More Wine Rack Plans by Dummies - The Freelance Files MMCLXXX

Lattice wine rack

When someone asks for a "how-to" to help them take on a new or unfamiliar DIY task, it seems to us that help should come in the form of useful instructions. You know, instructions like "do this, then that, then the other." Makes perfect sense to us; you? So when someone asks how to make a new top for their classic convertible, it's not helpful to tell them to buy one. Still with us? Well, that's pretty much the "help" eHowian Heide Braley provided in her HomeSteady.com post, "DIY Lattice Wine-Rack Kitchen Cabinet."

Now, there are a couple of approaches: you can either built a wine rack from scratch or retrofit an unused cabinet with a rack. Braley opted for the retrofit route, but we're pretty certain that Heide's suggestions won't be much help to people who want to make such storage in a home workshop. According to Braley's instructions, here are the steps involved:

Choose a base cabinet for the rack, strip out the shelves, and measure the space. Make "frames for the three levels of lattice" of 1-by-1 hardwood "Place the frame over a section of lattice with 3 3/4-inch openings, and trace around the outside with a pencil... Cut out the lattice..." The three  identical "levels," as Heide calls them, are then to be placed 12, 8, and 2 inches from the opening  Fasten the "levels" to the interior of the cabinet with, "[Eight] 1 1/2-inch wood screws evenly spaced through the frame, two on each side."

And voila! you have a wine rack (at least according to Braley). Here's where Heide's ignorance and lack of useful reference material led her down the wrong path.

Braley says to use a base cabinet because "wine needs to stay cool." If you really want it cool, it should be stored in the basement, not the kitchen – the kitchen is often the warmest room in the house.  We aren't sure what those "levels" are supposed to be... We don't know about you, but we expected instructions on how to make the lattice; not "Buy some lattice and cut it"! Two problems: first, a base cabinet is more than 12 inches deep, so her design makes it possible for a bottle to slide through and fall off the back. You'd need a stop across the back of each row of openings. Second, why three sheets of lattice? If there were only two, the wine bottles would be (properly) stored at a slight downward angle (compare to image above). Those screws just might penetrate the walls of the cabinet, not to mention that there's no "top" on a base cabinet. Are you gonna screw into the underside of the counter? into the bottom of a drawer?

We looked, and you can buy the lattice Heide refers to to build your own rack, but it tends to be rather expensive – especially or something shoved in a cabinet. You'd be better off just buying a freestanding rack and setting it on the floor of the cabinet; that way you wouldn't have spent all that cash on waste left by cutting the commercial lattice as our Dumbass of the Day suggested. You could use the remaining cash to... wait for it... buy more wine!

DDIY - STORAGE