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DIY Buffet with Sink: How We Made Our DIY Wet Bar from a Repurposed Antique

Categories Furniture Makeover, Basement Makeover, Basement Pub & Hobby Room, Built-in, Crafts and DIY, Paint, Reclaimed

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Intro by Robin/Steps by Ed

When I started designing our basement pub and hobby room I didn’t intend for us to build a DIY wet bar from a repurposed buffet. I had much much more boring and expensive ideas.

This is my usual design process: I tell myself that I’m a grown up now (very very much a grown up – 47 today! yikes). And since I’m a grown up I need to let myself spend more money on permanent things around our home. Like grownups do, right?

So I mocked up our “custom wet bar” with new cabinets in the IKEA kitchen design software. I wish I took a screenshot for you, but here’s how I’ll paint a word-screenshot for you: it was a super-bland, normal looking kitchen cupboard unit. Snore.

Plus this boring wet bar was going to cost about $800. That’s a lot of money for something so dull.

So this grown up decided she could come up with a vastly more interesting idea for much less money.

That’s my process:

  • Try to spend lots on normal, new stuff, because I “should”,
  • Feel uninspired with that and unable to justify the cost,
  • Then innovate something far more interesting with budget or reclaimed materials.

I now fully embrace it. I LOVE my process!

The IKEA virtual mock-up wasn’t a total waste.

When I looked at what we could make fit in the space it looked familiar. It looked like the ubiquitous old sideboards/buffets you see on buy and sell sites everywhere.

So the idea was born – we’d make a DIY custom wet bar from a repurposed buffet: way cheaper and about infinity times more interesting than big box cabinets!

I’d been planning this bar area for years. Ed needed a place to brew beer and wine that DIDN’T look as bad or function as poorly as this:

This is the exact same area as the AFTER photo!

Plus you needed to walk through this room to reach our newly swanky basement media room. I’d try not to feel shame when guests visited, but c’mon this is bad.

Years ago I found this sink on FB Marketplace. It’s big and matte black and wonderful.

I think I paid less than asking, but I don’t remember. You can see in the photo that it was new and retailed for $389 at Home Depot. Score! (It’s similar to this sink.)

The major challenge was also one of it’s fabulous features: it’s really big. Great for Ed – you can see in a photo below that he can fit two carboys (for winemaking) in the sink which is huge.

The tricky part was this huge sink made finding the right old buffet really hard.

Until I found this one!

I keep a list of sizes of things that I’m looking for on my phone. After consulting it I knew the length was perfect.

The question was – would the sink fit in the middle section? So before we drove the 45 minutes away to pick it up, I asked the sellers for the centre drawer measurements. By some miracle I was the perfect size!

I had to kiss a lot of buffet frogs before this prince. Good thing it’s part of the fun for me!
This countertop was a global pandemic compromise. The rest of the materials we had assembled before we went into lockdown.

Sure the price for this counter is great – much cheaper than a new piece of butcher block.

But the real draw was we didn’t need to wait for IKEA to restock nor did we have to drive during the first, most scary part of the panedmic to pick it up.

A win! Sort of…

Like a buy and sell amateur I didn’t ask if it was real wood. It wasn’t until we picked it up that we saw it was laminate. Ed was keen to get started and he said he actually preferred the durability of laminate for when he makes a mess. So I quieted my inner snob and we went with it. It still looks great!

Plus it came with a sink we plan to sell – so we may come out even on this one.
Here’s how it turned out.

Look at those sexy legs – IKEA cabinets eat your heart out!
And that faucet! Way more beautiful than the cheaper price tag would lead you to believe.

Ed and I both have spent quiet moments stroking her lovely shape. Ed loves how flexible it is – the black part is rubbery and can be removed to use like a hose. Great for brewing!

How to Make a DIY Wet Bar – A Sideboard with Sink Added!

Materials List:

How to Add a Sink to a Buffet Sideboard

Steps by Ed

Step one was to position the buffet where we needed it to be and screw it to the wall where possible.

We removed a section of plywood panel from the back of ours for the the plumbing to fit through too.

Next, we attached the laminate countertop and centered and marked the location for the sink.
Be sure to put down tape on your counter before you cut – it reduces breakout and gives you a cleaner edge.

Start with a circular saw and carefully start it above the line and pivot/plunge it straight down.

Do this on all four straight runs around your sink.
Cut the curved corners with a jigsaw. We drilled holes to start the blade through, you’ll see why in the next shot.
We were cutting through both the new countertop and the original walnut top on the buffet.

This added thickness meant that the corners weren’t cut all the way through and we needed to use the drill holes above to allow the jigsaw a starter location.

Jigsaw blades DO NOT work well for plunge cutting.
After several trial-and-error dry fittings with the (very heavy) sink, we got it to fit.

