# Lattice wine rack joinery technique?



## Vrtigo1 (Mar 18, 2010)

My dad recently replaced his refrigerator, and in doing so created an empty space between it and the cabinet above it:










What he would like to do is put a wine rack there, similar to this one:










I've seen these all over the place but haven't seen much in the way of discussion about actually building one from a source that I trust, i.e. not eHow. Specifically, I'm wondering what the best way to handle the joinery of the individual "boxes" would be. There are a few methods I've thought of…pocket screws, opposing dadoes, toenailing, etc. Wanted to get some feedback from fellow woodworkers on the best way to tackle this project.


----------



## JonathanG (Jan 18, 2010)

Before you build one of these, I have a question: How does the refrigerator vent? By that, I mean is there hot air coming up over the top from behind? If so, I'd personally scrap the idea of putting wine up there. You don't want the wine baking away!

If it vents through the bottom, on the front, then it seems like a great use of space. Do you want an actual solid box/cubby hole for each bottle of wine? If so, my vote would be for the opposing dadoes so that they slide together and sort of lock in-place. Then you can secure the lattice work along the edges so it's not sliding around. It would sort of be like those wine cubes that is a box with an "X" in it, creating 4-compartments for wine, each one holding a few bottles. The ones of those that I've seen tend to use the opposing dado idea. You could even create something similar, rather than having a cubby for each bottle. The less wood you use, the more wine you can put in that space.

Are you thinking of somehow suspending it from the cabinet above, or building it into the sides? What will hold the load? I'm assuming you're only going 1-bottle deep, so it should be a problem to get to that electrical outlet as the back of your wine rack will be well in front of the outlet.


----------



## Vrtigo1 (Mar 18, 2010)

Jonathan,

You're the second person I've talked to who's first question was about the heat venting issue. To be honest, I don't know yet. I've been meaning to have my dad check for me. As far as the general design, my thought was to make a big "X" shape so there would be four "cubbies" which would each hold a few bottles. That seems to be the best in terms of holding more wine, and accommodating different bottle sizes. Unfortunately, my mom gave me a picture like the one I included above, and since it's going in her kitchen she gets to make the call.

Thanks for your input.


----------



## JonathanG (Jan 18, 2010)

I think the "X" idea is a good one for this situation. you might want to consider making two of them though. It would be stronger, and probably be more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. You could probably just get away with 1-vertical piece in the center, or if you built 2-boxes and secured them together, you could put a trim strip down the center.

I think I'd go by the dimensions of the space and try and keep each box square, rather than slightly rectangular. And although I doubt you could do it and still keep the boxes square, you could always put 1-row of individual cubbies between the 2-boxes, creating a pronounced center vertical element that would likely hold 3-4-bottles.


----------



## Ampeater (Feb 21, 2008)

Take a look at this. http://www.djmarks.com/woodworks/203.asp
David Marks made a similar wine rack on his show. You can order plans or click on the three pictures to get a better view of his wine rack.


----------



## verdesardog (Apr 2, 2011)

Make two units of half lapped lattice work one for the front and one for the rear. Put in a box if desired.


----------



## SCOTSMAN (Aug 1, 2008)

Yes you need to think about heat dissipation before buying expensive wood good luck.Don't do what a bumbling idiot did here in Scotland built a fish aquarium over his mantlepiece were the fish lived happily all summer when winter came and the eventually switched on the heating the fire came on, and within an hour aLL THE FISH WERE BUBBLING AT THE TOP OF THE AQUARIUM aLISTAIR.


----------

