How to Fake a Breakfast-Nook Banquette (Without Custom Millwork)
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We’re renovating ourkitchennow, and we’re adding a built-in banquette, a long bench seat tucked into a nook or against a wall that makes a smalldiningarea feel like a cozy café. Custom millwork is expensive, but you can get remarkably close to the effect by lining up modular seating. It just requires some thoughtful measuring, a bit of hunting for the right fit for your dimensions, and maybe finding some affordable custom cushions.
One critical dimension to pay attention to is seat height. A typicaldining tableis 29 or 30 inches tall, and to sit comfortably, you want your seat at a minimum of 18 inches with 19 inches being the sweet spot. Go lower than that and you’ll feel like you’re eating dinner from achild’s chair. And do note that you’ll want to account for how squishy the base is — a softer 20-inch seat can compress to 18 inches when you sit on it. This rules out a lot of otherwise beautiful benches and daybeds for dining use, so check the specs before you buy and factor in the thickness of any cushion you plan to add.
Below are a few of my favorite pieces for pulling off this trick.
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[Editor’s note: Hearth & Hand’s Storage-Back Accent Chair is currently out of stock.]
This accent chair is the piece we are using in our rowhouse kitchen. Our extraordinary contractor, Jesse, is building beautiful cabinets and an island, but the costs of a kitchen renovation are staggering, and I finally started seeking out some ways to save and corners to cut. These units give the same effect as a heavy, long millwork breakfast banquette at a fraction of the price and are modular to boot, meaning I can move them around for dinner parties.
In this Target option, available in a two-to-three-person width (and typically in aone-person width that’s currently out of stock), the flat back sits flush against a wall, and the proportions are just right. These chairs’ straight backs and clean geometry read as architectural when grouped together, and the built-in storage compartments in the back give you a place to tuck napkins, magazines, or the mail you keep meaning to sort. Push them up against the wall with a table in front, add a long lumbar pillow across the seats, and you’ve got something that looks like it was designed with the apartment.
Because this seat is just a bit low, I’m getting thicker seat cushions made from one of the many great online affordable-cushion companies, which includeZipCushions,FoamOrder, andCushion Source. I’m splurging on Block Shop Textiles’ newperformance Sunbrella fabricat $165 per yard but often getperformance linenfrom Spoonflower for around $40 a yard or great discount Cryptonstain-resistant fabricsfrom online stores like Fabric Guru for $20 to $30 per yard.
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This piece is technically a daybed — 70 inches long, 24 inches wide — with a scalloped wood trim that feels fun and warm, but push it against a wall under a window or into an alcove and it becomes an inviting banquette. The solid rubberwood frame is only 12 inches high, so you’ll want to get a custom cushion (like this!) made to bring this up to dining height. At this size, you could likely cover the cushion in an amazingtwin-size sheetwith some basic sewing to keep it taut. Stack a fewthrow pillowsagainst the wall for back support, pull up a table, and you’ve got a dining nook that doubles as the coziest reading spot in the apartment.
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The next three pieces are designed to work as dining seating, so the seat height is already spot on.
This dining bench has an exposed wood or metal leg and a cushioned seat with a straight back — simple enough to read as architectural, comfortable enough for a long meal. Like everything from Interior Define, it has a few months’ lead time, but it’s customizable down to the fabric and the leg finish, which means you can match it precisely to an existing dining table or let it be its own thing. It has the proportions of something you’d see in a brasserie and is the kind of piece that gets more handsome as the upholstery softens and the legs develop a patina.
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This affordable dining bench, sold out in most colors but still available in a fun sunflower yellow, has cute details like a rolled cylindrical backrest and chunky wood legs. With a price tag below $300, it’s firmly in renter-friendly territory. At nearly 52 inches wide, it seats two comfortably, and the seat height comes in at 19.5 inches, right at the sweet spot for a standard dining table. The proportions are perfect for a dining nook, too: deep enough to be comfortable, not so deep that you can’t reach the table.
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Audo Eave Dining Sofa
I know, I know — at a couple thousand dollars, this is not a 20-something’s impulse buy. This is a splurge, but it’s a beautiful piece of furniture that can stand up to even heavy commercial traffic and will stick around for a lifetime of wear and tear.
I’m including it here because it’s a great dining sofa. We’ve used this in restaurant projects, and it’s a winner. The Eave was designed by Norm Architects for Audo (the Danish studio that used to be called Menu). The profile is both minimalist and idiosyncratic: a chunky half-round back support sits on thin Danish legs. If you’re the kind of person who’d rather save up for one perfect thing than buy five so-so things, this is the one to save for. It’s also worth checking Design Within Reach, which occasionally carries it at a slight discount.
Moredining chairswe love …
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