I've taken a lot of cr@p for doing what you're wanting to do. My scale is a bit smaller though. See the unusual spot in the island? That's where my banquette will go. A bench against the island seating two with a half circle-ish shaped pedestal table and two chairs. We had a banquette for our kitchen table in the old space and I knew I wanted to work in a kitchen table spot in the new kitchen. I couldn't make a space large enough on the perimeter for a table during our whole house reno so got a crazy burr in my bonnet to inset the banquette in the island. Many here think I'm nuts, and I think one of the reasons I haven't finished the area 14 months later is because I am doubting my vision now. DH works for a restaurant supply company so has a custom booth maker ready to build this for us. I told Marcolo if it didn't work after it was done, I would just never post a pic and would live in shame forever. We'll see......

How big is your banquette going to be? I think a pedestal table is the way to go, if that will fit your usual crowd. We are planning our banquette around our 54" glass round top pedestal table. In fact, if anyone else has a similarly-sized table, what are the dimensions of your banquette? I just saw in the Ballard Designs catalog a freestanding corner bench (about $1,000) -- do any of you with banquettes have views on the pros and cons of such a thing?

A rectangular pedestal table may be hard to find but you should have better luck finding a trestle table, which would work as well. What you want to avoid is a regular 4-legged table since the legs in the corners make it difficult to slide along a bench. Susan Susanka (per one of her books) suggests an overhang of 4"-5" so you obviously have leeway for table size. The other factor affecting size is the bench's situation. Is your bench bounded by walls or cabinetry? If so, then it would be a good idea to end the table before the bench so that you have room to maneuver onto the bench. Check out this image to see what I mean. [contemporary kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by hawaii interior designer Archipelago Hawaii, refined island designs The table is as wide or perhaps a bit wider than the bench on the short wall and it works because you can slide onto the bench from the side. The table is shorter than the bench on the long wall because the bench ends at a cabinet. You need to approach the bench from the front not the side. If the table were as long as the bench, it would be much harder to slide onto the bench. HTH!

I'd go with oval, not round. One of the issues we have with our corner banquette is that the round table means only one person on each bench is really close enough to the table without an awkward angle or stretch. (And we still were constantly pushing the table in/out, but that may have been more an issue of messy kids.) If you have an oval table, you'll have a long enough stretch of table proximate to 2 people on the banquette. T And as your inspiration picture shows, an oval looks great too! Alternatively, consider designing the banquette with a slight curve like the 2littlefishies example.