Any Seating Ideas for This Small Corner? Pix

11 years ago

One of the remaining things to do in my kitchen is the seating "area". Which is very small and kind of cramped due to two means of egress on each side of it. One to outdoors, the other to the dining room.

The wall length is just over 4'. The side with the patio door isn't the one that opens at least and is I guess about a total of about 6' or so.

The problem of course is the table with chairs, will stick out into the room, and you need to pass by it in order to get out the patio door; which we use all the time. So we need something on the compact side. Since it's only two people in our home, this shouldn't be an issue but we do want it large enough so that we sit at it comfortably.

I currently have an old table there which has turned into a catch-all for paper, and all sorts of junk, including the small tv which I barely watch, surprisingly. I do want to keep it in there, however, and finding something to house it in that corner is kind of necessary.

I happen to have 2 cabinets left over from the renovation. One, is a match to the glass fronted one over my sink but larger. That was due to an error on the part of "someone" who didn't want to fess up and I had to pay for it. The other, is a regular wall cabinet, like any of the others, but larger. Again, a bad measurement by "someone". *sighs*.

If I could use or the other on the wall there, or both that would be fantastic. I could go back to the KD and ask them to create something using those but haven't done it yet due to financial issues. And, I just haven't been motivated because I'm not feeling the whole dining area thing at all.

I can't do any kind of banquette there, or at least don't think so. It seems way too small.

Ok so here's some pix. Got your thinking caps on??? I know I don't!

BTW I'm showing a lot of the same thing because it helps show how small the area is to get outside.

Oh and please ignore the shoddy temporary fabric shade. It used to look much better until one of my contractors tore it recently and we can't find the same ones anywhere :( Obviously, window treatments are on the "to do" list also.

While at it ignore the box too. My cat has a thing about empty boxes. They are ALL OVER THE HOUSE :D

Last one - to show the extra cabinets I have available to use; upper wood fronted and long glass one similar to over the sink but larger.

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Comments (18)

deedles
11 years ago
That's a sliding patio door, right?

That's tight spot fer sure. Seems like something skinny and long-ish or small and round. A cafe table with small stools?

This isn't your only eating area, correct?

Wait, what about something along these lines? Not this color but this idea?

Here is a link that might be useful: table
Laurie
Original Author
11 years ago
No, we have a dining room also. We wind up eating in front of the tv most nights in the living room. There isn't a family room - it's a very small house built in 1915, a 4-square.

I do like what you show but I don't think it's meant to be "leisurely" and we're both 53. I think we need something we can sink our backs into lol. Plus, I'm really short, so having my feet on the floor is kind of necessary.

Aside from that I like the idea because it functions as an island also if I needed one.
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cawaps
11 years ago
I have a similarly tight corner and put in a small pedestal table (from a restaurant supply store, the kind that they use in restaurant booths). I purchased a couple of rectangular storage ottomans from Ross to use for seating. The ottomans go on the short sides of the table; the long side of the table goes against the long wall. Sorry, I'm at work and don't know the dimensions off the top of my head, but from the pic, I think your space is a bit larger than mine.
marcolo
11 years ago
What do you mean it's too small for a banquette? That's backwards. A banquette takes less space than a free-floating table and chairs.

You have a 6' x 4' space which is a standard size to seat 4 people at a restaurant booth. You can just do a bench along the 4' wall to seat two people, then fill in with a table and facing chairs on the patio door side.
Laurie
Original Author
11 years ago
Marcolo - I guess it didn't occur to me to just do (1) banquette on the 4' wall - I was thinking all that a banquette wraps around 2 walls. If that's the case, I can see how that would be doable since blocking up the static side of the patio door isn't an issue - other than where my poor cat's bowls will go :P

Thanks for pointing that out.
deedles
11 years ago

Here is a pic of a little nook, granted it has two benches but you can see the small size of it. What you can't see in the picture is the storage drawer under the seat. I'll put the link below:

Here is a link that might be useful: [nook[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/nook-without-the-plastic-on-the-window-traditional-kitchen-seattle-phvw-vp~479597)
Laurie
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for posting that photo Deedles, that does help me visualize better.

Cawaps - I actually had thought about looking into restaurant supply places. And I like the idea of the ottomans. If you get bored of the fabric, it can easily be switched out down the road.
User
11 years ago
How about a diner booth? Retro would be cool, but there are other choices as well.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}
Laurie
Original Author
11 years ago
Much as I love those - for another home. I have a 1915 Craftsman house with Victorian some elements. Actually it's a heck of a mishmash of various styles, but mostly Craftsman.

I forgot to write in this thread that I've kept the feel of the room as much as I can similar to the rest of the original house. So, I'm looking for more anything from 1940's backward looking as opposed to mid century or later. Not vinyl lol :D
Laurie
Original Author
11 years ago
Egads my sentence structure stinks in that above post :P
I wish there was a way to edit posts here!
cmm1
11 years ago
Just got my new Ikea magazine. They sell a table that mounts to the wall and folds up like a Murphy bed when not in use.

A lot of their furniture is small scale and would fit in a small area.
marcolo
11 years ago
There are plenty of restaurant booths that would fit fine into a Victorian or Craftsman house.
Laurie
Original Author
11 years ago
OH that is very nice!
Me likes!
User
11 years ago
Then how about something actually vintage? A dining nook from the 30's-40's would work there in size.

Have a carpenter do it in oak maybe? You could even enclose it in an arched opening to make it cozier.

Or maybe one of those old enamel topped tables with a couple of chairs could work.
Laurie
Original Author
11 years ago
Great ideas there, I love the wood Crafstman's style one especially. I do know a carpenter, don't know if he's quite capable of that kind of work, but, he might be.

I actually have been scouring Ebay for some vintage tables like that one. Good ones, not so easy to come by. I saw one recently but the top was too badly chipped.

I've been walking into local antique stores also and haven't seen any yet. I did see the perfect real wicker porch furniture but I was afraid the squirrels would eat it up just like they have been doing to my porch :P

I can't really close up the area because of where the cabinets are let alone, when I renovated it had been sort of closed off, and I opened it up at that time so that I'd be able to have more counter space and more cabinetry.

There was sort of a separation between that area as it used to be the old porch which got added to the house and I toyed with making it an arch - to match the arched doorway which leads to the hallway on the other side of the kitchen (not seen in these photos but, can be seen in another thread that I posted today about possible backsplash choices).

BTW, I have a lot of Fiestaware, not vintage, although I do have a set of another vintage set similar to Fiesta - I forget the name of it off-hand. It's one of the reasons why I had some glass cabinets put into my kitchen; I have a lot of vases, shakers, small pitchers, etc. that I like to show off.
Circus Peanut
11 years ago
Craftsman styled banquette was my first thought as well, whether on one side or wrapped around the corner:

They look especially nice if you do a wainscoting as part of the area:

By the by, there are detailed banquette plans in a book called 'Shop Drawings for Craftsman Interiors' that we are probably going to use to build our own, and which you could give to a favorite carpenter to make for roughly the same price as one of those expensive retro vinyl numbers.
deedles
11 years ago
Oooh, that first one that Circus posted is really nice for your layout! The L would work well and you could still pull up a chair or two if need be. And storage!
Laurie
Original Author
11 years ago
Oh thanks Circus!!! Those are the right style exactly.

My tile guy, also happens to build cabinetry. He's coming by to give me a quote on my backsplash this week. I'll ask him if he's interested in building something for me there. Not sure if I can afford it ATM although I do have somewhere to pull money from if need be. I just seriously want to get the room finished already, so I might be inclined to just suck it up.