Record Cabinet Repurposed Into a Wine Bar.

by John Biermacher

I did an early posting showing a liquor cabinet made from an old Victrola cabinet.:(//www.hometalk.com/diy/basement/furniture/record-player-repurposed-into-a-liquor-cabinet--17165593)
A friend liked it well enough that she purchased it and hauled it all the way to New Jersey.
Another friend who happens to be my "barber" and a “war buddy” said he wished he had purchased it. Actually he is a hair stylist and we were both in the reserves during the 70s so the closest we came to combat was during summer camp in San Antonio TX.
I told him I would keep my eye out for another cabinet.
I found an RCA record cabinet at the Heritage Company in Kalamazoo, MI

This is the phonograph cabinet as I found it

We decided we would convert it to a wine bare for him. It was probably from the ‘50s and once had an electric phonograph.

A before picture with the doors open.

After cutting/hinging a flip lid into the top, I lined it with galvanized flashing and added green carerra glass to the bottom of the upper cabinet. I used a heavier gauge galvanized metal to:

face the fold down front; and

line the bottom of the lower cabinet.

After (closed).

The handles were fabricated using with some stand-offs (typically used to couple threaded rod) and some turnbuckles. All the galvanized was “aged” with muriatic acid and darkened with gun blueing. The technique has been described in earlier posts and can be found on the internet.

After (open)

I think the use of galvanized metal gives the piece a more masculine/industrial look.

Only the top of the cabinet needed to be stripped and refinished because of the modifications I made. The rest of the cabinet just required cleaning and a top coat of polyurethane.