Over the past four months or so my fiance and I have been slowly building the bar below. The idea started out as a keezer, but the keezer was going in the living room so it had to be attractive. The keezer morphed into a bar and the bar into a huge bar. Much of the inspiration for this project came from A4J's incredible build thread here. Big thanks to A4J and all the others that shared their experiences.
Because the bar was going in the living room it had to be attractive. I had just built an 11' cypress dining room table, enjoyed it, and the fiance was very happy with it so I suggested cypress again. I mentioned my idea to our neighbor, Jerry, a wonderful, kind old guy with a great woodshop. Jerry took me back to his wood pile and showed me hundreds of board feet of gorgeous 80-100 year old cypress recovered from the roof and siding of a structure that had stood on his property. He insisted we use it so it would not go to waste.
I had built the keezer out of the Igloo 10cu ft chest freezer, FRF1050, so Jerry and I sketched out plans around the keezer. The keezer holds 7 ball lock kegs and a 20lb CO2 cylinder. The fiance wanted a wine rack and racks for wine glasses. I wanted a shelf for beer glasses and more space for liquor. The list of "needs" put the bar at over seven feet.
Jerry and I built both end cabinets with 3/4" plywood for the sides to support the bar top. The bar back would be 1/2" ply, stained. We connected the side cabinets with 3/4" ply over the top. The keezer would sit between the two cabinets and under the ply top. Because our floors are tile, the keezer slides out relatively easily without the need for casters or rails.
Once the basic frame was completed, we started trimming the front and sides with reclaimed cypress. We used a metal detector to check the boards for nails, ran them through a surfacer, then through the table saw and chop saw. I am no woodworking expert so there were plenty of mistakes, but eventually the cypress covered the sides and front cabinet trim.
My fiance and I found a piece of scrap granite at a local home/kitchen supply store and they cut it to match our dimensions (28"x82"). At ~1.5" thick, it took three of us to get the granite from my truck to the bar top. We built a picture frame of cypress around the granite to give the bar an edge/overhang, which helps prevent the tap handles from being turned on accidentally.
The piece was the front panel that covers the front of the keezer under the taps. This piece is removable (locked in with pins) because I struggled to find a good way to attach it to the keezer. The cypress around and above the tap handles is attached to the keezer collar.
The cypress is finished with a couple coats of Danish Oil in natural. As you can tell, I still have to add a little trim on the sides just below the bar top. Everything was secured with 18ga brads and glue. The bar is incredibly heavy. It will probably be the only thing left of the house after the next hurricane (we live on a bayou on the gulf coast)!
There are two 120mm computer fans blowing air in through two holes in the back of the keezer. Air goes around and over the keezer and out the front. The keezer is temperature controlled by an inkbird temp controller from Amazon. The keezer also has a fan in it.
The last project will be making tap handles out of elk and deer antlers that Jerry has. I swear he's been more excited about this project than we have and we were very excited!
The photos aren't great and most were taken before I installed the drip tray and trim on the sides of the front panel. If there's interest I'll take more. If you have questions or if there is anything I can do to help with your build, please let me know!
Because the bar was going in the living room it had to be attractive. I had just built an 11' cypress dining room table, enjoyed it, and the fiance was very happy with it so I suggested cypress again. I mentioned my idea to our neighbor, Jerry, a wonderful, kind old guy with a great woodshop. Jerry took me back to his wood pile and showed me hundreds of board feet of gorgeous 80-100 year old cypress recovered from the roof and siding of a structure that had stood on his property. He insisted we use it so it would not go to waste.
I had built the keezer out of the Igloo 10cu ft chest freezer, FRF1050, so Jerry and I sketched out plans around the keezer. The keezer holds 7 ball lock kegs and a 20lb CO2 cylinder. The fiance wanted a wine rack and racks for wine glasses. I wanted a shelf for beer glasses and more space for liquor. The list of "needs" put the bar at over seven feet.
Jerry and I built both end cabinets with 3/4" plywood for the sides to support the bar top. The bar back would be 1/2" ply, stained. We connected the side cabinets with 3/4" ply over the top. The keezer would sit between the two cabinets and under the ply top. Because our floors are tile, the keezer slides out relatively easily without the need for casters or rails.
Once the basic frame was completed, we started trimming the front and sides with reclaimed cypress. We used a metal detector to check the boards for nails, ran them through a surfacer, then through the table saw and chop saw. I am no woodworking expert so there were plenty of mistakes, but eventually the cypress covered the sides and front cabinet trim.
My fiance and I found a piece of scrap granite at a local home/kitchen supply store and they cut it to match our dimensions (28"x82"). At ~1.5" thick, it took three of us to get the granite from my truck to the bar top. We built a picture frame of cypress around the granite to give the bar an edge/overhang, which helps prevent the tap handles from being turned on accidentally.
The piece was the front panel that covers the front of the keezer under the taps. This piece is removable (locked in with pins) because I struggled to find a good way to attach it to the keezer. The cypress around and above the tap handles is attached to the keezer collar.
The cypress is finished with a couple coats of Danish Oil in natural. As you can tell, I still have to add a little trim on the sides just below the bar top. Everything was secured with 18ga brads and glue. The bar is incredibly heavy. It will probably be the only thing left of the house after the next hurricane (we live on a bayou on the gulf coast)!
There are two 120mm computer fans blowing air in through two holes in the back of the keezer. Air goes around and over the keezer and out the front. The keezer is temperature controlled by an inkbird temp controller from Amazon. The keezer also has a fan in it.
The last project will be making tap handles out of elk and deer antlers that Jerry has. I swear he's been more excited about this project than we have and we were very excited!
The photos aren't great and most were taken before I installed the drip tray and trim on the sides of the front panel. If there's interest I'll take more. If you have questions or if there is anything I can do to help with your build, please let me know!
