Banquette seating against windows (height?)

13 years ago

I was wondering if anyone has an answer to what I thought its a fairly simple question.

We were tossing around the idea of putting in banquette seating along a wall of windows but I cannot find anything on how high the windows should be off the ground. I want to have as much window showing as possible. We'll be getting a new kitchen table so I don't have a firm table height right now, but I'm guesisng 30" is appropriate.

Any thoughts?

Also, can anyone recommend how far away the table edge should be from the back of the bench? Thanks!

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craftlady07
Original Author

13 years ago

This is the best picture I have of the back of my house showing all the windows, sorry. The kitchen is the right side of the house in this picture. The bank of windows you see will be made of 2 wider windows instead of 4 skinnier ones. We will be residing the house next year after the kitchen project. (there's no insulation so the whole skin is coming off so we can insulate from the outside, plus the siding isn't in the best shape)

The hill under the windows will become a deck area and the grass in the forefront of the picture will be a pool. The view from the kitchen windows will be the garage roof for now, but after the deck is in I hope to add some taller evergreens into the landscaping if possible for shade and a screen for the garage from the house.

As far as adding a counter to that wall, I suppose it's possible, but we intend on staying on this house for quite a while.

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Comments (6)

typeprof
13 years ago
Hi Craftylady!

I dont know if this will help you, but I have spent an inordinate amount of time on banquettes and will have a custom one installed next week with tall hutches on either side. This link helped me to think about my space and may help you too. Scroll down to the article on banquettes.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: banquette seating
lavender_lass
13 years ago
Thanks for the link! I've been wanting to put a banquette in my kitchen remodel, but I don't want the hard seat. This is great :)

My hope is to have a banquette on one side, with a long table that has additional leaves. That way, the table can seat 6-10, depending on how many leaves you add, but still only need four to six chairs!

Craftlady- For windows, think the back cushion will be about 18"-20" above the floor, and depending on whether you want throw pillows or not, that should help you determine the height for your windows. I think I would rather have an upholstered back, for added comfort, but I'm not sure how high it should be...maybe windows 33"-36" from the floor?
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craftlady07
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks, that article was helpful!

I also came across a thread on GW that even had a wonderful sketch (linked below) that I found extremely helpful in figuring out the dimensions. We're replacing windows and I didn't know if we should use 48" high or 60" - looks like the 48" will work better for us. I haven't thought about upolstered back vs cushions yet.

Here is a link that might be useful: GW Thread on Banquette bench
shanghaimom
13 years ago
On ours, the sill/top of bench is 37" from floor. The back of the bench (it is somewhat sloped) is 24" from the end of the table. Since it is the short end, it doesn't get used much for eating--mostly just laptop/homework action. Here's a pic:
skyedog
13 years ago
There are two things you might want to take into consideration. One is how the window will look from the outside of the house in relation to the other windows. The other is if you or a future owner would ever want to put counter and cabinets under the window you are thinking about.

We had to replace and reposition four window openings in our remodel because they were too low to put counters under. We placed them all at about 41" from the floor. Three are over countertops but one is over where our table sits against the wall (not a banquette but we almost put one in). There is plenty of window and you can still look out when sitting. If the window was lower, I would worry about my kids banging there head on the glass.