A Modern Wine Cellar Built Under the Stairs in a San Diego Home

Coastal Custom Wine Cellars recently completed construction on this incredible modern wine cellar under stairs in a contemporary San Diego home. It contains metal rod wine racking, an industrial strength split system cooling unit, a glass door, and custom LED lighting elements.

Elegant Modern Wine Cellar Under Stairs with Glass Doors

The client wanted to build a modern wine cellar under her stairs. She wanted to maximize the bottle count in her wine cellar while also prioritizing the aesthetic aspect of the build. In terms of aesthetics, the first element that you’ll see in a wine cellar is its doors. To match the desired style and look, the Coastal team installed glass doors for this wine room. The team used 1/2 inch frameless tempered glass panels for the door. Additionally, they utilized a pivot hinge instead of an ordinary hinge. The pivot hinge is self-closing and has better sealing power than other hinges. This wine cellar door looks great and works efficiently.

Modern Metal Wine Racking with Alder wood Component

This modern San Diego residential wine cellar under stairs is a beautiful addition to this home.

The wine racking system for this glass door wine cellar is awe-inspiring. The overall design of the racking system is contemporary and innovative. You could easily conclude that the racking system is built entirely of metal from a distance. But don’t be fooled. The black-toned part of the cellar joining each section is made of Alder wood. That’s the beauty of using Alder wood as a building material. It can mimic a metal if the right stain is applied. The Alder wood looks modern and metallic for this project because of its dark finish.

For the metallic parts, the team used a ½ inch stainless steel rod. It has a glossy finish, adding sophistication and elegance to the stunning wine bottle display.

Configuration of the Metal Wine Racking in the Wine Cellar Built Under the Stairs

The majority of the metal wine racking system is made up of horizontal racks. These racks are 3-bottles deep. You could choose to have up to 4-bottles-deep or 5-bottles-deep in this type of wine racking. But 3-bottles deep is the sweet spot for this wine cellar under stairs. The 3-bottle deep racking can already hold a good number of wine bottles. Going beyond that would be too cumbersome for the client to get the innermost bottle.

Sandwiched between the horizontal racks are the vertical reveal rows. There’s a channel of LED strip lighting for this metallic wine racking system section. The LED lighting emphasizes the Reveal racks and the labels of the wine bottles stored there. With this supplemental lighting, the beautiful wine bottle labels pop and look amazing. LED lighting is a very efficient and effective way to light and add mood to a modern wine cellar.

At the bottom of the wine racking system is an area for storing cases. And at the center of this wine cellar built under the stairs, is a small area with white acrylic LED back panel. From here, the client can decant his wines or display extra wine or alcohol bottles. At each end of the wine cellar is a small square shelf with white acrylic LED panels underneath. The client can store large format bottles like magnums here. Lastly, the Coastal team built an area for storing more cases and bottles directly below the stairs.

Minimalist Cooling System Installed for the Glass Door Wine Cellar

A display table is a great place to decant wines and store tools, notebooks, and other items inside your wine cellar under the stairs.

The team installed an RM4600 split-type cooling unit from US Cellar Systems. As bulky as cooling units may come, the only visible part you can see is the vent from the soffit for this wine cellar. The evaporating unit was ingeniously placed inside the soffit above the ceiling. In comparison, the condensing unit was placed outside the wine room. Another modern feature that the team incorporated into this wine cellar project is the minimal noise coming from the cooling unit.

How the Team Made Cooling Inside the Wine Cellar Efficient

After the team was done running the lightest and the copper lines for the cooling unit. They then installed a 3 ½ inch spray foam application. This application retards the formation of water droplets within the cavity of the wine cellar wall. Water droplets inside the walls can disturb the humidity in the wine cellar, which would cause molds to proliferate. Molds in your wine cellar will compromise the quality of your wines.

The team also installed additional seals for the wine cellar door. These additional seals, plus the sealing ability of the pivot hinge, ensure the wine cellar is sealed from the fluctuating temperature and humidity outside.

Placing the major parts of the cooling into the soffit and outside of the wine cellar also played a significant role in helping maintain the optimum temperature and humidity in the wine room. With the main motor moved away from the wine cellar, the heat released from the motor is avoided inside the wine cellar.

You can choose from a variety of wine rack materials for your wine cellar under stairs. Bottles of all sizes can be stored on modern metal rod racking like this.

Build A Wine Cellar Under Your Stairs with a Professional Wine Cellar Design Team

This wine cellar under stairs built by the Coastal looks gorgeous and contemporary. The final build coincides with the vision of the client from the start of the project. The client was impressed with the final build.

Do you have an unused area under your stairs you wanted to be converted to a wine cellar? Call us NOW and let’s make it happen.

Modern Under Stair Wine Cellar Gallery