Who has a wet bar?

I have a basement bar,which is fine, but I don't have alot of extra space. Running directly over the bar are hot and cold water
lines which could allow me to install a small
sink back there. So what so you think? Big advantage or leave well enough alone? ( And he calls himself mrtikibar?) In my case it would have to be small and fit into a corner.

Mr Tikibar,

Having the water lines available is one thing, but how close will you be to the sewer mains? You'll obviously will need to tie into them for drainage.

Other than that, a wet bar is a good thing!

Mr. Tikibar,
I just finished up a remodel of our house that took about 2 years. Directly behind our bar is the master bath. I could of easily tapped the drain line and shutoff valves for a bar sink, it's in the perfect place. When I was considering this job there was no flooring in either room and the house was covered in plaster dust. The perfect time to do it. I decided not to do it because of space and time constraints. I really wish I had gone ahead and done it. At the time I wondered what I would actually do with the sink, would I really need one. There are a million and one uses for a sink, far to many to list. My bar is very close to the kitchen so it's almost convienient to use the kitchen sink. Down in the basement you might not be close to any sink. Give it some thought. I told myself I could do it any time, but, now everything nice and new I dont want to start ripping things up again. just one man's opinion
Al

Right. The bar is adjacent to the laundry room, and, most importantly, I have a friend (who is good at these things) who says getting to the drain will be no problem. The space is really the critical thing.
Thanks for the response.

Mrtikibar, I highly reccomend a sink and drain. I want very badly to add a sink and small hot water heater to my bar, and will do it someday. It makes entertaining SO much easier to be able to dump and rinse glasses as needed, and to have a source of clean water for cleanups. My advice is to do it. Check out Rebuilders on Mississippi if you want to find a cheap used sink. I already have my sink - it's a wonderful chocolate brown number that was hideous in my kitchen but will be perfect for the bar. Now all I have to do is plumb...

So I had a plumbing company come by today and I found out that if I want to add a wet bar to my (as of yet unmade) tiki bar, It will run me somewhere in the area of $1000. Mostly because they will have to jack-hammer out a patch of concrete and add another drain.

That's if I want to do everything to code. It could be much lower if I don't follow codes and just drain my wet bar, set tub, washing machine and high-efficiency furnace into one drain...

I thought this was gonna be simple, cause I schemed to put my bar near a drain that already exists for my washing machine...

...so my question to you folks who already have a wet bar (or want one):
Is the convenience of a wet bar worth $1000 to you? And why or why not?

I wish I had a sink in my bar area, but don't really have the room. I am up against my master bath at one of the sinks, so guess I could get it done some time, but sounds expensive though if you keep to code. The other thought is a dry sink.

If I could add a sink during building I would go for it. A double sink would be super helpful with hot and cold water.

I can't answer the $1000 question. Whether it's worth that or not is completely up to you. It's worth as much as you're willing to pay for it. But, my dedicated bar room is under construction as we speak and, yes, a sink is going in. I figured it was bite the bullet and do it now or risk forever regretting not doing it. With my bar where it is right now, I have to constantly shuttle back and forth between the bar and the kitchen. And that's a pain. In my new room, all I will need to get from the kitchen is ice. Everything else will be self-contained in the room.

I am running mine into the existing laundry plumbing. Is that a problem? Or is this something local? The real answer is, it is often only an issue if you contract it. If you can do it with a friend who knows plumbing, no codes are required.

I would think of it this way, you will also have to buy a sink and counter tops and fauctes... And it can add to the value of your house. Is it an investment? My wet bar will be. I save the counters we pulled out of the main house and hope to re-use. Sinks are on Ebay for $20...

I would not do $1,000, but I know my fiance's Dad can help, along with others and we'll get it done for about $100.

Most of us understand that we will not be selling our houses with the Tiki bars intact, unfortunately the wider population has less of an appreciation for these finer architectural features. So if you can do a quick-and-dirty sink with plans to make it reverseable when you need to sell, there's no reason to mess around with the beer-swilling bureaucrats in city hall.

I'm seriously considering buying this, and setting it up next to the window by my bar during parties or even impromptu drinking sessions. (I'll surround it with grass skirting or something)

http://www.balkowitsch.com/productinfo.php?pid=973

My Tiki Lounge is my living room, so it's not set up for a sink and I wouldn't want it to be all the time. This should solve my problem!

