by: Perry Sims
In most homes, the space beneath a stairwell is often finished as a wardrobe or storage closet. Though narrow and irregular, understairs spaces make good wine cellars because they usually are contained within the house structure, or at most share a single outer wall. Convert their interior doors to exterior doors with a tight threshold and weather-stripping to seal the cellar for refrigeration.
A typical staircase is three to four feet (90 to 120 cm) wide. With wine racks a foot (30 cm) wide placed along a sidewall of an understairs closet, it still has two to three feet (60 to 90 cm) of access space. It has ample space beneath the stairs' risers and treads for extra insulation, and it can hold surprisingly large volumes of wine. A typical straight staircase allows sufficient room to hold 400 or more bottles.
 It's easy to build a series of successively shorter ladders to fit the slanted ceiling beneath the treads. Under-landing areas also may hold racks, and low-ceiling sections can be outfitted with a combination of vertical or diamond bins or with bulk storage and case shelves.
Mount a split-system refrigeration system with its heat exchanger in the room and its condenser in a remote exterior location, a basement, or the attic. It should be mounted at the highest point in the cellar to assure even temperatures throughout the wine storage area.
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