A serving cart– also known as a bar cart or drinks trolley– is a piece of furniture designed for serving drinks, snacks, or other items. It usually has multiple shelves or trays for holding bottles, glasses, and other accessories. Serving carts often have wheels or casters, allowing them to be easily moved from one location to another.
We looked at the weight limit, storage space, color, and ease of movement of the best serving carts and settled on the Amazon Basics 3-Tier Metal Basket Rolling Cart as our favorite. It has a removable wood cutting board top, three tiers of storage, and is easy to move and assemble.
Here is a comprehensive buying guide to help you shop better:
How To Choose a Serving Cart?
If you’re shopping for a serving cart, take a look at some of these important things to consider before making your final purchase:
Mobility
Get a cart that you can easily move around from one place to the other. Some models may have wheels that don’t glide as smoothly as you’d want them to. This is why you need to check the kind and quality of wheels.
This won’t be a matter of concern if you’re getting a serving cart to be placed in a stationary spot. But if you want the freedom to roll the cart out into the porch or another room when needed, you should select one with good-quality wheels. Check if the wheels of the serving cart have locks or brakes that you can use to keep it stationary when needed, as well.
Storage
While you might be more inclined towards how the serving cart looks and how you’d decorate it further, don’t forget to check how functional it actually is. If you’re buying the cart for outdoor and indoor use, make sure it has plenty of storage space and wide shelves that are spaced appropriately so you can store and move whatever you like. It should be able to accommodate anything you need from it.
Style
Serving carts can add to the look and feel of a space. This is why you need to pick the style according to the surroundings it’ll be placed in. Classic styles will go with almost all kinds of décor and color schemes, while contemporary designs with sleek edges only work may work with a different room. The shape and finish should match the rest of the furnishings in the room it will spend the most time in.
How Tall Should a Serving Cart Be?
The height of a serving cart should be selected according to how it will impact the usefulness of the cart.
If you’re placing it in a living room to store your collection of drinks and glassware, you can expect to have people making their drinks at the cart. This means the height should be such that most people can easily reach and mix a cocktail. A comfortable height would perhaps be thirty inches or more. Similarly, if you’d be putting the serving cart mostly in the kitchen and it happens to have a flat board on top, you can use it as a cutting board or prep station. A thirty inch height is perfect for this purpose as well.
If you’ll be moving the serving cart from one room to the other often, like in the home office or bathroom, you may prefer getting a compact design so it can fit smaller spaces and move safely. If you’ll be putting the cart next to your sofa or sun lounger, you can go for a lower height for easy accessibility.
What Are Some Common Uses of a Serving Cart?
Here are approaches to differently style your serving cart:
Mobile cocktail and wine bar
You can set up convenient mobile cocktail and wine bar using a serving cart. You can use all your cocktail supplies and equipment: including syrups, botanicals, garnishes, mixers, shakers and fancy glasses to make up epic cocktails.
Afternoon tea and morning coffee
Serving carts can also be set up for afternoon tea and to decorate your china, lacy cloth, and teapot. You can decorate yours with flowers, cake and bite-sized sandwiches, side plates and a selection of teas for your guests.
You can set up a coffee bar in your office or home with a coffee machine and set of mugs, making it easier to get started on your workday.
Dessert trolley
If you’re hosting a fancy event, you can finish up your main course by wheeling in your dessert trolley with tasty sweet treats. You can put up a wide selection of desserts, chocolates, and fresh fruits with beautiful cutlery and plates.
Cheese trolley
For another after-dinner treat, you can set up a cheese board. Place side plates, small fruit bowls and baskets of biscuits for cheese and have a delightful experience.
Mobile sideboard
Serving carts can hold your everyday supplies near you for easy and quick access. This includes crockery, mats, glasses,
table linen, remotes, water bottles, laptop, notepads and more.
Tips and Advice About Serving Carts
A few tips include:
- If you have a small space and would like to store the serving cart away when it’s not in use, consider a compact design or one that folds.
- If you’re getting the cart for outdoor use, choose a coated metal frame to prevent rusting.
- Always pick a cart with brakes on wheels so it stays stable when loading and unloading items.
- Good quality wheels go a long way. PVC is a strong and durable material for wheels.
Conclusion
Shopping for a serving cart gets tricky because there are plenty of carts that look alike but are designed with different specifications to serve different purposes. You need to go through their weight limits, build quality, number of shelves and much more to find the right one for your needs.
To help you navigate through your options and find the best fit, we’ve put together this buying guide where we explore the options in detail. Our list of recommendations for the best serving carts in 2023 also highlights their respective features so you can decide for yourself.
