THEY WERE the nadir of naff. A blot on the residential style-scape. Yet home drinks bars are beginning to shrug off their Del Boy image and sneak into the smartest homes. Madonna recently commissioned the interior designer David Collins to re-create elements of the glamorous Blue Bar from the Berkeley Hotel, Central London, in her New York home. And architects, designers and contemporary furniture retailers all agree that home bars and cocktail cabinets are back in fashion.

“People are increasingly entertaining at home,” says Alex Michelin, director of the property developers Finchatton. “And they want to do so in a relaxed yet sophisticated way. Having people over for cocktails is fast replacing the labour-intensive dinner-party scenario.”

Karen Howes, of the Chelsea-based interior designers Taylor Howes, agrees: “Our clients like to invite friends round to their homes for drinks, then go out to eat.”

Crisp designs and glamorous materials are raising the home-bar style stakes. “Designs have moved on so much that our clients are keen to have bespoke ‘wet bars’ in their homes, complete with sink, tap and refrigerator,” says Nick Candy, of the London property developers Candy & Candy. And forget the Formica. Luxurious materials such as granite, slate, glass and leather provide glossy good looks.

“People either want their bar on show, which means installing it in a designated area, or hidden away in a cabinet,” says Howes. An example of the former method is an oak- fronted bar recently installed by her company in an indoor-pool area at a refurbished Georgian house in Surrey. The bar conceals a drinks fridge, ice maker and sink, while stemware stands on open glass shelves illuminated by blue fibreoptic lighting.

A less expensive example is the bar-cum-games room, entered via a kitchen and private courtyard, at St George’s Imperial Crescent development in Fulham, West London, that Taylor Howes created for about £1,500. One wall is dominated by a huge black-and-white photograph of Sean Connery as James Bond and a plasma television hangs on another. And you serve the vodka Martinis from a custom-made chrome-and-glass drinks trolley, wheeling it into the courtyard on sunny evenings.

The layout of a room often dictates whether or not a bar should be on show. At one London property, Candy & Candy concealed a living-room bar, complete with champagne fridge and sink, behind double leather doors. “Hiding the bar allows the living room to be used for both formal and informal entertaining,” says Nick Candy.

A bar can be a convenient solution when entertaining guests some distance from the kitchen. A penthouse apartment created by the designer Ou Baholyodhin in Cadogan Square, Chelsea (available to rent through Brahm Estates) has a wet bar on its roof terrace, well away from the kitchen and formal dining room. “Creating a bar here means that tenants can use the terrace as a stylish place to entertain,” says Pierre Brahm. Another penthouse, in Islington, North London, on the market with Currell at £1.65 million, has a roof terrace whose wood-covered wet bar matches the decking. Mojitos (rum cocktails) can be sipped here or in the roof-top hot tub.

Cocktail cabinets are a discreet alternative where space or budget limitations prevail. Aram is an excellent source of contemporary designs such as the Tecta S56 drinks cabinet (£850), a stainless-steel mobile bar on castors that stores bottles and glasses. Another multi-purpose unit is the Wogg 13 Pillar Box cabinet (£1,473), a tall cylindrical unit in galvanised zinc. This has interior storage for bottles and glasses, with a drop-down table at bar height around which stools can be grouped.

Also from Aram is the Müller (£1,895), a lacquered metal bar cabinet with integral fridge and, from Vitra, a reissue of Verner Panton’s classic 1963-designed Bar Boy (£1,190), comprising an all-in-one mobile container and side table. Hide bottles from view in Interlubke’s Travo (from £1,291 at Geoffrey Drayton), a low cabinet that stands, hangs or stacks with aluminium interiors and drop-flaps concealing slot-in bottle holders. Or consider Poliform’s Tedia sideboard bar, a wenge-finish low unit whose leaf drawers open 180 degrees for access to bottles, glasses and, if required, an entertainment system.

For a bolder approach, check out Tour Dinner (£3,235 from Geoffrey Drayton), a lacquered, oval, free-standing unit with roller shutters, or Rouge-Noir, a circular wall-hung oak cabinet designed by Terence Conran and made to order by Benchmark. Just as attractive is Momentum’s Nova, a 5ft-high lacquered cabinet inspired by glamorous 1920s bar furniture. This has red glass handles and a mirrored interior with pull-out mixing tray. It costs £2,200 from InterDesign.

A new retro-style shelf-mirror — Encore (£175 from Aram) — proves that even the tiniest flat can have a glamorous bar. The red or black lacquered, wall-hung shelf is deep enough to hold glasses and bottles and the mirror creates an illusion that less is more. We can all drink to that.

Aram Store (020-7557 7557; www.aram.co.uk). Benchmark (01488 658184; www.benchmarkwoodworking.com). Brahm Estates (020-7235 8861; www.brahmestates.com). Candy & Candy (020-7594 4300; www.candyandcandy.com). Currell (020-7226 4200; www.currell.com). Finchattan (020-7581 6998; www.finchatton.com). Geoffrey Drayton (020-7387 5840; www.geoffrey-drayton.co.uk). Inter Design (020-7376 5272; www.interdesignuk.com). Poliform (020-7368 7600; www.poliform.it). Taylor Howes Design (020-7349 9017)

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