I'm kicking around the same idea -- should I have a medium-sized table and banquette as my only eating area? My mitigating factors aren't quite the same as yours -- I welcome any thoughts y'all have: - We will not have a breakfast room, and we will not have seating at our kitchen island. Thus, whether we go with a dining room table or a banquette /table, this will be our only eating area. - When I go to a restaurant, I'm firmly in the camp of, "Booth, please". I love everything about sitting in a cozy little enclosed spot. When I was a kid, we had a breakfast room with a tiny banquette and table in a butler's pantry, and I LOVED that little room. - We're building a retirement home, so I want a table that won't feel ridiculously over-sized when it's just the two of us . . . but will also seat six adult comfortably, eight adults squeezed in. - My dining area's going to be in a 12 or 14' x 8' "bump out" with lots of windows, all oriented towards the back yard. If I go with a plain table and chairs, I can have floor-to-ceiling windows in the bump-out, and I LOVED my floor-to-ceiling windows in my old house. If I go with the banquette, I'll stop the windows above the backrest, which means less window /less view of the pool. - We're in the Deep South and most of our entertaining will be done outdoors. We'll have a pool, a covered (not screened) back porch, and an outdoor kitchen planned around my husband's beloved Big Green Egg grill. With 45 acres, our outdoor seating will be essentially unlimited . . . the point: Indoor seating isn't our biggest priority. - Our entertaining is always casual. In our new house, I imagine pot lucks on island and people seated at the table, out on the porch, and with plates balanced on their knees in the living room. - We're looking at building a straight-booth type banquette and having chairs on three sides of the table. We'd still have the "trapped in the back" issue, but the older folks who have more trouble scooting could be given the easy-access chairs, while the children scoot to the back. I go back and forth on this idea. Again, I welcome any thoughts anyone has, given my specifics.

Check if you have a Foam company in your area. I recently reupholstered a love seat and I replaced the foam inserts on the seat cushions. I found a store near my home (Southern Calif.) that has many choices and will custom cut the foam to the size and thickness you want. I wanted something very firm so I ordered the "Q41" (2.8 density, 41 firmness). Prior to inserting the foam into the fabric cover, I sprayed the foam with a special adhesive and wrapped it with 1" thick Dacron batting. To get an online price quote and to learn about various foam types... open the A-1 link below, pick on the Foam link at the top. Next, pick on the square shape. Then, it will ask you to select 1. dimensions you want, 2. how the foam will be used, 3. select foam type.... just below #3 in small print, you will pick on "Click here to learn more about choosing the right foam for you". Here you will learn about various cushion/foam firmness and density and the numerical system used to rate a foam's firmness. It will also have a chart for various foam types and typical uses including mattresses & breakfast nook applications. I noticed that they can send you 10" x 10" samples. What you pay for the samples is applicable to any future order. In my case, I was able to feel all the samples in the store. -Laurie Here is a link that might be useful: A-1 Foam and Fabrics

I've never built a banquette, but my kitchen and dining room is exactly like yours, layout and dimensions. We don't have a wall between the DR and LR however, so we've put a buffet server on the long wall between DR and LR. Clearly, you've outgrown your house. My dining room looks so much bigger than yours because I'm not trying to make it do double duty by storing stuff that should be in the kitchen. The open storage is not doing you any favors of making your space look comfortable and peaceful at dinnertime. Rather than built-ins, consider a hutch or buffet server with some closed storage that you can take with you when you move. Simplify your stuff, and I guarantee you'll add to the function, and you'll feel much more relaxed. There's a principle of elementary education that says if the classroom is disorganized and chaotic, the students will be too. Besides whether a banquette is doable, does it make sense for future buyers? I would ask a realtor before I went any further. I don't like the idea of the banquette against a peninsula with a sink. My counter extends 19" beyond my sink, and I get splash almost to the edge. Seating--we have a 36" x 54" table--a little narrower than most rectangular tables. We put 4 chairs on the long sides. I find that arrangement more roomy than a chair at each end. Extensions pull out from under the table on the short ends for guests. Mine is positioned with the long side along the peninsula, but you could turn yours the other way.

I just now saw the questions posed to me, and I am sorry for not having checked in sooner! ML, the 3-drawer stack I bought was just the 18" base cabinet with 3 drawers, and I ordered it with Arlig (now Harlig) drawer fronts. When you order it like that, everything you need for that arrangement is included in the price. I am sorry I do not remember off-hand how much it cost, but I know it was under $100 at the time. I see the price has gone up to approximately $150 now, but that was 4.5 years ago. That 3-drawer cabinet is in my linen closet now, and I have extra toiletries--toothpaste, shampoo, soap, mouthwash, etc. in one drawer, some cosmetic items and personal stuff in the shallow (top) drawer, and misc bath items in the bottom drawer. This was the cabinet that convinced DH that IKEA kitchen cabinets were a whole 'nother animal than their other cabinets. Newbie, it actually IS my only dining area. It was the "formal" dining room, but we never used it as such, except for holidays and entertaining. Every other day, it became a catch-all. This drove DH crazy, as he cannot stand any kind of clutter. We had a small table in our kitchen area, and that is where we ate. We have two children, and when we first started this, they were a bit younger and SMALLER. ;^) We tore down the wall between the two spaces because it felt so cramped. It is such huge difference having that wall down! I came up with the idea of the banquette when I was trying to create more storage. I looked online for some pictures and drew out the plan on graph paper first. DH was hesitant at first, thought it might be too "frilly-nilly" as he called it. He loves it now. Our table has two leaves, and we have used it that way. There is plenty of room for entertaining and holidays. It would be nice if that were our "breakfast room", and we had a more grand dining space, but our house just is not that large. I am fine with the cozy cottagey vibe we have going. In fact, I am quite fond of it. :^) I imagine I will be even happier when we get around to finishing the basement, which is next on the list. DH wants a year off of house stuff, though, when this kitchen is finally done. I can hardly blame him. He has been amazing! Here is a link that might be useful: IKEA--Harlig three-drawer stack