How to Transform Space Under the Stairs Into a Custom Wine Cellar

Just about any spot in your house can be turned into a stunning custom home wine cellar. But if you have a two-story home, one of the best candidates is the space under the stairs because utilizing it means you can gain storage for around 400-600 bottles without having to kiss your guest room or closet space goodbye. Under stair wine cellars also have the added bonus of blending seamlessly into your home, whether your style is cozy farmhouse, or minimalist and modern. We’re pretty proud of this design that Houzz called “ingenious.”

Turn any space into a custom home wine room.

A small space’s best friend: The under staircase wine cellar

The space under staircases in your home is typically either enclosed and inaccessible, or you may have some storage under there, but usually it’s pretty awkward to get in and out of. We maintain all of the structural elements of the staircase, but open it up to create wine storage and display areas you can access easily.

By maximizing unused or awkward storage spaces in your home in this way, you can transform even the smallest area into a showcase for a large wine collection. Basements, corners, closets, and under stairs spaces are all great candidates for conversion to a custom home wine room when you’re short on space but still want to go big on style. And all of these spaces can also include professional-grade cooling and humidity control to protect your wines for years to come.

An Under Stairs Wine Cellar Joins a historic home

 
We transformed this previously unused space into a custom under stairs wine cellar for this Portland, Oregon home.
 

We recently completed this under the stairs wine cellar for a client in Oregon with a beautiful, historic farmhouse that dates back to 1900. It was extremely important to the owners that all the finishes and materials matched the rest of the house and didn’t interrupt the historic feel. 

We met this challenge by very carefully matching woods, trims, and hardware to the existing finishes of the home. The stained cherry wood for the racking system is new, but it looks identical to the banisters and stairs, and the hardware and hinges for the doors of the wine cellar mirror existing details in the home.

Since the staircase is placed in the middle of a large room, the wine cellar is now a gorgeous focal point of the home.

 
 

Carefully designed details, like this tiny, backlit display shelf give the cellar a one-of-a-kind feel that’s as special as the home itself.

Interested in creating your own under stairs wine cellar?

We work with clients across the U.S. All of our projects begin with a design consultation and are:

  • Fully customizable for your space and collection

  • Built with a universal racking system

  • Handcrafted with wood and high-quality finishes sourced in the Northwest

  • Cooled with professional grade refrigeration

Different Styles for different Cellars

 
Even a corner closet can turn into a gorgeous custom home wine room, like this custom wine bar area we created for a luxury condo in Portland’s Pearl District.
 

Even the tightest under stairs spaces can be turned into a wine cellar. We took advantage of the vertical space in this little corner under the stairs of another home in Oregon to create storage for up to 600 bottles by taking full advantage of the vertical space. The rich color of the Mahogany Sapele we used for this under the stairs wine cellar project lends a more rustic, traditional feel that fits the style of the home.

Our Silver Oak wine cellar project is another great example of making the most of vertical space. This craftsman-style wine cellar holds 900 bottles while still leaving room for crate storage and display shelving, while only taking up the footprint of a small closet. A stow-away decanting shelf and library ladder are two additional space-saving features.

 
Custom Wine Closet | Sommi Wine Cellars
 

Other Small Spaces: Basement Wine Cellars & Bars

 
Historic homes can utilize existing cellar space for wine storage, sometimes without additional cooling necessary. We built out this custom wine cave for the Wilcox mansion in Portland when it was sold to new owners in 2018.
 

While many homes don’t have basements, historic homes often do. If you’re lucky enough to have a cellar, it’s easy to turn it into a stylish wine cellar or wine cave with lighting, custom shelves, and racking for a couple hundred bottles to a couple thousand.

 
Custom Wine Bar | Sommi Wine Cellars
 

Even a small corner of an apartment or condo has potential to be transformed into custom wine storage and display. The clean lines and modern look of this wine bar we designed and built for a client in Portland, Pearl District take full advantage of floor to ceiling height to carve out a wine storage and bar area in a very small footprint.

Interested in creating your own under stairs wine cellar?

Under stair cellar projects start at $50,000. Every project starts with a design consultation, and we work with clients up and down the West Coast to design and build custom wine cellars and rooms. Check out our custom wine cellar projects to see more of our work, or contact us to schedule a quick call to chat about your project.

Vieng Oudom