Have you tried searching banquettes? There used to be some great threads with lots of pics, but this forum moves so fast they may have dropped off already. Kitchenkelly has her famous morgue drawers in her banquette. Search that and you'll find them.

{{!gwi}}

This is my kitchen, and the bay window there is all banquette seating. The bases are built out of drawers and door fronts (the door fronts are the angled pieces at the second and fourth window). On the end near the DW (and at the end of the L with the stove) that one has a false front at the legs, but really opens the same direction as the counters next to it (same as the DW). It's lined with plastic for dirty linen. Across from that, there's an angled cabinet which stores clean linen (next to the coffee station).

The others are accessable by moving the table or sending a small child in. We have a small child, the table is on wheels and we're in the market for another small child..so they'll be used occasionally :) They're for storing the little used, but indispensible stuff like a crab pot, clam steamer, etc.

I don't have the dimensions here with me. I know from memory that they have a 19" seat, with an angled back (not drawn here) that goes from 1" at the top (just under the windows) to 2" at the base. I think they're 16" high but can't remember...perhaps 17" because they'll have a 4" foam pad on them. (You could search banquettes and find the info as I've posted it with the specs handy before).

Our cabinet guy will be finishing them.

We have a bench seat in our kitchen. My GC built it himself. We do not have drawers but lift top lids. It is fairly long with 3 sections/lids. I hired a decorater to help with window treatments and bench seat cushion, she recommended pillows on bench seat instead of cushions.

The most comfortable seating is 17" high and 18-20" deep.

I'm planning mine without storage because I know I would have to move the table everytime I wanted to get something and that would just be too much work for me, LOL! The only exception would be the drawers on the ends like Kitchenkelly's.

With small children, I won't be using cabinets as a base because they would get ruined by feet. I will most like just use drywall then tile over it with either floor tile or something that matches the backsplash.

Sabre, why pillows? Again, with kids, that would drive me nuts. They would be all over the place all the time.

We also had ours built by our handyman to match the cabinets. For us this was the least expensive option. Ours is 171/2" high and 15 inches deep. It is in an L Shape and the tops of both lift (would have preffered morge drawers across both fronts but was more $$). When he built them he put a bottom in them as you would find in your cabinets. They hold A LOT of stuff! It is 5 1/2ft X 4 1/2ft. I used outdoor bench cushions (a 6 and 7 year old that are EXTREMELY messy!) from Lowes for the bottom and different size, shape, color pillows for the back. Now if I can only find a table for that space (Needs to be 30" wide X 60" long. Impossible)!!!

Hoffman-I love your style around your eating area! BEAUTIFUL! Makes me want to do another kitchen!

I'm interested in this thread because we're also considering banquette seating. Hoffman, I love your banquette!

Here is our booth:

Close up:

Short legs, so we set the height at 16" and depth to 16". No storage options here.

Hoffman-
Thanks for the suggestion. I had toyed with this idea and then to see your beautiful eating area just really made me sure of it. We have ordered several things from Ballard Designs and have always been pleased. Any problems with upholstery quality? Thanks again for taking care of one of many decisions in this never-ending process! :)

Kristi, Love your kitchen. That "windows with no upper cabinets" style is fabulous. What a view. Sort of like a treehouse. Wow! It's just great.

cpang74 - thanks for the kinds words!

housepoor2 - We are really pleased with the quality of the Ballard benches and I would recommend them 100%. They are very comfortable and well made.

That said, I have to admit I made a mistake with the fabric. I used their "customer's own material" service and ordered indoor/outdoor fabric from another website. After just a few months of use I can already tell that that it will have to be re-upholstered sooner than later - the fabric is starting to pill and the white stripes are looking dingy (even though the fabric is supposed to be washable). I can't complain to Ballard because it's not their fabric - and the most I could realistically expect from the fabric supplier (I haven't tried yet) would be to refund the fabric cost (which is a fraction of what re-upholstery will cost).

So, my advice would be to stick with one of Ballard's fabrics - that way they're responsible for everything. I think they have microfibre which would probably be durable.

hoffman - thanks for the pics. I would love to do something like this - love the look and would help keep cost down but I really think I need something 60" wide. How many can you seat on the 48" bench? Thanks for your help.

lynw,

The 48" benches are really most comfortable for 2 adults but you can squeeze in 2 kids + 1 adult. 3 kids fit easily.

You can also put together multiple Ballard benches to get the size you want, though there would be a seam (like on a sectional couch with multiple components). e.g., you could get a 48" + 20" for a 68" bench or 3 x 20" benches for exactly 60". If you do this, think about where the seam will fall and how that will impact the number of people you could fit -- e.g., if you did 2 x 36" benches, you might still only be able to fit 2 adults because people might not want to sit on the seam (it might be uncomfortable or the benches could even slide apart).

Luvnola, did you try googling 30x60 table? A few things came up, but you're right, that must be an odd size.

Here is a link that might be useful: 30x60 table

I manufacture banquettes
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Michael Rollhaus