This meant removing some drawer slides (the top drawer isn’t functional anyway) and some cross bracing. Given the buffet now has a whole extra countertop and is screwed to the wall, the sink’s weight is well distributed.

When everything fits, run a bead of silicone around the edge.
Here is another shot of the edge fully siliconed.

Our sink did not have much overhang to surface mount on, so we were prepared/expected excess silicone to squeeze out when the sink went in.
Moment of truth! The sink gets set in place.

I used two wine/beer carboys to weigh it down while the silicone cured.

Might as well introduce the sink to it’s future life as soon as possible.
The excess silicone around the edge gets the wet finger treatment, and your sink install is complete!

Wet Bar Plumbing Overview

Our faucet had lots of waterline options (hot, cold and an extra for drinking water). We just used the regular H&C and had to attach them to their connections inside the faucet.

We then put the faucet in place and loosely hand tightened the mounting plate (silver, half-moon shaped metal in the centre of the photo)
Once that was done, we used the special key to tighten the mounting nut underneath the sink.

Many faucets come with these now, but if yours doesn’t you will have to use a wrench, long arms, patience and swearing.
Finally, we connected the hot and cold supply lines and the sink drain.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love SharkBite Fittings for plumbing? I love them!

You can see where the PEX supply lines were installed back in our post on DIY faux brick plaster walls too.

Altering the Drawers of Our Repurposed Buffet with Sink for Custom Wet Bar

The top drawer was easy – because it’s no longer a drawer. The sink is now where the drawer was.

I just set the table saw up to the depth of the face and cut the drawer part off.

Done! You will see below how we attached/used the face.
The lower drawer was another story – it still needed to be functional.

We marked the area at the back of it where the sink drain trap needed space and cut it out.
Finished cut-out. Time to try it in place.
Success. The drawer can slide in and out without the trap getting destroyed! Good feature for something that holds waste water.
Another shot of the bottom drawer showing the sink drain trap from another angle. Plumbing just doesn’t photograph well/I have very little patience for laying upside down and taking photos…
I then built a simple box around the hole with leftover plywood.

I then glued and nailed it into place.
Ta da! A fully functional drawer!

Two options for affixing the top drawer face – one, just have it mounted for show – not functional at all.

Or what we decided to do:

Altering the Top Drawer for New Storage.

We decided to make the top drawer into a tip out storage spot to store the long weird things that beer and wine making require.

Fit it in place, and centre it.
Add tip-out hinges to the top drawer.
The brackets just mount to the sides of the buffet interior and then to the drawer face.
I now store some longer stuff (tall stirring spoons and racking/siphoning supplies) here.

No wasted space and right where I need them!

Painting Our DIY Custom Bar from Repurposed Buffet

Finally! Last step.

I trimmed the doors a little because they were already scraping the buffet frames slightly and we knew that would remove any paint we put on.
Once they could open and close without issue, time to sand that old finish to give the paint something to adhear to.
Sand everywhere- especially the small, annoying parts that always end up getting missed, and then are the first spots to get paint chipping.
Vacuum and wipe down everything with a clean, damp cloth. Paint the doors.
Everything else got the same prep treatment and then this Fusion Mineral Paint.

It sometimes covers in one coat for us, but this lighter yellow needed three coats.

Once cured, it is pretty bulletproof.
DIY buffet with sink
Lastly we found very simple marble knobs to replace the fussy ornate ones that came with the buffet.
how to DIY buffet with sink
Before and After!

We love how the bright yellow makes the room feel fun – and really accentuates the curves of the buffet.

How much does it cost to build a small wet bar?

Our DIY wet bar was really affordable! Here’s the cost breakdown:

  • Sink $150
  • Old Buffet $150
  • Countertop $40
  • Faucet $100
  • New knobs and tip-out hinges, silicone, etc $50
  • Paint $25

Total $515!

Not too shabby when you consider the IKEA cabinets alone would have been a few hundred dollars more than this (and we’d still need sink, counter, faucet, etc).

We couldn’t be happier with this project!

You can see all of our Modern Rustic Basement Wet Bar Projects here:

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Lynn Spencer

Thursday 1st of July 2021

You guys are AMAZING! I love reading about your projects, your sourcing, and your inspiration. I consider myself fairly handy, but I am in awe of you two!

Thanks for my daily inspiration.

Hugs, Lynn

D. M. Holt

Tuesday 29th of June 2021

Beautiful outcome and great workmanship. Thanks for the detailed explanations. Gorgeous!

Vicki

Sunday 28th of March 2021

Looks gorgeous and a huge savings.

frugalfamilytimes

Friday 14th of May 2021

Thanks, Vicki! We're really happy with it - glad you like it too. :)