With ikea wall mounted table and trimmed with beadboard:

Served me well for many years. The space for bench and table was only 5 feet wide! Glad to see it go and get something more spacious. Nonetheless, Ikea cabinets are as good as new (though at least 8 years old) and I will reuse them in my garage.

And so you can see what I mean about lots of storage, here is a pic with the drawers open (that white thing in the middle drawer is a big bread machine):

The "Costco" snack drawer is one that is constantly accessed. We call it the "Costco drawer" because it generally has those huge Costco snack bags, popcorn, store bought cookies, and like items.

We are very happy with how our banquette bench turned out.

Do you wish you had a pedestal table, or is it working out with the traditional legs?

I did custom door/drawer fronts for all my IKEA cabinets. I used Advantage Cabinet Doors and am very happy with them. Because I went custom, I was able to have the drawer fronts be 15" high. Otherwise, the IKEA drawer fronts are 12.5" at their highest.

The bun feet are merely decorative. In fact, I velcroed them, but they keep falling down, so I need to figure something a little better, but not permanent because it is nice to move them when cleaning. Maybe some earth magnets or something. Hmmm.

Anyway--yes, you could just put it on a lower platform, which is what we did. Then I painted the toe kick black, so that it would look more like a bench with feet.

We purchased everything from IKEA piecemeal. The fridge boxes, and then three 36" deep drawer kits. We ganged the cabs together and screwed them into the platform/frame. It was very easy. DH added filler to each end of the bench,and I painted it to match. DH also framed out the seating area above with wainscoting and cap.

I know I have pics of different stages. I will hunt around and post them later, if that will help.

You could easily make your bench mobile, you would just need to finish the backside as well and put it on low feet, instead of a built-in platform. This is what I originally wanted, but was overruled. You would need to make sure that, if you have more than one cabinet, they are ganged together securely.

So you have them on a platform? Did you use 2x4's? I love the back part of the bench too- thought of the same idea using beadboard. Did you make your own cushions?

I "sorta" made the cushions. I bought custom inserts online, which came to around $120. Then I had some IKEA slipcovers that I found on closeout, and I was able to fashion some cushions out of the slipcovers. The lumbar cushions were ready-made, I just pulled them out of the packaging. Hee hee. I feel like I "cheated". ;)

Here is a link to my source for the custom foam cushions I ordered online. I had them wrapped in dacron, and I believe I didn't get the top of the line, but the next level down. So far, so good.

This was a depth that still allowed us to have the full-sized drawers and the soft close mechanism that attaches to the back of the rail. There are probably only milimeters spare.

I ordered 4" thick, and I believe I ordered the HD36 Regular and had them wrapped in dacron.

Hope that helps!

I think we needs lots and lots of details from you a2gemini. Measurements, ideas, more more more please! I must create a version of this in my little house.

THANKS for sharing.

fouramblues, IKEA doesn't have a specific bench, but it is easy enough to make one using their stock cabinets. I used their over-the-fridge cabinets because I wanted deeper seating and drawers. Lots of people use the standard wall cabinet depth, 15" high cabinets to do the same thing. It just depends on what kind of bench seating you want, and what kind of storage you need. We just started with plain ole IKEA over-the-fridge cabinet boxes and ganged them together--

Like this:

We attached them to a platform constructed from 2X4s, added a couple of filler pieces on each end. As I mentioned upthread, we went with custom doors, so I could have the cabinets in any configurations I wanted, as I wasn't held to the IKEA door/draw front sizes.

For the banquette, I purchased and installed three 36" IKEA deep drawer kits, which look like this:

Then we trimmed out the seating area with wainscoting and added a top for the bench seat and attached the drawer fronts. Later I threw together some cushions.

Voila! DIY banquette bench. :)

Sheylayne - wish we were as creative as you. My DH is not a DIY person and both of us work too many hours. I will try to make the cushions - thanks for your help. You are amazing!!

Shelayne, thanks a million for posting details with pics! I'm not handy at all (but think I'll be learning to be during this reno), but DH can certainly do what you describe, since I now have terrific directions to show him. :)

I wanted the seating to be part of the kitchen and not linear with the rest of the cabinet runs.

PS - The first run of cabinets installed today!!!

Shelayne - just to clarify - the depth of the bench from front to the back is 21.5? Is the back angled at all?
Did you put a back by the window? We will have to put a low back by the window as my DHs back needs some support.

Thanks

bd50mom, thank you! The table is 52"X41" and has two 12" leaves. We often have one leaf in, as we have guests quite often.

Sheylayne and dilly_ny I love your creativity!

If we had the dough-re-mi, I would have fought very hard to enlarge that window, as I LOVE banquettes with the full window backdrop. Your fold down back sounds very interesting, though you could probably construct some angled back cushions that velcro or snap to the cushion seat (or not). I have seen those angled forms sold online in custom cushions. Just an idea for you...

In any case, be sure to post pics!

If we have the seat itself 15" high and plan to put a 4" cushion on it, is that similar to what you guys did? I think that's what I'm reading here. And front to back depth of the actual wood where you sit...about 22 is optimal if I'm going to put pillows behind us? Thanks so much!

Here is picture of the bench without a top - hope top is installed this week

On each side is our "caves" - one for each of us. - Who says guys have more fun! I wanted my own storage spot - and it has power inside for charging toys. Pull out cutting board for a work surface and the doors are pocket style doors, so they can be open and hidden!

and DH cave...

One last picture to show the power and ventilation through the bottom of the bench.