News on Youtube Mar 27 2018

What are the guidelines for designing a drink rail for a bar? In this video I'll

discuss the architectural standards for correct drink rail design for bars,

restaurants, sports bars and man caves. Coming up!

Hey, Rick Uzubell again from Cabaret Design Group, where I share my personal

ideas and tips on bar design, draught beer system

design and product reviews.

Later in this video I'll give you 'Today's Takeaway.'

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check-out the show notes and links in the

'YouTube Description' below.

Now let's jump into the show!

Drink rails are popular in many settings.

A drink rail is a mini-version of a bar top, and is typically featured along

walls, which is the type of drink rail I'm going to discuss today. From a

previous video of ours, you may recall the restaurant bar which featured two

seating areas along a wall, shown here. The first approach showed three 2-top

tables along the wall, which could yield dining for six, or as a drink rail for 11.

While drink rails can facilitate greater occupancy, they aren't conducive to

dining. However, even where food is being featured, some owners prefer the

profitability of selling more alcohol. When space planning, we need to ensure

proper circulation and interface clearances in front of the bar and drink

rail. Use the following updated ADA standards for ergonomic bar design,

referenced in this downloadable sketch. The height of the drink rail should

match the bar top height, which is between 42 and 45 inches.

The drink rail should be between 10 to 12 inches in depth and should have a

four inch backsplash.

Plan 18 inches for the 'Customer Activity Zone', or 24 inches if using barstools.

Always include a 36 inch 'Activity Zone' for ADA and waitstaff.

Our most popular DIY drink rail design is shown here, reference the downloadable sketch.

If you're unable to afford the same material for your drink

rail as the bar top, at least use a high pressure laminate with a 3/4 inch

particle board core, as shown in this photo. All drink rails should have a continuous

plywood underlayment, setback not more than two inches from the outside edge of

the drink rail. The key to this drink rail design is that it doesn't need

support brackets and it's wholly and continuously supported by the plywood

underlayment, which is fully-constrained between two layers of 2x4 plates inside

the wall. Use three-and-a-half-inch coarse threaded deck screws to fasten.

The drink rail should be bonded to the underlayment with construction adhesive

and for commercial applications, all materials should be fired-treated.

Drink rails work best when the distance from the edge of the bar top to the

opposing wall is between 82 and 96 inches. See you next time!