Here's everything you need to mix cocktails with the best of them

At 16, you get your driver's license. At 18, you move out of your parents' home and go off to school. At 21, you're a legal adult. And then sometime around your late 20s, your friends stop

Wednesday, April 5th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

At 16, you get your driver's license. At 18, you move out of your parents' home and go off to school. At 21, you're a legal adult. And then sometime around your late 20s, your friends stop showing up with a six-pack when they come to visit; they expect you to offer them a drink.

A few years later, you strike it rich and buy one of those 6,000-square-foot beauties out on the prairie with a stunning wet bar waiting for you to do your Tom Cruise act and start flipping cocktails.

"Wet bars were very popular in the 1960s and '70s, but began to fade out in the '80s. But as houses are getting bigger and the rooms where people live are farther from the kitchen, they are coming back," says Carol Gantt of luxury builder S.H. McCombs. "Three out of four of our current projects include a wet bar. We're also seeing wet bars in game rooms - not for alcohol but as a convenience for the kids - and more coffee bars in master suites."

But maybe Chris Ryan at Woldt Homes has stumbled onto the real reason for their success: "It's the guys' place to hang out during a party instead of the kitchen." Mr. Ryan estimates that 75 percent of homes built in the $800,000-plus range have a wet bar - and often temperature-controlled wine cellars or storage closets.

"People like the wet bars because they can put a bartender in there during parties instead of setting up a table in the den," says custom builder Stephen Evans. "They're a nice upgrade on a home, and I put them in whenever the lot is big enough to allow the extra room."

Sales of wine cellars, ice makers and under-counter refrigerators for wet bars just keep growing in the Dallas area.

"Let me put it this way, I've sold more wine cellars in the three months since I moved to Dallas than I did in three years in northwest Arkansas," says Jamie Price at Home Depot's Expo Design Center in far North Dallas.

So how much is all this going to cost you? Expo design specialist Brian Hawkins figures you can count on at least $8,000 to $10,000 for a bar with an ice maker, under-counter refrigerator, under-counter wine cooler, sink, high-quality cabinets and granite counters. And don't forget to add the cost of plumbing and wiring. That's a very nice upgrade on a home.

But you don't need a wet bar to entertain in style. Stand-alone art deco bars from the 1920s and '30s - with mirrored interiors, hidden compartments and streamlined designs - are functional as well as gorgeous and will fit with many decorating schemes. But the best part is the price: Most cost between $650 and $2,000. If space is a major consideration, a small bar cart works just as well.
The key is to have a place to keep your spirits, bar tools and some glassware all in one location so you're not grabbing a bottle from the back of the pantry, searching for a glass in another room and trekking to the kitchen for ice cubes. It's not exactly the sign of a gracious host to leave guests alone for 15 minutes while you try to gather up the ingredients for a scotch on the rocks.

And style counts.

"It's wonderfully romantic and relaxing, mixing a fine drink. It's almost a ceremony," says Tom Pumphrey, buyer and manager of the Stanley Korshak Home Collection.

And don't forget dramatic effects: "There's nothing like a real seltzer bottle. And, even though they are tedious to use, the clink of ice cubes being dropped one by one from ice tongs will get any party going."

Getting the liquids in the glass is only part of the equation. It's the art of the shaking, pouring and serving that's important. Study the masters: Nick and Nora Charles in the Thin Man movies, Sean Connery as James Bond, Cary Grant in almost anything. Those little touches of casual elegance will make you a popular host.

Setting up a proper bar is not rocket science, but it does take a little planning and forethought. And whether you're spending $100 or $10,000, remember that it's the hospitality of the host, not the cash outlay, that makes a guest feel welcome in your home.
Louise Owens is a Dallas free-lance writer.