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[All photos by BUILD LLC]

Informal seating areas are becoming more common in the projects we design and they make a good topic for today’s post. While most homes require a more formal dining area, this isn’t necessarily the place where you want to serve breakfast, enjoy a cup of coffee, work on the laptop, or help the kids with their homework. A 21st century lifestyle requires an informal and durable spot that is integral to the design of the home while accommodating a wide range of sit-down activities. We call them “breakfast nooks” for the lack of a better term, but the function of these spaces falls well outside of breakfast alone. We’ve got three examples from the BUILD portfolio to review, each a bit different from the other. Enjoy, and let us know of your favorite breakfast nooks out there.

This breakfast nook example takes advantage of a left-over corner in a townhouse unit of the Park Modern urban infill project. Adjacent to the kitchen, the built-in maple cabinet seats are fully integrated into the home and match the kitchen cabinets. Five pull-out drawers offer nearly 18 cubic feet of storage below the seats which are lined with custom cushions. A custom table allows the drawers to fully extend for easy access. This breakfast nook is used so frequently that it is easily the most cost-effective square footage of the home.

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The breakfast nook of the Innis Arden project is unique in that it sits adjacent to a wall of accordion glass doors. The built-in seating accommodates storage drawers against the wall and incorporates an open frame against the door; when the door is fully opened the siting bench maintains a deliberate aesthetic while integrating with the adjacent solid seating. The maple seating, as well as the custom table, are products of the Special Projects Division cabinet and furniture shop. When we completed this project, the owners remarked that they were going to watch their kids grow up around that table. We’re pretty dang honored to play a role in that.

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The last example is from the West Seattle Remodel and it’s hot off the press. Another product of the Special Project Divisions shop, this set of free-standing seats, benches and a custom table makes for a cozy sitting area just off the kitchen. Because the separate pieces of this breakfast nook aren’t physically connected, the SPD signature aluminum kerf detail makes for an important visual connector. Just a few weeks into completion, this area is already a favorite spot to work from home.

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Here are some basic dimensions we use for the geometry of the breakfast nook seating (note: these dimensions can change depending on the situation, but they’re a good departure point).

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And here’s a detail of the custom table used in each of the 3 designs above:

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We’ve got a few more breakfast nooks in the design stage and we look forward to adding them to the portfolio. Until then, let us know what makes your list.

Cheers from team BUILD