design.

Once we have a consultation with the customer to determine how many bottles they want to display, some of the features that they want to include in the display, we created a three-dimensional wine cellar design package.

This is an overhead view of the small area.  Actually, it’s just under 6 feet wide, 28 inches deep and the height is just under 8-foot and 94 inches.

The total bottle capacity for the enclosure: 392 bottles.

So, let’s take a look at the elevation itself.

As you can see, from the side view here on the right of the bottom half is double-deep, which means you can place the bottle into an opening, push it to the back of the component and place another bottle in front of that; and, we used, on the top portion above the countertop level, a single-deep storage and display area.

So, at the left is the tabletop area while they set things down while managing the wines or opening the bottles of wine.

The Wine Racks 

So, we’ll start from the bottom.  All of the wine racks rest on an inch and a half toe-kick which elevates the components off the floor, of course.

Now, we’ll use a beautiful base trim as well as a crown molding at the top.

To the far left and to the far right we’ve got bin storage or bulk storage for case locks, ordered or flanked to either side of this beautiful diamond bin, we’ve got a single column, single vertical column, or single bottle storage.

Above that, more single bottle storage with a high reveal display row and to the far left and to the far right the folks wanted a cabinet for some liquors, glasses, even small drawers for accoutrements such as cork screws and napkins.

This area just above the arch area is a lattice grill box with an operable grill cover.  This is what’s concealing the mechanical appearance of the fan coil that we looked at a few moments ago.

With that said, we’ll look into some of these different features here that we spoke of.

These are the small cabinets to the left and to the right and the drawer here, and the high reveal display row.

This is the square bins on the left and the single bottle, or single vertical column, I spoke of as well as the diamond bins and the beautiful front view of the area.

This wine cellar’s entire front was a seamless glass entry door, which turned out quite beautiful.

Thank you for visiting Coastal Custom Wine Cellars.

If I could be of any assistance, please reach out to us at www.winecellarsbycoastal.com.

Wine collecting is considered a serious hobby. Collectors take wine more and more seriously, mainly because of the profit and pride they can get from their collection. This is why wine cellar builders and wine cellar dealers strongly recommend wine cellar cooling units, especially for those who plan to grow their vintage collection. One of the easiest and most convenient ways of managing and showcasing your wines is through a residential wine cellar. This is where you can let your wines age peacefully, while providing you 24/7 access.

A residential wine cellar will not only add to the aesthetic appeal of your home, but will also keep your vintage wine collection secured inside the temperature-controlled storage environment. Regardless of your preferred wine cellar design or theme, you will need the help of professional wine cellar dealers in the wine cellar refrigeration units installation. Your wine cellar builders must consider the ethical aspect of wine cellar construction while maintaining the design you want.

Proper sealing and insulation, with the best wine cellar refrigeration units, is the key secret in maintaining and achieving the optimum environment for storing and aging wine. Wine cellar refrigeration units are made to stabilize the condition in which wines should be stored, at 55 to 57 degree Fahrenheit, with a Relative Humidity of 60%.

When it comes to wine cellar refrigeration units Bel Air Los Angeles, US Cellar Systems can definitely give you the best option, from cabinets to refrigeration units.

M&M Cellar Systems is one of the best-know wine cellar dealers of US Cellar Systems. They are among the best wine cellar refrigeration units experts within California, and even in nearby states.

They can give you the proper cooling option based on your specific needs, from installation to maintenance. It can also provide you with cooling options for small-sized cabinets and large-sized commercial displays, with a variety of cooling solutions to choose from.

M&M Cellar Systems’ wine cellar dealers Bel Air Los Angeles worked on the installation of a residential wine cellar in Westside LA, where they used a pair of RM4600 in a 10x10x8 wine storage room.

The RM4600, from the RM Series of US Cellar Systems, is one of the split-type wine cellar refrigeration units. This means that you can hide its evaporator on the cellar’s ceiling or behind its walls, away from the condenser, which is the noisiest component. This way, you can provide a quiet storage environment for your wine collection.

A split system for cooling wine cellars can be ducted or ductless. A ducted cooling system makes use of air ducts as the passageway for cool air into your cellar and, as the exit door for warm air. On the other hand, a ductless cooling unit includes lines (electrical wiring and copper tubing), which serve as a link between the evaporating unit and the condensing unit.

The wine cellar refrigeration units Bel Air Los Angeles for this particular residential wine cellar project had two evaporating units on top of the ceiling, covered by a grill cover that was customized from premium redwood. The evaporator was connected to the unit’s condenser, which was placed in the mechanical room outside of the house through the use of a 50-feet line.

Your home wine cellar cannot be complete without the wine cellar cooling units. US Cellar Systems is one of the most trustworthy and reliable manufacturers of wine cellar refrigeration systems Bel Air Los Angeles. Together with M&M Cellar Systems, they form a tag team in supplying you with the most efficient and most steadfast cooling solutions for your residential wine cellar.

