Where to find wooden wine boxes for DIY
Where to find wooden wine boxes or wine crates for your next DIY project? Here are my tips on finding wine boxes for free or at a low cost. I share with you the tips and insights as a long-time DIYer and former restaurant headwaiter.
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Places to look for wooden wine boxes
Wooden wine boxes are beautiful to use in decoration, in organizing, and storing. We have in our home everyday use different sizes and types of wine boxes 14 pieces (yes, I counted them today) so I can tell you that you can make an ottoman out of a wine crate and dye them naturally with tea super simply with almost no cost to make unique items to your home.
If you are not a wine drinker and you prefer naturally alcohol-free beverages as our family does, you might feel lost in the game of finding empty wooden wine boxes.
So let me help you with the options there are to find wine boxes, and how much they would cost.
Ask for wine boxes from restaurants (for free)
- Price: Free-5€/USD
- What you will find: New untreated wooden wine boxes with lids or slide doors.
- Wine box sizes: From 6 bottles to 12 bottles, or liquor boxes for one bottle.
With my background of almost 15 years in the restaurant industry, I always recommend starting from the restaurants when you try to find empty boxes for free. Look for a restaurant with a long wine list, preferably a fine dining restaurant and you will increase your chances. Not all wines are delivered in wooden boxes anymore when many of them are stored in carton boxes nowadays. Prestige wine and fine wine are most of the time in wooden boxes to make them voyage safely. So where the wine is there is the box as well. If you ask nicely or you are their customer already you can often get the boxes free, some might ask for only a nominal price.
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Check your local liquor stores
- Price: Free-5 €/USD
- What you will find: New untreated wooden wine boxes with lids or slide doors.
- Wine box sizes: From 6 bottles to 12 bottles, or liquor boxes for one bottle.
Another place to ask is the other destination of the wooden wine boxes, the liquor store. Depending on your country and alcohol legislation it might be easy or difficult to get the boxes. In Finland, we have a national alcoholic beverage retailing monopoly and the liquor stores are quite strict. But asking is never bad, the worst that can happen is that they say no, so try it out.
Ask directly from the vineyard or distillery
- Price: 25-50 €/USD
- What you will find: New untreated wine or liquor boxes with the exact label of the vineyard or distillery.
- Wine box sizes: Wine boxes for 6 bottles to 12 bottles from vineyards, and liquor boxes for one bottle from distilleries.
Buying wine boxes directly from a vineyard might be a good option for you if you happen to live somewhere near vineyards. The thing why I don’t recommend this as the first option is that they are often pricey, for they are sold with their logos and such. Almost better is for you to buy a case of your favorite wines and have the box with it – that’s always an option if you drink wine.
Special wine crates from the wine box maker
- Price: 25-50 €/USD
- What you will find: New untreated wine or liquor boxes with the custom label.
- Wine box sizes: Custom sizes from 1 bottle to 12 bottles.
Try out different wine box makers websites directly to find wooden wine boxes. These you need often buy in lots for example 6 pieces or 10 pieces at once, and they will be all with the same label.
Facebook Marketplace
- Price: free-15€/USD
- What you will find: New untreated wooden wooden wine boxes and old wooden wine boxes.
- Wine box sizes: From 6 bottles to 12 bottles, or liquor boxes.
Facebook Marketplace is a good source for many items for your repurposing project – as well as for wooden wine boxes. If you want something specific you might need to wait and check for a longer period but you might end up having several wooden wine boxes at one go with a low price. Keep an eye on the restaurant insider groups as well, there are plenty of interesting stuff sold in those. From Facebook Marketplace you can find both new untreated wooden wine crates as well as old, vintage-looking boxes. So if you are not interested in treating or staining the wooden wine boxes this would be your first choice.
Fleamarkets
- Price: 3-10€/USD
- What you will find: Old vintage-style wooden wine boxes as well as new untreated wine boxes, though a bit fewer.
- Wine box sizes: More 1-bottle sizes and 6-bottle sizes than the 12-bottle wine boxes.
Especially if you a a flea market geek like me and you visit flea markets and second-hand stores often, keep an eye on the wooden wine boxes. The ones that are in good shape get sold quickly, but you can find some dingier that you can fix, clean, or stain naturally to make them perfect for your DIY project if you are ready to do some work too. Most wooden wine boxes that circle in flea markets are the old vintage-style ones rather than the new untreated ones.
Wine boxes from Etsy for a special occasion
- Price: 5-50€/USD or more
- What you will find: New wooden wine boxes with special carvings or otherwise custom-made.
- Wine box sizes: 1 bottle and 6 bottles mostly
On Etsy, you can find wooden wine boxes, with a bit higher price though, for they are mostly custom-made. Some offer special labels you can choose from to add a personal touch, which can be perfect if you have already a design idea and want a unique label or personal message that fits exactly your project.
Other online shops to locate a wooden crate for your DIY project
- Price: 15€-200/USD
- What you will find: All kinds of wooden wine boxes form new to old and even vintage.
- Wine box sizes: 1 bottle and 6 bottles mostly, but also bigger 12-bottle boxes.
For different online decor shops, you can find more bulky wine boxes that are made to look old, they can be at low cost but then also usually of bad quality so look carefully when buying.
The more general online stores like eBay you can find wooden wine boxes in all price ranges and some rare ones too. For DIYers, Amazon is also a good place for even bigger boxes like wine crates for 12 bottles that I have used to make a good-sized wine crate ottoman for example.
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Summary
Depending on your DIY project you can find wooden wine boxes in many places and at quite reasonable prices. New wine boxes with low-cost you can find form restaurants or liquor stores. With exact labels, you can turn to the vineyards or distilleries directly. For more personalised and custom-made new wooden wine boxes places like Etsy or the wine box makers themselves are the perfect but more pricey options. Be careful when shopping in online decor stores for the quality is often poor for they are « faux-vintage » wooden wine boxes and bulky made. On other online stores like Amazon and eBay, you can find as well different options in sizes and price ranges from new to old and even rare vintage.
Where have you found your wooden wine boxes?
Is there something missing form this list? Let me know where you have sourced your wine boxes and why they should be added to the list. If you have made something with your winer boxes, show me your DIY project and tag me with @blue.tea.tile I would love to know how they turned out!
