Creative kitchen seating ideas

Placing a breakfast bar in your kitchen – like the gorgeous Handleless Kitchen in Periwinkle and White – can help you create a natural seating area whilst avoiding the bulky, space-consuming expense of a full kitchen table.

Place a few stools behind the breakfast bar and you've got yourself an easy kitchen seating area that looks sleek and sophisticated. Make sure you think about how you'll incorporate lights over this area too, as you don't want your family to be forced to eat in the dark! Suspended pendant lights are a popular choice, but there are plenty of innovative ways and ideas you can explore to illuminate your breakfast bar.

If you are lucky enough to have snagged that beautiful top floor apartment, with its slanting roofs and great views, then you may find it a struggle to fit seating into, what is often, a tiny kitchen.

Fortunately, kitchen windows can make for great seating areas. Installing a small window seat and placing some cushions, perhaps even a small folding table next to it, could be your ideal solution; enabling you to create your very own kitchen seating area. A window seat will provide a lovely seating space with an abundance of natural light, creating an open and airy feeling.

Another huge issue in kitchen design is finding space for enough storage; between appliances and furniture it can be hard for a small kitchen to have enough room for a seating area, as well as enough storage space.

By reducing the height of some of your storage cabinets you could kill two birds with one stone. The top of the cabinet can be used as casual seating with cushions. making it comfortable and homey, whilst a cabinet or drawers below can create further kitchen storage.

These cabinets are great for a casual coffee with friends, or a perfect kitchen seating area for kids!

If you have an alcove in your kitchen, make the most of that extra space by adding in booth kitchen seating. Inspired by American diners, they’re ideal for spaces that otherwise wouldn’t be able to host a table; whilst still remaining a relaxing and laid-back vibe. If you’re having friends and families over, consider adding a freestanding bench as an extra seating option.

If your kitchen has a large amount of open space, an island could be a beautiful and stylish addition to your kitchen design. And, for a big family, this will give you extra dining space that you will really value.

By indenting your kitchen island underneath, you can create enough space to fit stools for adding seating. This handy bunker of space will also double as a storage area. When the stools aren't in use you can simply tuck them away under your island, to keep your kitchen seats hidden. Excess space and seating all in one; brilliant!

To bring your kitchen seating dreams to life, try our online kitchen planner, or book an appointment to visit your nearest Wren showroom.