[ Edited by: The Granite Tiki 2008-04-08 08:54 ]

The main use of have a wet bar is to rinse the blender or shaker.

I always wanted one, but came to the conclusion I really didn't need it

On 2008-04-08 09:20, Unga Bunga wrote:
The main use of have a wet bar is to rinse the blender or shaker.

I always wanted one, but came to the conclusion I really didn't need it

I rinse my shaker after each cocktail and I rinse out guests glasses when they change drinks served as well. I guess it really only comes into play when you have guests. But even if I am making one drink for us, I now mix in the kitchen and require **A)**ice from the freezer (fridge door crusher) **B)**juices from the fridge and **C) **the sink to rinse the shaker, along with booze and tools. So, unless you have A and B, C isn't gonna get you there. If you have B and C and you bring ice in a bucket or something, okay. Maybe. I guess to me, if you aren't really relocating the bar with all its accoutrement, I wouldn't do the sink.

The other thing to look into if you are stillunder construction is a real ice maker. You can get them through Best Buy, etc. and they run about $750. Not as essential as a sink but damn handly for ice hungry tropical cocktails.

You don't realize how handy a sink is until you have one. I deliberated putting one in the outdoor bar, and decided to go ahead and run flexible water supply line in the trench when I brought power from the house. Worth the effort for dumping and rinsing glasses and washing sticky hands. I only ran cold water, as the line is so long I'd empty the hot water tank before it ran hot. So far, cold alone has been just fine, but you can always install a point-of-use electric in-line heater. The waste water is drained into a drywell.

Keep in mind that, even though a do-it-yourself job can cut code corners (which I certainly did), if you sell the house and have a home inspection, it might be flagged.

As for the portable sinks, remember that, not only do you need a water supply, you have to dump the waste somewhere, which means lugging out some manner of gray water tank.

[ Edited by: Tiki Zen 2008-04-08 11:30 ]

On 2008-04-08 11:25, rugbymatt wrote:
The other thing to look into if you are stillunder construction is a real ice maker. You can get them through Best Buy, etc. and they run about $750. Not as essential as a sink but damn handly for ice hungry tropical cocktails.

There are small ones that are around $100. They are about the size of half a mini-fridge. They should do the job. Crushing is a bit trickier. There are MANY varieties out there at around $100-200, so, do your research to see what works best.

Not to get off topic, but has anyone ever thought about scavenging an ice maker and crusher from an old refridgerator? I am thinking about doing something like that, and maybe fitting it onto an old igloo ice chest or something similar.

Oh, and yes, if you can swing doing the wet bar, I would go for it. I myself would go the cheaper route of tying it into the washing machine drain, but that's me. But if I was in the middle of a remodel, then I would probably have it thrown in as part of the whole package.

I knew it would come. Here is a portable ice maker with a crusher. Double the price of just the ice makers, but... The plain portable ice makers generaly make about 35 pounds a day and hold a gallon or 2 of ice. These seem to hold less, and make about 25 pounds a day. We live in remarkable times...

My bar is entering the latter planning stages & it will have a sink. I finished my basement last year & it has a full bath adjacent to the wall where the bar will be. I knew I'd be doing a bar when I built the house 12 years ago & had the plumbing roughed in when it was built. I've already had one small get together & even with the bathroom next door, it was a pain in the butt! I gotta tell ya, I really dig that ice maker! That will probably be my first investment once the bar is done!

[ Edited by: Big Kahuna 2008-04-08 15:32 ]

I actually considered one of those semi-pro under-the-counter ice makers that makes large clear cubes, but in the end decided against it because they're pricey, noisy, waste a lot of water because they make cubes continuously, and seem to require a lot of maintenance. Would be nice to have quality cubes though because I am rather picky about my ice.

On 2008-04-09 07:55, GatorRob wrote:
I actually considered one of those semi-pro under-the-counter ice makers that makes large clear cubes, but in the end decided against it because they're pricey, noisy, waste a lot of water because they make cubes continuously, and seem to require a lot of maintenance. Would be nice to have quality cubes though because I am rather picky about my ice.

Yes, I put a good filter in line with mine so the ice is really free of any crap.

