Do buyers want a wet bar in the basement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My childhood home had a full size wood paneled wet bar in the basement. My parents never entertained and don’t drink, so it never made sense. It just collected piles of paper and crap. It was hard to sell their house 30 years later because it is ugly and took up 1/2 the basement. The new owners knocked it down (at their expense) before they moved in.

If you are doing a new build and really want the wet bar, then maybe think about future flexibility- can the “bar” be a piece of furnishing that can be removed or replaced. Can you convert the space into an in law or Au pair suite? Then having access to water and a fridge is 100% worth it.

Was this a wet bar or a wet bar with bar seating, etc. attached? People seem to be conflating these two things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they're trashy and a waste of space. It reminds me of my home in the 1980s. If I had a huge home, I might think different, but we live in a smaller home and the sink/counter space/etc. just seems like a huge waste. As soon as I seem them in photos on real estate apps I immediately think "NOPE!"

Really? We modeled ours after basically this same picture:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/Afd38HZgKEY5zWAe8NjD5gfmN7T66C7h_-iY3QXa_HmRYsH8MEJK5Io/

We're also in a smaller home and the extra storage has been a big help and having a drinks/coffee station for guests who stay in our (tiny) basement is also nice too. I'm just surprised by all the negative comments on these things, I always considered them a great convenience to have around.

I love this. Our basement is used for kid/ now teen and 20's to entertain, watch sports etc. Wish I had a mini fridge and sink down there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they're trashy and a waste of space. It reminds me of my home in the 1980s. If I had a huge home, I might think different, but we live in a smaller home and the sink/counter space/etc. just seems like a huge waste. As soon as I seem them in photos on real estate apps I immediately think "NOPE!"

Really? We modeled ours after basically this same picture:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/Afd38HZgKEY5zWAe8NjD5gfmN7T66C7h_-iY3QXa_HmRYsH8MEJK5Io/

We're also in a smaller home and the extra storage has been a big help and having a drinks/coffee station for guests who stay in our (tiny) basement is also nice too. I'm just surprised by all the negative comments on these things, I always considered them a great convenience to have around.

I love this. Our basement is used for kid/ now teen and 20's to entertain, watch sports etc. Wish I had a mini fridge and sink down there.

Thanks! Yeah, its been great. Our kiddos are little but even now, given we have their toys like blocks and paints, etc. stored in the basement so we don't clutter up the main level, its really nice to just have a place to grab a sparkling water/juice/snack and help them wash up after crafts and avoiding running up and down the stairs. (Also the cabinets are nice for quickly picking up the basement when I don't feel like being super organized about it, haha.) Hardly an essential, but a nice bonus!

[Anonymous]

Just put in a small dishwasher so you can wash the glasses from the bar without having to carry them up and down to the kitchen.

But if you won't use it I wouldn't add it.

[Anonymous]

Do you have kids? It's a nice edge if you want your house to be where they and their friends hang out, although I'd call it a "kitchenette" rather than a wet bar.

[Anonymous]

I think people are mostly nitpicking over terminology here.

Minus a light up "Bar" sign, everyone seems to agree that fridge/sink/counter in basement is a good thing, even if it's only used by or for kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Skip the wet bar and put in a dog shower station. Sold!

This is good to hear — we just put a dog wash in our house (as well as a wet bar, but beside our pool, not in the basement).

[Anonymous]

We, like a lot of people we know, don’t drink so I wouldn’t care for it.

[Anonymous]

Unless you have more money than you would ever need you have to cut costs somewhere on a new construction house. For us the wetbar downstairs (we did a rough in only) and butlers pantry were things we cut out. I can't remember the exact costs, but those two items could easily be 20K each if not more depending on how you do it.

As it turns out, we never hang out in the basement, that area is for the kids only so we don't miss it. Also new kitchens these days have so many cabinets you don't really need the extra storage from a butlers pantry either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We, like a lot of people we know, don’t drink so I wouldn’t care for it.

Ok, I'm going to assume you didn't mean to come the way you did and move on to....Huh? A wet bar is used for a lot of other things besides alcohol--as evidenced over and over on this thread. Do you drink water, soda, tea? Thats all that is stocked in ours, so it makes it easy for kids and basement overnight guests to grab drinks without shlepping up the stairs.

A wet bar, people, isn't "a place in your home to only drink alcohol." It is not a bar, it is a wet bar.

[Anonymous]

What's the wet bar for? Making drinks? Can't a pitcher of water and a mini fridge do the same thing? Glasses go upstairs to get washed...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless you have more money than you would ever need you have to cut costs somewhere on a new construction house. For us the wetbar downstairs (we did a rough in only) and butlers pantry were things we cut out. I can't remember the exact costs, but those two items could easily be 20K each if not more depending on how you do it.

As it turns out, we never hang out in the basement, that area is for the kids only so we don't miss it. Also new kitchens these days have so many cabinets you don't really need the extra storage from a butlers pantry either.

Our builder took away the option to put in the rough-ins, which irritated the crap out of me. We passed to and eventually added one ourselves. Ended up using the basement a ton, including finishing out a private guest "suite" down there.

I posted this earlier--definitely not a necessity, but can be super convenient for the right living lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We, like a lot of people we know, don’t drink so I wouldn’t care for it.

Ok, I'm going to assume you didn't mean to come the way you did and move on to....Huh? A wet bar is used for a lot of other things besides alcohol--as evidenced over and over on this thread. Do you drink water, soda, tea? Thats all that is stocked in ours, so it makes it easy for kids and basement overnight guests to grab drinks without shlepping up the stairs.

A wet bar, people, isn't "a place in your home to only drink alcohol." It is not a bar, it is a wet bar.

I'd worry more about adding a bathroom than a wet bar. Why can't we get water from the bathroom sink?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We, like a lot of people we know, don’t drink so I wouldn’t care for it.

High five!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the wet bar for? Making drinks? Can't a pitcher of water and a mini fridge do the same thing? Glasses go upstairs to get washed...

A wet bar typically has a small sink and mini-fridge with built-in cabinets and a nice counter. (A dry bar doesn't have the sink.) Here is a picture of a wet bar.

https://www.houzz.com/photos/dutch-colonial-charm-traditional-home-bar-boston-phvw-vp~105305615

They can be used for alcohol, but most families I know with one in the basement (as is being discussed here) use them for a water, snacks, and drinks station. We wash our glasses in the sink though, duh.