Design / St. Louis designers share inspiring home bar ideas

St. Louis designers share inspiring home bar ideas

Plus, local mixologists serve up favorite cocktail recipes.

by Carrie Edelstein October 12, 2022 at 9:00 AM February 8, 2025

Architect & Designer Awards 2022 | Winner: Specialty Room | Julie Abner, Julie Abner Interiors The client wanted a new look for her home bar—one that would complement the décor of the two adjoining rooms. A patterned wallpaper and glass backsplash tile from Ann Sacks satisfied the client’s desire for color and pattern. Ample cabinet and drawer space, plus room for appliances—an under-counter wine refrigerator, beverage refrigerator, and ice maker—put the essentials for entertaining within easy reach. The metal grilles in the upper glass-front cabinets are set off by the client’s enviable glassware collection, and the two-tiered gold chandelier makes a fine statement.

There are countless ways to design a home bar. Homeowners with the space for it will often devote a lower level for gathering and entertaining. Others with perhaps less room, or a preference for a minimalist aesthetic, might want the look of a bar that’s been carved out of a small niche, built into a vintage armoire, or designed around a small table festooned with the essentials.

Whatever your style may be, our list of home bars from around St. Louis will inspire you to consider the possibilities.

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Apple Pumpkin Spiced Cocktail

By mixologist Emilia S. Robertson, ShotsByEmilia

What you need:

1 ounce pumpkin purée
1 ounce Pumpkin Spice Liqueur
1 ounce Amaretto
1.5 ounce Spiced Rum
up to 6 ounces of apple cider juice

How to make it:

Add all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice. Shake for 30-60 seconds. Pour the drink into a chilled 16-ounce glass dressed with pumpkin purée syrup and cinnamon for additional flavor. Add a cinnamon stick to garnish, if desired.

The Kaplan House, built in 1961 and designed by local architect and Frank Lloyd Wright protégé William Bernoudy At one point, homeowner Mitch Margo and architect Helen Lee considered reorienting the built-in bar located in the wall between the kitchen and dining room to create one large space. But after consulting a cabinetmaker, they determined that the bar had been built in place and, if moved, would be destroyed in the process.

Whisky Cha Boran Cocktail

By Kira Webster, beverage director at Indo

What you need:

1.25 ounce Ohishi Brandy Cask Whisky
0.5 ounce Four Roses
0.25 ounce Bare Zero Proof Bourbon
0.75 ounce Earl Grey Palm Sugar
2 dashes Fee Bros Aromatic bitters
1 dash Peychauds

How to make it:

Stir all ingredients into a cocktail shaker then strain into a glass of your choice over ice. Garnish with an orange peel.

In this art-filled Clayton condo, gray is anything but boring The Montupets had to decide between a tiny kitchen and big dining room and vice versa. They opted for a spacious Poggenpohl kitchen with pale-greige Caesarstone counters, with lights engineered inside, outside, and under the cabinetry. And architect Susan Bower created a pass-through to the dining room in homage to the Brentmoor Park house: “One of our signature moments where we could get the alignments to work!” she says.

Freestyle Cocktail

By Jonathan Levy, mixologist at Sophie’s Artist Lounge

What you need:

0.75 ounce 1220 Origin Gin
0.75 ounce Cynar 70
0.75 ounce Lime juice
0.75 ounce Agave syrup
1 ounce Cold Brew coffee
1 dash Black Walnut bitters

How to make it:

Combine ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a chilled coupe glass and garnish with a lime twist

Architect & Designer Awards 2020 | Winner: Millwork | Todd Rausch, Karr Bick Kitchen & Bath Repurposing was a theme in this project: The bar occupies what once was the house’s screened-in front porch, and the wood used to build the beamed ceiling was harvested from a white oak that was dying after having graced the home’s front yard for almost two centuries. The client’s love of history is reflected in leaded glass cabinet doors, Gothic arches in the glass and woodwork, a ceiling bearing a panel of backlit stained glass, and hand-built countertops. Care was lavished on every detail: Finding just the right barstools took months.

