i30 Builders · Residential
Wet Bars, Butler's Pantries and Wine Rooms in DFW
A bar with a sink and an ice maker, a pantry between the kitchen and the dining room, or a glass wine room that holds its temperature through a Texas August. Drawn to the space and built to fit it.
Written scope and locked price before any deposit. One-year workmanship warranty.
Get a written estimate
Four fields. We call back within one business day to set up the site visit.
- GL + umbrella coverage
- $1M + $1M
- Workmanship warranty
- 1-yr
- Cities served
- 33
Who builds wet bars, butler's pantries and wine rooms in Dallas-Fort Worth?
i30 Builders, a general contractor based in Royse City, TX, builds wet bars, butler's pantries and cooled wine rooms for homeowners across Dallas-Fort Worth, centered on Rockwall, Collin, Hunt and Kaufman counties. The drain, power, cooling and cabinetry are planned together, and the millwork is built to fit the wall. Every job is measured and designed for the house, then priced in writing after a site walk, before any deposit, with permits handled.
- Pricing
- Written price after a site walk, before any deposit
- Permits
- Handled by us
- Warranty
- One-year workmanship warranty, in writing
- Where
- Dallas-Fort Worth, centered on Rockwall, Collin, Hunt and Kaufman counties
Updated
Start Here
A wet bar turns on the drain. A wine room turns on the cooling.
A wet bar needs water in and water out, and the hard half is out. A drain has to fall the whole way to a line that can take it. On a slab, which is most houses here, the nearest drain decides whether the sink goes where you want it or the slab gets cut and trenched. An ice maker needs a drain too, or a pump. A butler's pantry is the same work run along a wall between the kitchen and the dining room, with counters, outlets and storage added.
A wine room is a cooler built inside the house. The walls and ceiling are insulated, a vapor barrier goes on the warm side, the door seals, and a cooling unit is sized to the room, the glass and the heat it has to fight, with somewhere to send that heat. Skip any one of those and the unit runs all day, the glass sweats, and the bottles sit warmer than you paid for.
We draw and build the whole thing as one scope: the plumbing, the power, the cooling, the cabinetry, the stone and the glass. A wine fridge slid into a cabinet you already own is not our work. A bar, pantry or wine room designed for the space and built to fit it is.
How the planning works
Measured, drawn and picked before anything comes out.
Step 1
Find the lines
We locate the nearest drain, water supply and circuit that can carry the bar, and check whether the floor is slab or framing. That sets where the sink can go and what it takes to get it there.
Step 2
Appliances and bottles
Ice maker, beverage center, dishwasher drawer, sink size and faucet. For a wine room, the bottle count and the racking style. These set the cabinet openings, the circuits and the room size.
Step 3
Cooling and glass
For a wine room, the target temperature, the glass area and the door decide the cooling unit. We pick where the unit sits and where its heat goes before any framing is drawn.
Step 4
Written scope, permit, build
One price in writing. The permit covers the plumbing and electrical, the rough-in is inspected, the cabinetry is set, and stone is templated from the installed boxes. Glass is measured last.
Finish levels
Mid-grade or high-end, named by what goes in.
Most rooms mix the two. Tell us where you want to spend and where you do not, and the written scope names every material either way.
Mid-grade
- Paint-grade cabinetry with a quartz top and a stainless bar sink
- Undercounter beverage center or wine fridge in a standard-width opening
- Glass-front uppers or open shelving with LED strip lighting
- Glazed ceramic or zellige-look porcelain tile behind the bar
- Wine wall or closet with wood racking and a through-wall cooling unit
High-end
- Inset or stain-grade cabinetry to the ceiling, with panel-ready refrigeration
- Natural stone top and a full-height slab backsplash
- Ice maker on a gravity drain, plus a dishwasher drawer and a filtered water tap
- Glass wine room with insulated walls and ceiling, a sealed glass door and a ducted split cooling system
- Metal label-forward racking, lit display shelves and a tasting counter
In a wine room, spend on the insulation, the door and the cooling before the racking. Good racks in a warm room still hold warm wine.
Code and permits
The rules that apply to this room.
- A plumbed bar is an alteration to the plumbing system. Richardson, for one, requires a building permit for any alteration that modifies plumbing, electrical or mechanical systems. City of Richardson, Interior Remodel permit
- Royse City asks remodel plans to show the plumbing design: where each fixture goes and how the water and gas supply lines are sized, along with every change to the existing systems. Royse City, Residential Remodel/Addition Permit Information Guide
- The same Royse City guide asks for electrical outlet locations on the plans, which is where the bar's appliance circuits show up. Royse City, Residential Remodel/Addition Permit Information Guide
- In Royse City, every subcontractor on the job is registered with the city and listed on the permit application, and no work begins until the permit is issued. Royse City, Residential Remodel/Addition Permit Information Guide
Read from the model codes on the dates linked. Each city adopts its own edition with its own amendments, so we confirm the rules for your address before we pull the permit.
