Wine Crate Cabinets

A couple in Barcelona raise a glass to the 3Rs with their new kitchen cabinets.

by Andrew Wagner at Readymade

Photos by Marc Goodwin

On a side street in the bustling Barri Gòtic neighborhood of Barcelona, an experiment in greener living has quietly been taking place for the past three years. In just over 600 hundred square feet, designer and writer Petz Scholtus and structural engineer Sergio Carratala have created a unique, light-filled abode that doubles as a lab to test the waters of sustainable, high-density urban living.
The couple bought the flat, which is in a 120-year-old building, in 2006 and immediately started applying their environmental theories to every square inch. Scholtus gamely dubbed their new home the “R3 Project”--for reduce, reuse, and recycle, plus some extras, respect and restore. Carratala mixed his engineering skills and his love of minimalism with, as Scholtus says, “my vision of what a good home should be--sustainable, fun, and practical.

"We saw an opportunity here to prove that a young couple in an urban environment could make their home exceedingly eco-friendly without huge overhead or inconveniences,” Scholtus explains. To that end, the couple leveled the floor, added one wall for the bathroom, and restored the woodwork--beams and French windows--by sandblasting and painting them with ecologically friendly oils. Following in a deliberate manner came new insulation, double-glazing all the windows, updating the water and electric systems to be more energy efficient, installing low-flow faucet aerators in the bathroom, adding a biodegradable cork floor, and sourcing reclaimed and recycled furniture.
The renovations culminated with what has become their signature--the kitchen cabinets and doors. After staring at their growing collection of wine crates, the couple hit upon the idea of using them as drawers and cabinets. Working with a friend, carpenter Rodrigo Diaz, the couple converted the boxes to function on a simple push system (eliminating the need for handles), and Scholtus and Carratala’s dream kitchen was complete. “Apart from the look of it, we like having memories embedded in our kitchen, as many of the bottles were either meaningful gifts or shared with friends,” Scholtus says.
After three years of tests and trials, their urban green laboratory has become a home--one so effortlessly comfortable that it is at times difficult to remember that the whole place is essentially a recycling center. But in the end, that’s really the point.

Top Photo: Petz Scoultus and Sergio Carratala set off the kitchen area with funky green and white tiles from a local, sustainably-minded producer.

1. Take off the backs and sides of the wooden boxes and remove all the nails.
2. Lay out the fronts in your desired design to form the layout of your cabinets as a whole. Overlap and mix different kinds of wood to meet your aesthetic specifications.
3. Once you have your layout, cut the 8mm board to the size of each door. (This adds strength.) Use these pieces to mark where to cut the pieces of the wine crates so they fit exactly.
4. Mount the crate pieces to the 8mm wooden board with nails or screws (a greener option than glue). Nail from behind the wood boards so the front stays free of hardwareŃuse nails that are long enough to hold but not so long that they’ll poke through the front.
5. Add knobs to any drawers. Attach hinges to each door and install, making sure to level.
6. If the wood from the boxes isn’t varnished already, we recommend adding a layer or two so fingerprints and possible cooking spills can easily be removed.