PARCHED | 6 HOME BAR CARTS YOU SHOULD OWN

In 2015, Jim Meehan, the acclaimed bartender behind New York’s PDT, teamed up with posh leather goods company Moore & Giles to unveil The Sidecar. This handsome home bar cart melds an aluminum frame with stained Virginia black walnut and flaunts a sleek butcher-block top and ergonomic shelves. Naturally it’s also tricked out with leather, which wraps handles, inlays doors and lines trays. The cost for this handcrafted showstopper? US$13,500.

Yet when the craving for a portable liquor cabinet strikes, home (and office) barkeeps need not deliberate between buying The Sidecar and “a new Kia” as Colin Carroll, the bar manager of Trifecta in Portland, Ore., points out. Plenty of affordable alternatives are efficient and easy on the eyes. “A good bar cart is portable, at least within the space it resides,” says Carroll. “Is it Ted from accounting’s last day? Roll that thing into conference room three, and let’s get this party live. Do you have a veranda? Boom: Caipirinhas for all your barbecue guests.”

While many home bar carts are simply comprised of several tiers and outfitted with ready-to-roam wheels, Carroll admits this layout isn’t particularly conducive to toting around vast amounts of fragile bottles and glassware—especially of the high-quality variety. “I like ones with storage already built in. This is going to save that Green Chartreuse VS to show off to all of your friends,” he says. The addition of a stemware rack is another boon.

Peter Vestinos, the beverage director of the Cuban-inflected Sparrow in Chicago, notes that the bar cart favored in home settings differs from the ones roving through restaurants, which, to best maneuver tight corners, are compact and often dedicated to making, say, Manhattans or Old Fashioneds. “A home bar cart can be more of a centerpiece and therefore a bit larger to accommodate a wider range of products you may need while hosting,” he says. Drawers to hold tools are indeed handy, but it’s a roost for ice that Vestinos believes is key. “You will need a larger ice supply, possibly to hold cubed and crushed varieties, and that container should be easy to remove and clean. I would probably want a place to dump liquids as a sink won’t be available nearby,” he adds.

Functionality is, of course, a priority for the piece you buy, but considering it will likely be a dominant piece of furniture, looks do matter. Carroll has witnessed a number of people “in violation of cross-pollinating design styles. Does your house have that French country thing going on? Then don’t buy something midcentury modern.” The bar cart, he reminds, “is a booze-carrying statement to friends and co-workers.”

Consider these six: