melting
My wife wants the stairwell as a wine cellar so I don't really want to run the cabling to there for a server. Or can I just put a switch in the stairwell and run servers etc to a bedroom.
There is no reason for the under stairs area (I assume, rather than stairwell) being your wine cellar, and also where you terminate your cables in a patch panel and have a server. You don't have to run a large box, just a NAS, and that with the switch should not be putting out that much heat. I personally run my switch and server (NAS) in the cupboard I store my wine in, but that is vented on top, and is quite cool in the lower section where the wine is.