Post #497338 by Trader Bob on Fri, Dec 4, 2009 2:30 PM

Hi Dash
Good to see someone else doing a Tiki bar I decided to build one in the lower rooms of my house. There is not much research material in Australia for this stuff and I have had to search the internet for ideas. It will be a very slow process for me cause I work 6-7 days a week and this leaves me not a lot of time.
Some of the things I have thought about are

You need to plan what appliances you intend on using in your bar area and set out the electrical sockets/power points and wiring for light fittings ect before you can start fitting out the framework, this also includes plumbing work if you are making a wet bar, I am using bamboo ply to line the walls and ceiling, so I have to run all the wiring and piping for water behind it. I sat in the area and tried to visualise where everything was going it took me weeks to decide on the final layout.

My Bar
My bar top is 18 inches wide and I was going to have the standard 42 inch bar height. Because I don't have much room in the bar area and the lower counter is only 20 inches wide, if I leave the lower counter at the standard 36 inch height, this only gives me about five inches of splash back height and not much work space on the lower counter free from the top counter. so I am going to drop the lower counter to 33 inches, and I will go 1 inch higher on the top counter (43"), this will give me around 9 inches of clearance between the two. I will have 5 inches of overhang on the top counter at the front, just enough to allow leg space so you can sit close to the bar, I think the norm for and bars and breakfast bars is 8 inches of overhang. The bar is 9 feet long. I made the top out of two 9"x1.1/4" inch pieces of Australian hardwood I glued and doweled them in the middle.
Good luck with your bar and keep posting pictures of your progress.
Trader Bob