Ready to get yours planned?
A free site walk, then a written scope and one price within five business days.
In every job
- Drain, water and power run from the nearest lines that can carry the bar
- Cabinetry built to the wall, with each appliance opening set from its spec sheet
- Stone templated from the installed cabinets, not from the drawings
- For a wine room: insulation, a vapor barrier, a sealed door and a cooling unit sized to the room and its glass
- Permit and inspections for the plumbing and electrical
- The punch list before final payment, and a one-year workmanship warranty
How we quote it
We do not publish prices or ranges. Every job is measured and built for your house, so a number off a website would be a guess.
A site walk, then a written scope back within five business days. The scope names the work, the materials and the price, and the price does not move unless the scope does.
Anything found behind a wall or under a slab that changes the work gets priced and approved before we touch it. That is a change of work, in writing, not a surprise on the final invoice.
Payment is by ACH, card, check or cash, on the schedule written into the contract.
What Moves the Number
Up and down, before you ask for a quote.
Pushes price up
- A long drain run to the nearest line, or cutting the slab to reach one
- An ice maker that needs its own drain or a drain pump
- A glass wine room, with insulated framing, a sealed glass door and ducted cooling
- Inset or custom cabinetry and panel-ready appliances
- Natural stone and a slab backsplash
- A new circuit on a panel with no room left
Keeps price down
- A bar on a wall that already has plumbing behind it, like a kitchen or laundry wall
- Standard-width appliances
- Quartz instead of natural stone
- Refrigerated wine storage in the cabinetry instead of a separate cooled room
- Appliances picked before the cabinetry is drawn
Common Questions
Wet Bars and Wine Rooms questions, answered
How much does it cost to add a wet bar?
We price every bar in writing after a site walk, because the number is set by your house, not by a catalog. The biggest single factor is how far the sink is from a drain that can take it, and on a slab whether we cut the floor to get there. After that it is the appliances, the cabinetry and the stone. You get one written price, and it does not move unless the scope does.
Can you put a wet bar where there is no plumbing?
Usually, yes. On a slab we cut a channel to the nearest drain line, set the new drain with the right fall, and patch the slab after it is inspected. Upstairs, the drain runs through the floor framing. Where neither works, a drain pump can be an option. We tell you at the walk which one your room needs.
What is the difference between a wet bar and a butler's pantry?
A wet bar is built for drinks and usually sits in a living or game room. A butler's pantry sits between the kitchen and the dining room and works as a staging and storage room: counter space, dish and glass storage, often a sink, a second dishwasher or a coffee station. Both are plumbing and cabinetry. The pantry is usually longer and carries more storage.
How do you keep a wine room cool in Texas?
By building it as a cooler. Insulated walls and ceiling, a vapor barrier on the warm side, a door that seals, and a cooling unit sized for the room and the glass, not a household AC vent. The unit's heat has to go somewhere, so we plan where it vents before we frame. A wine room on an outside wall that faces west takes a bigger unit than one in the middle of the house.
Why does the glass on a wine room fog up?
Warm, humid house air meets cold glass and condenses on it. The cure is in the build: insulated glass, a door that seals all the way around, a vapor barrier in the walls, and a cooling system that controls humidity as well as temperature. Fogging is a sign one of those was skipped.
Do I need a permit for a wet bar?
Almost always, because a wet bar adds plumbing and usually a circuit. That is an alteration to the plumbing and electrical systems, which cities like Richardson permit, and the rough-in is inspected before the wall closes. We pull the permit and schedule the inspections as part of the job.
Can you turn a closet or the space under the stairs into a wine room?
Often. A closet or a stair space is a good size for one. It needs insulation on every side, a sealed door, and a place for the cooling unit to send its heat, which is the part that decides whether the space works. We check that at the walk before we draw racking.
How long does a wet bar or wine room take?
A wet bar or butler's pantry runs 2 to 4 weeks on site once the cabinetry is ready, and the cabinetry is the long-lead item. A glass wine room runs longer, because the cooling unit, the door and the glass each have their own lead time and the glass is measured after framing. The order of work and the lead times are in your written scope.
More in kitchens and living
Prefer to give us the details now?
Tell us what you want built and roughly how big. We walk it, then price the scope in writing, and the price does not move unless the scope does.
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