Passionate wine collectors know a thing or two about storing wines. While many of them are sticking with “traditional” wine cellars when stocking up their wines, an increasing number of wine enthusiasts are taking a postmodern spin on wine rack design in ways that are only possible in this day and age. Here at Coastal Wine Cellars, we like to refer to it as the ‘Wine Cellar Under the Stairs’ phenomenon.

For any casual wine collector, the logic as to why anyone might need to fashion a wine cellar under a stairway seems to be shaky, at best. After all, with such a limited space to move around in, how can any wine cellar builder hope to fit in a series of wine racks?

Well, the answer to that is quite simple: it is good, old-fashioned human ingenuity at work here. Many clients feel that their homes can serve a more functional purpose, and one of the more effective ways they can certainly prove that is by installing a wine cellar underneath their stairway!

If you are still not convinced as to why you would need a wine cellar under your stairs, then we hope a few of our completed projects we have documented below can help show you its viability!

There’s no “Playing” in this Playa Vista Wine Cellar

Playa Vista has been branded as the ‘Silicon Valley’ of California in recent years. So, it should only follow that the community that has sprung up in the area is upwardly-mobile and, dare we say, even affluent. A house we have worked on there offers the best example of how an under-the-stairs wine cellar can work in any house, as long as proper planning is observed.

For instance, the client’s mammoth collection of 348 wine bottles has been “divided” by storing almost half of the collection (which has still yet to mature) into a Le Cache-branded, self-contained refrigeration cabinet. 200 bottles of said collection, on the other hand, has then been stored into a custom wine rack (pictured above) that also doubles as a makeshift wine display and tasting area.

If you want to learn more about this project, you can read about it here.

A Unique Wine Cellar That Adds a Touch of Class in Coto de Caza

This particular ‘wine cellar under the stairs’ project in Coto de Caza, Orange County should surely stand out as one of the most unique of its kind, and precisely because it has been constructed with an L-shaped configuration in mind. It has been made this way so as to accommodate the 5’3″ (64″) ceiling the cellar has been placed in.

A series of diamond X-bins coupled with a high-reveal display row makes this Coto de Caza project into a one-of-a-kind beauty. It also helps that the presence of a painting, commissioned by renowned impressionist artist Janina Pazdan, has made this space into a must-see attraction by the client’s visitors.

If you want to know more about how this wine cellar  has been constructed, you can read about the entire process here.

A Wine Cellar Can be Installed Anywhere–Even a Basement

This is the Playa Vista California wine cellar

This project in Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica is considered as one of our most “unusual”. For one, the client asked us to create a refrigerated wine cellar under the stairs of their basement. Normally, that would have been challenging enough, but the additional burden of having to navigate through the house’s electrical panels has certainly pushed the creative capability of our wine designers to the limit.

One of the solutions we came up with for this project was to make those panels a part of the wine cellar itself. We incorporated them right behind the wine cabinet doors, and we redesigned the entire basement to give a consistent look with the materials we are putting in with the other materials we are putting in the cellar.

One of the standout design concepts from this project include a horizontal lateral showcase display row for vintage wines. This, along with the diamond bin and a central wine tasting area, made the Pacific Palisades project into one of Coastal Wine Cellars “greatest hits” list.

If you would like to read more about this, then please visit here.

A Wine Cellar Under the Stairs Proves the Functionality of Modern Design

If these projects we have discussed above have proven anything, it is that there are various ways to design a wine cellar that are respectful of your house’s structure and boundaries. We did not even get to discussing similar projects of ours in Coppell, Texas, Dallas, Texas, and Chicago!

If you think the Coastal Wine Cellars excellent brand of service is something you would want to avail of yourself, then please don’t hesitate to call us at +1 (949) 200-8134 or Click here to email us to get a FREE 3D wine cellar design!