5 Must-Haves for Bachelors' Homes

Wine cooler
Price: $1,000 to $3,000
Sure, you drink Sam Adams with your buddies, but you want to show a little class when a special friend drops by.

A quick way to do so: Put an upscale wine cooler in your kitchen, dining room or pantry closet.

"You can store red and white wines at different temperatures in a good-quality wine cooler and be ready to entertain from the moment a business associate or a date arrives," Fanuka says.

Wine coolers don't require any special plumbing or installation -- you just buy one, take it out of the box and plug it into any standard 110-volt electrical outlet.

Fanuka personally recommends the Marvel brand for wine coolers. He also likes shopping on WineEnthusiast.com, even though it doesn't carry Marvels. If you buy a wine cooler there, Fanuka suggests picking up a few barstools at the same time so your pals have somewhere to sit when they stop by for a drink.

Integrated audio/video/lighting/security system
Price: $5,000 to $15,000
A home-automation system can let you to control all of your bachelor pad's audio, video, lighting, thermostats and security cameras with a few taps on an Apple (Stock Quote: AAPL) iPad.

"It's all about impressing people once you get to this price point," Fanuka says. "What could be more impressive than automating all of the cool gadgets in your home?"

The contractor recommends tying your home's hardware into a Savant Systems home-integration unit, which start at around $2,000 but typically cost about $10,000 for a decent-sized apartment or condo.

Fanuka also suggests a $600 to $1,000 Bose surround-sound system for your TV area, plus two Bose speakers (about $160-$1,400 each) in every other room.

Assuming you already have a flat-screen TV, the only other things you'll need are a $500 iPad, an iPad remote-control app (about $5) and a $100 Apple TV device to connect your TV to the Internet.

Put it all together with a professional's help and you'll turn your iPad into a one-stop, whole-house remote control.

Custom projects
Price: The sky's the limit
Contractors can outfit your bachelor pad with pretty much anything you want if you've got enough money to spend.

Fanuka's favorite project is a 15-foot-by-15-foot putting green he installed -- complete with eight inches of real turf -- on the terrace of a Wall Street financier's Central Park West penthouse. Cost: About $15,000.

"The client wanted it so that when he and his buddies were having beers on the terrace, they could grab golf clubs and do a little putting," the contractor says.

Alas, the putting green -- and the $1.5 million in other upgrades Fanuka added -- were a little too impressive.

Fanuka says the place looked so cool that the customer's lady friend "thought he'd have other girls up there, so she gave him an ultimatum: 'Propose to me or sell the apartment.'"

The man opted to keep the place and get married, so his million-dollar bachelor pad is a bachelor pad no more.

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