I made a wine rack!
10Like so many others on casemates, my parents had amassed more boxes of wine than available storage. I decided to build them a custom (meaning fit into their space; there is nothing fancy about this utilitarian design) rack.
Having more time than money, I looked for designs with a balance of functionality and price. I found This home made winemaker’s channel with a good set of instructions. (I have never heard of this guy, or made my own wine, but I appreciate this build.) After watching both videos a few times, it was off to measure and buy lumber.
My parents’ space could fit a rack 18 bottles high and 19 columns wide. 
Like a reverse-clown car at a circus, all that wood fit into that car.
Time to turn 94 pieces of wood into what felt like a thousand.
The place of never ending furring strips.
After I cut roughly 40 furring strips for the ladder sides, I ripped furring strips in half lengthwise. Cut to size, these formed the rungs of the ladders. I screwed down a template of 2x4s for spacing, and started creating ladders 18 bottles high. After these were finished, I cut the side supports and moved them to my parents’ house.
Thankfully, they had a few inches to spare on the sides which allowed me to make two racks and have wiggle room to make sure the pipe lined up with a ladder and access wasn’t blocked.
Thanks for checking it out! Cheers.
- 8 comments, 12 replies
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Great job!!!
@karenhynes Thanks!
@karenhynes @KNmeh7
Great job! But I don’t see any large spots for champagne
@karenhynes @ScottW58 They’ve got a back wall that could fit the same amount, so I am welcome to any and all criticism. This won’t fit all of their wine. They aren’t fans of sparklers and have a few magnums. I am planning on making at least a dozen spots for magnums, perhaps I will do some for champagne.
wow! yer hired!
@KNmeh7
Very nice! I thought the cart full of lumber next to the open trunk was a joke. Fitting it all into that car may be the most impressive part of the job!
Very nice, looks great. Wish I had your skills!
I have absolutely no woodworking skills so I recently went the Sorbus rack system way to go along with my wine fridges. I was tired of looking at boxes and trying to figure what was where.
Very nice!
As I get older, the convenience of racking overtakes the space efficiency of case boxes.
@KNmeh7 I’m in the same boat as you (having more time than money.) So about how much did the materials cost you?
@kawichris650 This would be the exact cost had I not had the occasional mistake, or knot of wood on a cheap furring strip break, etc.
75x - 1" x 2" x 8’ furring strips (42 for the ladder rails, 30 to rip for the rungs, and 3 for the front braces) @ 1.32 = $99
3x - 1" x 3" x 8’ furring strips for the back braces @ 1.87 = $5.61
~3,000x - 1.25" 16 gauge brad nails @ 6.25 per 1k = $18.75
Add that all up plus tax and it is $131.61. That doesn’t factor in the couple of screws I used to anchor the back, but if you have some laying around they will work. I also heavily recommend a 2 x 4 (and more screws) to cut for a template, which is a few more dollars if you don’t have any around.
I think it was a great price for the amount of storage, and it is far sturdier than I expected. I did go crazy with the brads…
Many of us, I’m sure, have ventured to solve the same problem. My mom had a basement room full of rudimentary shelving units, which I tore apart and made into wine racks. Different style than KNmeh 7, but similarly functional.
@FritzCat Great job! I like the rack, but I am more impressed with the cuts on the x storage bin on the bottom right.
@KNmeh7 Yeah, I did some other interesting things, like the X storage with alternating wood slats, a tiled shelf with a wicker drawer under it and a waterfall for display. I’ll try to add some pics.
@FritzCat @KNmeh7 Forget the racking, I’m in CA and want the basement!
The racking is well done, just not enough of it.
@KNmeh7 @rjquillin Yes, I’m from CA, and here in Northern NY, we all have nice big cool basements. I’ve moved, and my current basement is about 1200 sq. ft., partially furnished. The one the pics are in is a room in the basement that seems to have been made as a bomb shelter. It’s about 12’ x 18’ with a fireplace. The wool rug, my wife’s grandfather got as payment for painting a Catholic Church many decades ago. And, as for your “not enough” statement: There’s never enough!
@FritzCat @KNmeh7 Grew up in IN. Full basement, split in half, one side finished the other utilitarian. Table shuffle board in the finished side.
Smaller 2-br house, but I sure do miss the basement, especially in the summer. It would have been large enough, barely.
@FritzCat @KNmeh7 @rjquillin Yeah, I really miss the basement too.
Maybe the silver lining with the new(ish) LA building codes is that basements are further incentivized because they restrict at/above-ground square footage based on lot size but underground square footage isn’t counted.
@klezman Let me know when you get that estimate!
@rjquillin For a reno it’s obviously insane (unfortunately). But more than half of the rebuilds in my area seem to get basements.
I should have paid attention in wood shop class.