Any Carpenters in here?
 

To make long story short, I bought another house, wasn't planning on it, but the deal I could not pass up... I just gutted and remodeled the entire thing, and now I have empty space in my living room. I would like to build a simple bar. It's going to be "L" shaped. I looked online for some plans and such, but the majority of the plans are for 8 foot or bigger bars. The One I'm making will be 5 feet on the long part and 3 feet on the short leg part of it. It's going to be the standard 46" bar height, made from some hardwood. My question here is do I really need to use 2x4's to frame it all out? They just seem to bulky in my opinion, but obviously I want this thing rigid. I have some cool ideas ideas for it, but I'm just trying to plan everything out before I start the build in a month or so. Thanks for any and all ideas!

Rafal

Re: Any Carpenters in here?
 

Pics of all the remodeling? Just curious as to what it looks like.

Re: Any Carpenters in here?
 

I have to finish putting in the hardwood floor tonight and my kitchen counter tops are coming in tomorrow, so I'll post some pics. I don't have any before pics, as I got a little anxious and decided to start ripping stuff down... but so far here's a list of stuff done:
-new roof
-new siding
-new flooring throughout
-1 kitchen wall converted to breakfast bar
-new kitchen cabinets and appliances
-new tub/surround
-fresh paint and new trim everywhere

still have to do some landscaping in the front of the house as it looks very plain, and lay patio out back.

and I guess I'm proud to say I did everything with the wife except the roof.

Re: Any Carpenters in here?
 

What did you do for counter tops?

Re: Any Carpenters in here?
 

standard granite

Re: Any Carpenters in here?
 

I'm no carpenter, but I'd follow the 8ft plans but only 5ft... If it says 2x4...thats what I'd go with.

Re: Any Carpenters in here?
 

I agree with Coleosis, you want the most support for your bar that you can -you never know what will happen when people are inebriated. Hell, if it were in my house with my clumsy, light-weight drinkers of friends, I'd have to build the bar out of concrete.

Re: Any Carpenters in here?
 

if you wanted to downsize i wouldnt go any smaller than 2X3

Re: Any Carpenters in here?
 

You can follow basic cabinet framing methods. It's not necessary to frame it like a house. Think furniture.

Re: Any Carpenters in here?
 

^^^^^ that's what I have been thinking, I mean I understand for a large size bar you will need the support, and everything I have seen online is framed with 2x4's, I have built decks, and pergolas, and such, so I do have a general idea... just never built furniture.

Re: Any Carpenters in here?
 

Just as a very general example, if you make 2 (top and bottom) self supported rectangular frames that represent the desired footprint of your bar minus 1 1/2 inches on length and width, and wrap that on three sides with 3/4 inch ply wood, some vertical corner support added to the inside back corners, and you have a pretty substantial structure to begin with.
Then complete that infrastructure along the perimeter of the open side to attach a face frame for cabinet doors onto on the open side.

It would look like a box, but some trim to mimick a frame and panel design or whatever could dress it up.

But the same thing certainly can be accomplished with 2x4's 16 oc style and sheet material of your choice just the same.

I probably make it sound complicated. I guess I'm just saying you've got options.