The Great Bar Cart Debate

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Every two weeks at House Beautiful, our editors gather their best inspiration and story sleuthing leads to pitch ideas. One week, our deputy managing Editor Olivia Hosken came in and declared, emphatically, that "the bar cart is over." She was tired of seeing people's dusty glassware, over the idea of displaying bottles, and ready for something new. Heads nodded affirmatively, this made sense. Then, a few minutes later House Beautiful's Assistant Editor Meghan Shouse came by, thrilled by her new weekend project: a bar cart that had filled out an awkward space in her apartment. She loved the opportunity to curate a new space in her home and felt like she had become the host her younger self had once imagined. And so, the debate began.

Is the bar cart dead? Long live the bar cart!

The Case For the Bar Cart

There was once a time in my very early twenties that I dreamed of having a stylish, classy, and, ideally, gold bar cart. I wanted to be the Cool Girl who had open shelves lined with good liquor and eye-catching glassware, someone who you knew could make a good—and good looking—dirty martini simply by glancing at her selection of alcohol and barware. And you know what? I became her, and it's exactly what I always wanted it to be.

To me, a bar cart is as necessary as a couch when it comes to decorating your home. Sure, the one in my apartment is technically my roommate's, but that doesn't take away from the fact that she chose a beautiful, Art Deco-inspired cart that actively adds to our decor, and that a majority of the liquor and accessories lining the glass and gold shelves are mine. Without a designated spot to keep those items in my apartment that's severely lacking in storage space, I wouldn't have enough room to keep them at all. Bar carts are essential for those of us who have small living quarters, especially if at-home entertaining is part of our social norm.

In that same vein, possibly my favorite aspect of having a bar cart is gaining yet another surface on which to display my knick-knacks—my fellow maximalists understand. Outside of barware and spirits, a bar cart allows you to further enforce your design aesthetic in your home. Choose liquor that comes in pretty bottles then treat your cart like you would a coffee table, adding the same little decor pieces as you would to the table to make it look more curated. Cocktail recipe books, candles, coasters, succulents, art prints, catchall bowls—these little details can make your cart look fuller if you're running low on a few bottles, but they also make it feel more intentional with the rest of your decorations.

Having a bar cart can also help solve the problem of the awkward, unusable space. My apartment has a ridiculously long hallway running down the length, and the transition from the living room to the kitchen felt bare but didn't provide enough room for another chair or table. Instead, that's where we put our cart, making the room feel better designed and allowing us more space to hang wall decor so I could easily expand on my growing gallery wall.

—Meghan Shouse

My truly hot take is that you should have a bar cart even if you're sober (as long as it wouldn't be detrimental to your progress). There are so many nonalcoholic spirits on the market, each with better packaging than the last, that you can easily curate a well-styled beverage display. During "Dry January," my partner and I made multiple mocktails using Seedlip Grove 42—a citrus forward NA spirit—and not only did they taste amazing, but we used our cocktail shaker, muddler, and jigger to make them the same way we would a regular cocktail. As the number of those who are "sober curious" rises, the idea of a sober bar cart seems all the more realistic to me, and I think it could be a fun way to normalize a decrease in social drinking.

All of this to say, I'm very much for the bar cart. Having a designated spot in the home for your liquor and getting to hone in on your design aesthetic at the same time simply makes your space appear more interesting, and you will never catch me without one.

Zaza Lustered Coupe Glasses, Set of 4

Glass Cocktail Shaker

Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist

MCM Seal Bottle Opener

Rocks Glass Set

Heirloom Peach Liqueur

The Case Against the Bar Cart

The year was 2012. The place was my first adult apartment in San Francisco, a sunny corner unit in the Upper Haight with floor-to-ceiling built-in shelves and a view of Sutro Tower. Prohibition-era inspired speakeasies and food trucks were rampant, along with Edison bulbs, Eames chairs, and—for reasons I, or any millennial, cannot explain—taxidermy. We watched a lot of Mad Men.

It was the ideal time to have a bar cart. Mine was a spindly rattan number that housed a small selection of prettily labeled liquor, a much larger stash of cheap Californian wine, replete with official-looking bar tools and vintage glasses. It was the perfect vignette that fully encapsulated my aesthetic as a host.

Except that is all it ever was.

Because a bar cart is horribly impractical. Even if you are entertaining most nights, glassware and bar tools become too dusty to serve guests within a few days. Cocktails are best made in the kitchen with fresh ingredients and plenty of ice, which will need to be tossed in a sink after preparation. Wine, especially those Trader Joe’s specials, should be served at the varietal’s appropriate temperature, not grabbed from a weird vertical storage point inches above the floor. Doing any of these tasks while hovering over a small, crowded surface area in one’s living room is ungainly, it takes away from the magic we like to conjure when entertaining. With the small exception of those who enjoy their liquor neat (with a hint of dust), the bar cart serves no one.

—Olivia Hosken

From a design standpoint, no one needs to be decorating with bottles procured from the grocery store. We aren't even impressed by your small-batch gin, to be honest. It’s perfectly fine to serve those things, to be clear, you just don’t need them on display 24/7. And bar carts themselves become dated like any other trendy piece of furniture; a prop we bought to convey a message to others, not furniture we use and cherish for a lifetime.

Now, don’t think I run a dry house, but my collection of glassware and bar tools is safely ensconced in a cabinet, my alcohol stored out of sight (and chilled as needed). Cocktails and mocktails alike are mixed up at the counter with fresh ingredients and topped with a monogrammed ice cube.

For those who have the space and enthusiasm, dedicated built-in storage is an amazing option—I pine for a vacuum sealed wine dispenser. For true oenophiles, a whole dedicated room is fun, although more recently we’ve seen music or listening rooms come across the pages of House Beautiful.

But as for that cringey bar cart in your living space? Sorry, it needs roll itself out.

Juneau Velvet Bar Cabinet

Four Bottle Built-In Wine Dispenser

Classic Bar Tools Set

Customizable Ice Cube Tray

Oak Undercabinet Wine Glass Rack

Delta Bar Cabinet

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