On 2008-04-09 07:55, GatorRob wrote:
I actually considered one of those semi-pro under-the-counter ice makers that makes large clear cubes, but in the end decided against it because they're pricey, noisy, waste a lot of water because they make cubes continuously, and seem to require a lot of maintenance. Would be nice to have quality cubes though because I am rather picky about my ice.

Yes, I put a good filter in line with mine so the ice is really free of any crap.

OK, so here's a question...I am Hell-bent on putting the bar in the SE corner of the room, but the water supply, laundry drain is in the NW corner. Is this even possible to have a wet bar if I HAVE to have the bar in that corner? The stairs coming down into the basement are right in front of the water supply and if I put the bar there you would have to walk around it to get into the room...not cool.

ideas?

One of the biggest things I decided to do when we had to re-build the bar post-fire was add the sink.

It was 1000% the right decision, and I reccomend it to everyone. Also, at $750 for an ice maker, buy a fridge!! Then you get a place to keep juices, and you can make ice in the freezer top!!

As far as getting around the stairs etc, get yourself an upflusher or similar pump. then you'll pump the gray water up to the ceiling, hiding it in the rafters, and you can downflow it to your sewage line, hidden under a drop ceiling, thatch, etc.

Ours is linked into the washing machine drain. Piece of cake. good luck!!

Kind of expensive but here is a self-contained sink option.

Maybe a dry sink dropped into a portable kitchen cart/island would be helpful. You could wheel it from the bar to the kitchen or wherever.

FATIMA BLUSH: Oh, how reckless of me. I made you all wet.
JAMES BOND: Yes, but my martini is still dry.

[ Edited by: VampiressRN 2008-04-09 12:25 ]

What I did for my old bar, was installed a small wet-bar sink I picked up unused at a junk shop. I didn't have a way to place the bar closer to the plumbing, or have the extra scratch to run new plumbing to it. So I cut a hole in the prep area and placed a small bucket underneath to catch the water. To wash a drink, I had a stopper in there to hold water and brought in water from the kitchen in an old water jug. Hey it worked for us. I just kept an eye on the bucket and dumped the used water in the house plants or out the back door.

On 2008-04-09 14:37, Unkle John wrote:
What I did for my old bar, was installed a small wet-bar sink I picked up unused at a junk shop. I didn't have a way to place the bar closer to the plumbing, or have the extra scratch to run new plumbing to it. So I cut a hole in the prep area and placed a small bucket underneath to catch the water. To wash a drink, I had a stopper in there to hold water and brought in water from the kitchen in an old water jug. Hey it worked for us. I just kept an eye on the bucket and dumped the used water in the house plants or out the back door.

Good thing you did keep an eye on it, if it was in my house, the barswill would quickly have a life of its own.

If I decided to run the plumbing lines, it would be for the electric dishwasher or ice machine, before a sink.
The sink would be a bonus.

Confucious say :

Man who spill drink, have wet bar.

On 2008-04-10 09:40, tikiyaki wrote:
Confucious say :

Man who spill drink, have wet bar.

Another good reason for a sink! Cleaning up!

On 2008-04-09 20:56, Unga Bunga wrote:
If I decided to run the plumbing lines, it would be for the electric dishwasher or ice machine, before a sink.
The sink would be a bonus.

Don't worry your soaking in Palmolive!!!

Thanks for the input, everyone. I think I know how I will proceed...

On 2008-04-11 18:59, Slacks Ferret wrote:
I think I know how I will proceed...

To the bottle!

If space is a big issue, you could cut a butcher block to the right size to cover the sink opening for when you just need counter space. Then you also have a cutting board for limes and lemons. Just a thought...

On 2008-04-11 18:59, Slacks Ferret wrote:
Thanks for the input, everyone. I think I know how I will proceed...

Just wanted to add someting here...
In my home bar i had a sink and used it ALWAYS when entertaining, I can't imagine how it would possibly stay clean without it, also if you are dirnking from tiki mugs, there is less chance of dropping and breaking them if they are washed in the bar area than if they need to be transported to your kitchen etc for cleaning, also faster...
cheers

[ Edited by: Aaron's Akua - to remove spam - 2008-04-28 12:34 ]

You can squeeze a lot into a small space Just look what I put in a small out side bar. These photos are a few years old I should take some new ones

Front View

Back

Sink

Sound System

Back inside of the bar