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21 charming design ideas for kitchen nooks
There’s something fun about a kitchen nook; having one in your kitchen gives the feeling of being in a bar or a diner booth even while you’re still at home (in that sense, it’s a little like having a built-in bar in your house, except about a million times more tasteful). They are both comfortable and informal, and provide structure and a focal point for a room’s social goings-on. They’re particularly ideal for those whose kitchens tend to act as the main living space in a house, as the banquettes naturally encourage lounging around for hours, reading newspapers, drinking coffee and chatting. If you have a small kitchen without space to pull out chairs on every side of a dining table, banquette seating can be a practical solution, and they can easily be squeezed in on one side of a counter that extends into the room. There are all sorts of ways to do a nook, and you can find stylish examples of all of them here, taken from the House & Garden archive.
Milo Brown1/21Interior designer Lonika Chande has created a charming pied-à-terre full of bold textiles and colours for a returning client's 19th-century Chelsea house. Working with custom kitchen designers Apron Kitchens, Lonika Chande has crafted a clever little kitchen in this 19th-century Chelsea house – using her trademark flare for colour and pattern. The paint colour is custom by Papers & Paints, and is the “perfect sludgy colour to complement the banquette.” The roman blind is made from Flora Soames’s ‘Plain Stripe in Emerald’.
Paul Massey2/21This modern kitchen in an apartment by Henri Fitzwilliam-Lay combines built-in seating with a vintage dining table from Pamono and John Vogel chairs for West Elm. The adjustable pendant light helps to define the dining are and is from Hector Finch.
Sarah Griggs3/21You don't necessarily need built-in seating to create a kitchen nook - it can be more flexible to buy a banquette-style bench. On the high street, we love OKA's ‘Stafford’ model, which comes in a range of colours, but the example in this kitchen/dining room in a Chelsea house by Studio Duggan is absolutely delightful.
4/21In her own London flat, Emma Burns, of Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, has designed seating to fit under the built-in bookshelves. The ‘Nomos’ glass table, by Norman Foster for Tecno, feels light and modern, while the mix of chair styles adds interest.
Chris Horwood5/21Nook-adjacent rather than a classic nook, this arrangement by Salvesen Graham in a Mayfair flat is nevertheless rather charming. An upholstered bench has been anchored against the back of the kitchen island to create enough seating, since there would not have been room to have chairs all the way round.
Alexander James6/21Built-in seating can feel modern, as exemplified by this dining space in an Edwardian villa by William Smalley. His floating bench maintains the airy feeling of the kitchen, while the uniform material palette of the dining furniture creates a sense of visual calm.
7/21A bay window has been put to good use in Matilda Goad’s London house with extensive built-in seating. Furniture like Eero Saarinen’s ‘Tulip’ table and Gio Ponti’s ‘Superleggera’ chairs were designed to appear light and streamlined, so these pieces – and designs like them – are excellent choices for a dining nook
Astrid Templier8/21In this lovely house in Herne Hill, designer Pandora Taylor has created built-in seating that continues from the cabinetry. Painted in the same colour as the window frames, it helps create a sense of separation from the kitchen itself.
Stephen Kent Johnson / OTTO9/21Designer Billy Cotton has fitted banquette seating round a table in the light-filled corner of this kitchen. The Soane pendant light, rush matting and bamboo roll-up blind harmonise with the chairs, while the gingham tablecloth makes the scheme feel more lighthearted. The area is further delineated by the plates displayed on the walls.
Sean Fennessey10/21A playful bench upholstered in Ralph Lauren fabric gives the breakfast nook in the house Australian designer Tamsin Johnson designed for her sister a retro feel. Paired with Bill Henson photographs and vintage dining furniture, the nook is unlike any other.
11/21Natural light dictated the layout of the compact eat-in kitchen in fashion designer Morgane Sézalory's Paris apartment. “In the winter, the light is less nice than the summer, so we positioned the table as close to the window as possible,” explains Sézalory, who complemented the custom, curvy bench with a vintage travertine pedestal table, wood chairs by midcentury Swiss designer Bruno Rey, and embroidered floral cushions from Les Composantes.
Alexander James12/21The banquette seating on one side of the table in Nicole Salvesan’s Victorian home faces onto a large, bright kitchen extension.
Owen Gale13/21Under a roof light, Honor Devereux has built in a banquette upholstered in ‘Japura’ by Christopher Farr to create a bright dining nook. On the other side, vintage ‘Carimate’ chairs by Vico Magistretti, sourced from Vinterior, match the rug from Etsy, the tones of which are themselves picked up by the green wall lights that are from Mullan Lighting.
Paul Massey14/21The kitchen nook in Henry Prideaux’s Bermondsey house is comfortable, if also somewhat minimal. Uninvasive but still unique, it’s a characterful addition to a home that Henry renovated from the ground up.
Ngoc Minh Ngo15/21In Manhattan’s West Village, the kitchen of Jos and Annabel White’s six-storey town house makes for the heart of the house; they were inspired to create their nook, with its green banquette and neon sign, by old-fashioned American diners. “We have lunch in the nook,” Annabel explains, “and dinner at the table.”
Simon Brown16/21The addition of a mezzanine can create an ideal recessed area for a dining nook. In this flat by Banda’s Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, a wall of mirror glass creates an illusion of extra space when combined with tailored, button-back upholstery in mustard velvet.
Paul Massey17/21A curved banquette makes the most of the bay window in this London flat by Virginia Howard. The banquette’s upholstery is Lelièvre’s raspberry-pink ‘Mogador’ velvet; it complements ‘Borgia Rojo’ from Claremont on the blinds and Christopher Moore’s ‘Aquitaine’ from Turnell & Gigon on the chairs.
Simon Upton18/21Reclaimed materials are key to the philosophy behind Patrick Williams’ London flat. In this case, pews from a salvage yard become the seating around a dining table to effect a sense of rustic charm in the kitchen.
Christoper Horwood19/21Rather than a banquette-style kitchen nook, Lucy Williams installed a long seat along the side of her kitchen – perfect for guests to lounge on with a drink if Lucy’s hosting and moving around the kitchen.
Jonathan Bond20/21A long dining table is given extra seating courtesy of banquettes at this Notting Hill house by Barlow & Barlow; the kitchen was designed and installed by Herringbone Kitchens.
Jason Ingram21/21Adam Sykes’s wonderful 1960s London home features a U-shaped kitchen nook that is both cosy and elegant at once; all one would expect from the owner of fabric house Claremont.
