As well as being a multifunctional piece of furniture, the bar cart is also and above all an object of tradition. The first versions of the wheeled bar cart were created between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and became an ancillary item for the new culture of aperitifs and wine drinking, thus contributing to institutionalising and democratising this new way of enjoying a break at home.
The essentials: 20 of the best cocktail carts
The bar cart is a multifunctional support that is great for storing both food and accessories. In some cases, it is a piece of furniture with a clear alcoholic vocation, as well as an accomplice to a specific gesture and an out-and-out domestic ritual.
Cart with frame in chrome-plated steel tube and chromed brass, wheels and joints in welded and chromed brass. Top in black or white laminate. Dimensions: 102 x 80 cm.
Structure in tubular chromed steel and pull-out top in multilayer panel covered in black laminated plastic. Dimensions: 94,5 x 33 x 73 cm.
Frame in natural bent birch, lacquer, ceramic tiles. Dimensions: 91 x 51 x 56.
Dimensions: 86x44x71 cm
Steel, perforated steel trays. Dimensions: 70.5 x 57.5 x 72.5 cm.
Powder-coated steel frame, ripped glass. Dimensions: 70 x46.5 x 51 cm
Lacquered wood and glass. Dimensions: 52 x 60 x 52 cm
Painted bentwood, chrome-plated castors. Dimensions: 38 x 38 x 72.5 cm
Chrome-plated steel and painted panels. Dimensions: 77.3 x 52.3 x 57.5mm
Abs. Dimensions: 62 x 62 x 42
Powder-coated iron, white laminate shelves, plastic wheels. Dimensions: 82 x 41.5 x 69.5 cm
Lacquered steel available in various colours, rotating Abs lid. Dimensions 48.5 x 48.5 x 42
Steel, fibreglass. Dimensions: 65 x 42 x 64 cm
Steel coloured with epoxy resin, top in polyurethane. Dimensions 86 x 46 x 78 cm
Painted metal and shaped glass trolley with industrial wheels. Dimensions 25 x 45 x 85 cm
Trolley in metal and coloured crystal. Dimensions: 80 x 43 x 80 cm
Painted steel and painted die-cast aluminium feet, fibreglass-filled and scratch-resistant painted top. Dimensions: 68 x 62 x 70 cm
Walnut. Dimensions: 60 x 70 x 46 cm
Powder-coated metal in black, midnight blue, or rosewood. Wheels: MDF, lacquered in the colour of the trolley. Upper shelf: back-painted glass. Lower shelf: MDF, lacquered. Dimensions: 72 x 47 x 70 cm
Steel, pocket, and inner lining of the trays in regenerated leather. Dimensions: 72x41x81 cm
View Article details
- Giulia Zappa
- 20 August 2021
It was modernism, and its experiments with curved tubes - and perhaps also its appreciation of sociality, such as the one that Bauhaus had always cultivated and infused into their objects - that kick-started a season of bar carts in which handles and wheels, which were often the sublimation of the industrial world, made it possible to easily grasp and move furniture around according to the occasion.
In 1930, Alvar Aalto wrote that “movable and foldable furniture enlarge a limited dwelling”, and the bar cart seems to be no exception. Some models made it very difficult to define the dividing line between a food trolley and a simple display cabinet. Others, on the other hand, made their functional specialisation undeniable, thanks above all to the fact that they protected the most important element to be stored, that is, the bottle, and that they ancillarised another essential item: the glass.
In recent years, many historic models have been reissued and included in the catalogues of major furniture brands. This newly rediscovered interest suggests that the bar cart is rediscovering its qualities in order to embody the new zeitgeist: mobility, versatility, and above all an increasingly domestic intimacy that invites us to take a break and, why not, enjoy ourselves.
The experiments with steel tubes and the formal rigour of the Bauhaus are reflected in a domestic object that is apparently less essential, yet central to organising small social rituals in the house. The first version designed by Breuer had spoked wheels and it originally appeared in the Thonet catalogue. It was then followed by the current version, which features three disk wheels.
While most of the trolleys still have a hybrid nature that makes it possible to use them to store tea, food, or even objects, AR1 by Alfred Roth does not hide its specific vocation: it is a bottle container, accessible by sliding the top shelf, with an icebox and two small retractable shelves. The coexistence of different materials, from perforated sheet aluminum to lacquered maple, distinguishes each of these components, although they are combined in a framework that has a great formal rigour and is very compact-looking thanks to the tubular steel structure.