 

Wine Cellar Refrigeration Systems – Function and Types to Choose From

A temperature controlled environment is a necessary feature for custom home wine cellars Riverside CA, in order to preserve the quality of wines for a prolonged period of time.  Climate control systems help keep the temperature and humidity at constant levels, and ensure that wines are aging under the proper storage conditions in home wine cellars.

There are three primary types of wine cellar refrigeration systems:  self-contained systems, ducted self-contained units, and split systems.  A self-contained system is a window-style unit that mounts easily through the wall and vents to an adjoining room.  Ducted, self-contained units make use of ductwork for cool air flow and heat exhaust.  Depending on the installation, this unit helps eliminate noise and eliminates the presence of unwanted equipment inside custom wine cellars.

As the name suggests, split wine cellar refrigeration systems split the evaporator and condenser into two separate units.  This feature allows the condenser to be placed in a remote location, which helps dissipate noise and heat, while the evaporator is installed inside or near the wine cellar.  Both units are connected by either a line set (for ductless split) or ductwork (for ducted split).

Wine Cellar Refrigeration Systems Installation in Riverside CA

This recently completed wine cellar refrigeration installation project in Temecula, California, shows how a cooling system can be efficient and unobtrusive at the same time.  Arctic Metalworks supplied a split system to this Temecula home wine cellars Riverside CA project, which was constructed under the stairwell.

Wine cellar refrigeration systems with a split feature offer versatility in installation options.  Separating the evaporator and the compressor helps promote a quieter wine cellar environment and efficient operation.  The compressor, which is the noisiest part of the refrigeration equipment, can be installed in a remote place (e.g. garage, attic, backyard).

In this particular wine cellar refrigeration system installation project, the Arctic team installed the evaporator unit just above the arched frame.  A specially designed grill cover keeps the cooling unit hidden from view.  The grill is manufactured from the same wood variety as the wine racking systems, in order to create a smooth and uniform appearance.  The condensing unit was placed outdoors to keep it well-ventilated at all times.

The evaporator and condenser of the ductless split refrigeration system are connected by a line set, consisting of small copper tubing and electrical wiring.  This type of cooling equipment is unobtrusive and has aesthetic advantages, since it does not require ductwork systems to circulate air flow.

Apart from the wine cellar refrigeration installation, the Temecula home wine cellars Riverside CA project also involved the installation of a special cooling system for the client’s theater equipment room.  To reduce project cost, the Arctic team installed one condensing unit and attached two separate evaporator coils, one for each room.

Efficient Wine Cellar Refrigeration

In order for a wine cellar refrigeration equipment to function efficiently, the custom wine cellar space must have the following prerequisites in place: proper insulation, a vapor barrier, and an exterior grade door.  These key components ensure that optimum climate conditions are maintained, and thus protect the overall quality of wines.

Established in 1962, Arctic Metalworks specializes in manufacturing and providing the best wine cellar cooling systems in the wine cellar industry.  The company also provides service and maintenance of refrigeration equipment for home wine cellars.  Arctic recently added a wine racking division that focuses on providing handmade wine storage and display racks made from different wood species.

 

Wine cellar refrigeration systems are an essential part of wine storage. Wine cellar cooling units provide the ideal temperature and humidity inside a cellar for wines to be able to age tastefully. A good wine cellar cooling system can provide a temperature of 55 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit and a humidity of approximately 70%. Here are the things that you need to look for when choosing a wine cellar cooling system:

1. Check How the Cooling Unit Works

Most wine cellars are configured with a self-contained cooling system, known as forced air cooling. In this system, two fans are utilized. One fan functions to circulate the cool air inside the wine storage room while the other fan forces air through the condenser coils on the outside and exhausts warm air that has risen to the top of the storage room. This configuration is very efficient, especially if your wine storage room is in an area where the temperature outside varies 30 degrees Fahrenheit above or below the appropriate wine storage temperature range.

2. Check for Temperature Control Mechanism and Digital Display Apparatus

Wine cellar refrigeration systems that are made by quality manufacturers usually have electronic temperature controls, as well as digital displays. These features are very helpful, because they allow you to have precise control over the temperature and humidity inside the commercial or residential wine cellar in California. Not only do electronic temperature controls make sure that temperature readings are accurate, they also prevent fluctuations in the levels. Digital displays are a great addition, because you can read and gauge the condition inside the storage room any time.

3. Check the Cooling Unit’s Noise Level

The noise level of a unit is one of the major factors to consider when choosing a wine cellar cooling system in California. There are many manufacturers today that are dedicated to creating a wine cellar refrigeration system that is quiet and vibration-free. There are wine cellar cooling units today that utilize an absorption technology wherein compressors are not needed and vibrations are not generated. Choose the refrigeration units for your cellar wisely, because vibrations can damage your wine collections.

4. Choose Cooling Systems that are Easily Repaired or Replaced

Wine cellar refrigeration units in Vancouver are as much as an investment as your wine collection. You want to make sure that your beloved wines are aging efficiently by investing in a quality cooling unit. In case your refrigeration system breaks or wears down, you want it to be easily repaired or replaced, so that your wines won’t suffer being stored out of the ideal temperature and humidity while waiting for the unit to be repaired or replaced.