Reflections on My Wine Cabinet

The other night at my recent Mondays @ Mark’s a friend commented on my wine cabinet.  He even used his iPhone to snap a picture and send it to his wife who didn’t attend.  As it turns out, she’s began surfing the internet for one of their own.

Because he’s the IT person at work, I think he’s  now blocking the websites from his home computer network.  Sorry about that. Perhaps if she knew the whole story, she’d have second thoughts.  Thinking about this cabinet brings back some painful memories.

Prior to this wine cabinet I was storing my wine on some shelves in my bedroom.  I live in a two bedroom condo and frankly didn’t have the space to keep them anywhere else.  Other places where I had room were subject to both sun and heat perhaps not the best option for keeping wine over any length of time.

And over the course of the previous few years, I had added some very nice wines to my collection. And, it had grown to over 300 bottles. Of which 280 were stored on those bedroom shelve. I also was a little concerned that it was beginning to look as though I was sleeping in a wine cellar. 

While I had looked at a refridgerated wine cabinet in the past, they were all out of my price range.   That is until I received my Wine Express catalog. 

It was clearly a fateful day two years ago when I opened the catalog and saw them featuring their new “DIY” wine cabinet.  While it was a little more than I wanted to spend, it was tempting enough for me to order the side-by-side version.   Perhaps the first thing I should have done before ordering was to check the dimensions so I could determine exactly where it would fit. 

They said it would ship by truck and would call an hour before they arrived so I could be there.  That was only partly true. It was, in fact, shipped by truck.  What happened next is classic for one of my projects.  Perhaps the first clue that I had gotten in a little over my head was when I received a call from the delivery truck.  They were already at my house and they wanted to know where to leave the cabinet.

When I told them to put it on the front porch by the door I realized I was in trouble.  You see, they couldn’t do that because it was on a pallet. So after leaving it in front of my garage door, the truck departed and I headed home.  That’s when the enormity of what I had done hit me. 

The Wine Cabinet arrived in eight . . . yes eight . . . cartons of various sizes and weights. No wonder it arrived on a pallet.  So step one is schlepping up the cartons to the second floor of my condo. Again with the lack of foresight and planning. Some of these cartons must have weighed over 150 lbs. I was beginning to realize that the days of having friends help move me had come to an end.

Although I’m not an instruction-type of guy, I opened the cartons to find the instructions first.  After schlepping the cartons up the stairs and finding the assembly instructions, I sat down for the night and read over the instructions and charged up my electric drill.  Thus ended day one.  And it was ok.

Day two of the project should have included me taking the pieces to the room where I was going to finally place the cabinet but my first thought was not where it would eventually end up.  Following the instructions a friend and I began the assembly process. 

Now this is no Ikea shelving kit. The back and side panels are solid wood. Solid and about an inch and a half thick. Having completed the assembly of the main unit, we attempted to lift it up. Here’s where I almost killed a friend.

 In wine making the crush is important but when it comes to friends crushing is bad. Very bad.

Having set it upright, I checked to make sure my friend had no broken bones and was, in fact, OK.  I then took it’s measurements and double checked the original location.  By now you know it didn’t fit.  Thus ended day two and I was in trouble.

Day three began walking around the condo trying to determine the location of the cabinet (and recognizing that it needed an outlet, too).  This resulted in the re-arranging of the back sitting/tv room.  It also meant moving this several hundred pound beast.  The wisdom of purchasing a completed wine cabinet were becoming more apparent with each passing moment.

Unfortunately I couldn’t go back and start over.  I was 2/3rds of my way through the project so stopping now wasn’t an option. I installed the refrigerator unit and tested it and sealed the edges.  We finished the trim and installed the shelves.  After finishing the trim we tried to slide it back into its spot.  I realized at that moment I had one shot to get it right.

It took quite a bit of effort to get it in place.  That's when I realized something. Once in place, it was going nowhere.  Not without a professional moving company.

 The only thing left to do was to move the wine into the cabinet.  Here’s where the only downside to the cabinet came into play. The shelves don’t slide. I can’t slide out the shelves to choose the wine. 

I discovered in my transferring my wine to the cabinet that I really have a preference for red wine as fully 2/3rds of the cabinet consists of red wine.  The right side of my cabinet Is dedicated to primarily my various Seghesio wines with the left side housing my cabernets and white wines.  Thus ended day three. And all was finally good.

I sometimes get grief over my wine collection and I would say that it would be a very selfish interest if it weren’t for the fact that I love to share my wine with friends and family. There really isn’t a wine I wouldn’t share.  It’s really fun to open up the cabinet and find something that a friend has never tried and watch them experience it for the first time.