Created for the 1937 Paris International Exhibition, this tea trolley features all the typical elements, such as the clean lines and privileged use of birch, but it also has some original elements such as the rattan basket and the tray covered in easy-to-clean tiles. The 901 model is even more famous and versatile. It is the emblem of the two-shelf tea trolley, and it shares with the 900 model the same maxi-wheels in plastic laminate with a black rubber ring.
In this three-shelf trolley by Cesare Lacca made of wood with a glass top, we find the modelled lines of the 1950s, characterised by the presence of a marked dynamism of the diagonal lines combined with the softness of the vertexes and the handle. In the production of the Neapolitan designer who moved to Milan after the war, there are many tea and serving trolleys made in a wide variety of materials, including brass.
A great classic among the trolleys of the 1950s that are still being sold today because of their timelessness and versatility, this trolley is characterised by a slender steel tube frame and two perforated sheet metal shelves, one of which includes a newspaper holder. The four legs have four support points at the top that allow the trolley to be moved in any direction.
A former Bauhaus student and one of the most prolific designers of the German post-war period, Hirche is the creator of this successful minimalist trolley, which went back into production in 2010 and which makes its alcoholic vocation clear. In this metal parallelepiped, the mismatch between the shelves creates a volume designed to hold bottles.
Made in 1962 and put back into production after almost fifty years, Cubovo is a food trolley - which can also be used as a bedside table - that Munari turned into a spatial device capable of opening in an original way thanks to the flush doors hinged at the base and opening from above.
This cylindrical structure on wheels houses three drawers which, by rotating on an axis, create storage compartments for bottles, glasses, and accessories respectively. The chrome-plated wheels allow you to move the trolley, while the small chrome-plated knob on the lid creates a nice contrast with the geometric simplicity of the volume.
Yet another version of the USM system, customisable in a wide range of colours like the other pieces of furniture in this line, this serving cart features wheels and a handle that makes it extremely easy to move it around.
A new, moulded plastic version of the classic trolley, this coffee table with invisible wheels is the perfect little kit for the perfect aperitif: the bottles, stored in the holes at the sides, are impossible to spill, while a transparent central surface serves as a support surface for the glasses. Particularly low, it seems to anticipate a vision of laid-back leisure time that will become established in the great informal season of Italian design.
Designed in 1968 and subsequently included in Cappellini’s 2014 catalogue thanks to the work of the Japanese foundation that preserves and promotes Kuramata’s work, this bar cart is characterised by the extreme cleanliness of the four rounded corners of the tubular metal structure.
A versatile trolley-slash-table on wheels, it embodies the taste for formal fluidity typical of those years, and it adds the experience of light to Colombo’s vision, giving life to a sort of augmented object which, as well as being a container, becomes a true lighting item. The opening in the top lid allows you to remove the bottles from above, while the curvilinear cut on the cylindrical surface offers a glimpse of the objects in it.
The epitome of the folding, compact trolley, this food and bar trolley was widely sold all over Europe, establishing itself as a new functional and popular object.
A folding trolley for all occasions, Plico is not only a food or bar trolley, as it can also be transformed into a surface that can be used as a table top or work surface: in light of the contemporary promiscuity between home and work, Sapper’s far-sighted intuition is now being reissued by Alessi.
The decorativism of Memphis of the 1980s finds in the bar cart a stimulating typology in which to unleash creativity. According to Javier Marescal’s vision, the bar trolley incorporates a racing car-like tension and uses colour and the industrial look of the wheels to dynamise its presence.
Although the name may sound like a celebration of cocktail culture, Manhattan keeps a minimalist configuration and a generalist vocation, both enlivened by the use of bright colours.
This folding bar cart transforms the folding mechanism and the gentle curvature of the legs into small decorative touches that sublimate its industrial look.
Extremely popular in the 1950s, wooden trolleys are now quite rare. Spritz by Dolcini resumes its allure, transforming it through its hypergeometric look and enhancing the wood grain.
An elegant formal solution characterised by the softness of the curves and the lightness of the side panels, Grace is a metal food trolley that uses the theme of the wheel’s size to make it an impactful element.
An emblem of contemporary hybridity in the name of multifunctionalism and the merging of domestic and work spaces, Zenzero is described as “a trolley, a bar cart, an independent work station”. If the handle and pivoting wheels make it easy to move this piece of furniture around the house, its removable shelves turn into practical trays that can be transported anywhere.