What Your Teensy Kitchen Nook Needs Isn't Four Chairs—It's a Banquette!
You know you're an adult when you can no longer handle eating every meal off your lap/the coffee table. (The back pains! The sofa spills!) We're not saying you have to graduate to an apartment with a full, likely-to-go-unused dining room, either—all you need is an empty corner of the kitchen, a small table, and four chairs a banquette. A banquette?! Don't be alarmed. This is just a really overly fancy way of saying "an upholstered bench that's pushed up against a wall." (And you can even ditch the upholstery, you rule breaker you.) The beauty of a banquette is trifold: It seats more people than chairs could in a small space; looks very streamlined and can even be built-in; and some banquettes can even act as storage in addition to seating. Try that with a set of folding chairs and you'll have a very hard time throwing any sort of dinner party—or eating breakfast alone for that matter—without screaming because it feels so crowded.
Regardless of whether you rent or own, a banquette could be the perfect way to make your breakfast nook more intentional. Here are three ways to make it happen.
The Renter's Banquette
For those that don't have an interest in using a power drill to install their banquette, we recommend scouring the web for a boxy storage bench to use as seating. IKEA makes a great one that's just 35" long (so you could do two side-by side for a slightly bigger area). Paint it the color of your walls to make it really blend in and top it off with a few flat cushions—there, you've got built-in banquette seating without any installation at all!
The Shelf Banquette
If your primary concern isn't adding storage, a shelf-style banquette might make sense—one of the perks of this style is that it essentially "floats" above the ground, taking up less floor space than a bigger piece would. To install it you'll need shelf brackets and a long piece of wood fit to the space, plus cushions on top. A contractor is probably the best person to install something that'll need to bear weight like this—you definitely don't want it to pop off the wall when you sit down the first time—so just be clear how you want the style of the brackets to look!
The Built-In Banquette
Say you own your home and you're looking for cozy, space-saving seating around the breakfast nook. This could be the right time to have a custom banquette designed because there are just so many options: Storage drawers that pull out from the ends or open shelves under the seating? Upholstery or just a wood surface with pillows? Traditional molding or a minimal, floating design? Just one or a corner? Whatever you choose, you'll be glad you did—banquette seating will turn an otherwise ordinary table into the most popular place to be in the apartment.