Maiz en Place Cocktail

By India Stevens, bar supervisor at Cinder House

What you need:

1.5 ounce Mezcal Vago Elote
.5 oz Jalapeno & Cilantro-infused Tequila (instructions below)
.75 ounce lime juice
.75 ounce Roasted Corn Oleo Saccharum (instructions below)
.5 ounce mango puree

How to make it:

Jalapeno & Cilantro-infused Tequila preparation: Lightly muddle 5 sliced jalapenos and 60 grams of cilantro (with stems). Add 750 ml blanco tequila. Let sit for 6 hours. Strain off solids.
Roasted Corn Oleo Saccharum preparation: Roast 6 corn cobs over an open flame until lightly charred. Peel 2 limes (no pith). When cobs are cool enough to handle, remove kernels and reserve cobs. Combine cut corn, reserved cobs, lime peel, and 2-quarts sugar in a 6-quart container. Let sit for 48 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove lime peel and cook the remaining ingredients until all sugar crystals have turned to syrup (about 5 minutes). Strain all solids through a fine mesh chinois.
Corn, Lime and Chile Rim preparation: Equal parts dehydrated corn powder and Tajin seasoning.
Shake and strain into an eight ounce rimmed glass with ice. Garnish with a Corn, Lime, and Chile Rim, a jalapeno slice, and micro cilantro.

For the McGehees, a dream house is lost—and then found The butler’s pantry, with its lacquered walls, checked marble floor, and vintage dining set, is a design foil to the kitchen. Norma, who by all accounts was instrumental in achieving its look, selected the color, a custom high-gloss lacquer.

Fig Cocktail

By Phil Weaver Ingram, bar manager at Take Root Hospitality

What you need:

0.75 ounce Fig-infused Four Roses Bourbon
0.75 ounce Averna
0.50 ounce Domaine Canton
0.50 ounce Fig syrup (instructions below)

How to make it:

Fig syrup preparation: Reconstitute 1 cup of dried figs by soaking them in hot water. Let sit for at least two hours. Strain figs and retain the leftover liquid. Take leftover liquid, add equal parts Turbinado sugar and heat until sugar dissolves. Add the reconstituted figs, cinnamon sticks, and a dash of allspice. Steep over low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, strain, and cool.
Use the strained figs and spices, plus an additional ½ cup of dried figs, to infuse bourbon by heating the solids and 1L Four Roses Bourbon over low heat until it begins to steam. Cap and allow to steep for 20 minutes.
Cocktail, combine all ingredients into a cocktail mixer and shake. Strain into a coupe and garnish with a candied fig.

Architect & Designer Awards 2020 | Winner: Lower Level | Amy Studebaker and Jamie Reeves, Studebaker Design; PK Construction; Fendler + Associates The renovation of a lower-level space yielded a sophisticated and cohesive sitting room, bar, theater, and bathroom. Here, wood paneling is rendered in a rich, deep stain to impart a desired moody ambiance. Throughout the lower level, a mix of wallpaper, mirrors, and painted wood panel insets are used to differentiate each space.

Mela Caramellata (Caramel Apple) Cocktail

From the bar at Casa Don Alfonso

What you need:

1.5 ounce Ketel One Vodka
1.0 ounce Caramel Apple Syrup (500 g Demerara, 500 g Water, 1 Granny Smith Apple)
4 ounce Tuaca
5 ounce Kaldi Caramel
5 ounce Apple Cider
0.25 ounce Lemon Juice
Ice
Caramel Syrup (optional): 3 cups white granulated Sugar, .75 qt Corn syrup, .4 tsp Salt, 2 c Heavy Cream, 1 Vanilla Bean

How to make it:

Combine the ingredients into a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously. Strain into a coupe glass and serve chilled.
Optional Garnish: Scoop two apple balls onto a branch skewer and drizzle with caramel syrup.

Historic details meet contemporary style in a Claverach Park home Painted all white, with gleaming new hardwood floors, the sunroom features a NanaWall system that allows two, four, or all six glass panels to open, making the space fully accessible to the deck. This area, complete with a wet bar, is where the Melanders love to entertain.

“Criss Cross” by Steve Lacy Cocktail

By Brad Phillips, beverage manager at Blood & Sand

What you need:

1.5 ounce Old Forester 86 Proof Bourbon Whiskey
.5 ounce Switchgrass Apple Brandy
.25 ounce Le Père Jules Pommeau de Normandie
.25 ounce Cinnamon Syrup
.25 ounce Turbinado Syrup
.25 ounce Lemon Juice
2 bar spoons or .25 ounce Cinnamon Applesauce
1 bar spoon or .13 ounce Crème Fraîche

How to make it:

Combine all ingredients into a cocktail tin, add ice, shake, and strain into a copper mug. Garnish with golden delicious apple fan, mint sprig, and grated nutmeg.