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Building a bench/banquette - help with dimensions?

inthehollow
14 years ago

Those who have a banquette or bench seating in your home, how deep is the seat, and at what angle is the back? We are building one, and the space we have for it is pretty flexible. We want it to be comfortable!

What is the optimum seat depth? And the slanted back seems way more comfortable than a straight back, but how slanted? An inch/foot, 1/2 inch per foot?

Any advice or insight is appreciated!

Comments (6)

  • wi-sailorgirl
    14 years ago

    Mine is backless (against the wall) so I didn't have to deal with the angle. I'll be adding throw pillows which aren't finished yet. My bench is 22 inches deep, which is a pretty deep seat, but once I get the pillows in there I think it will be perfect. I'm envisioning this as sort of a place to curl up on a Sunday morning with a big cup of coffee and the paper so I was really looking for comfort.

    It is about 16 inches high with a 4-inch cushion.

  • inthehollow
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    I love your cushionss, sailorgirl. Did you have them made or buy them ready-made? Do you have stor.age in yours?

    Anyone who built a back for their bencch? I'd love to hear how high and the angle. DH is always leaning back, so I'd like to put a paneled back on ours.

    thanks!

    (by the way, I'm purposely adding typos so they stop inserting advertisements. Drives me crazy! I already tried to disable it, and it doesn't work!)

  • cawaps
    14 years ago

    I recall an article from Inspired House from a few years ago (2004-2005, probably) that went into detail on banquette dimensions. I pulled out my collection of magazines but couldn't find the article this morning. I'll have another look this evening if I remember. But you might be able to track it down through the library or get a reprint from Taunton Press, the publisher (of Fine Homebuilding fame). Or maybe someone here has their magazine collection in better order than I do.

  • wi-sailorgirl
    14 years ago

    I had the cushions made, inthehollow. I can handle the throw pillows, but the cushions are beyond my skill level. They actually ended up costing about the same as the banquette itself, which I wasn't expecting.

    There's a good amount of storage in it. In the first picture you can see the two sliding doors on the front of the long part which open up to the entire inside. There is also a "morgue" drawer off the other end. And you can just barely see, in the picture with the table, that I had two open shelves built in too. The top one holds our phone and the chargers for the cell phones and the bottom one is for my frequently used cookbooks (the other cookbooks are behind the sliding doors but since I have to crawl under the table to access them it's not exactly convenient).

  • inthehollow
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Cawaps, thanks for the lead! I was able to find the article on the Fine Homebuilding website and download a .pdf.

    In case anyone else is interested, they recommend a 3-5 degree angle on the back and 18-22" seat.

    I start woodworking class next week, so hopefully in another 10 weeks or so I'll have a bench to add to my new kitchen. :)

    Here is a link that might be useful: Fine Homebuilding link to instructions

  • mcnamara_patty_yahoo_com
    12 years ago

    @sailorsailorgirl...would you be willing to provide the dimensions of your banquette...specifically the length? Thanks!

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