Kitchens today are social areas, designed to host family and friends with ease. At the heart of the modern kitchen is the breakfast bar.
Breakfast bars can be added to your kitchen for aesthetic reasons, as they can make your kitchen more elegant. They are also highly functional, providing additional seating or specially designed to accommodate appliances.
Whatever the shape, size or style of your kitchen, here are some breakfast bar ideas which are easy to incorporate.
A multi-tasking breakfast bar
If you have a large kitchen you will be able to include a central island with the space to integrate a sink or a hob on the island with an adjoining breakfast bar.
A hybrid kitchen island/ breakfast bar combination creates a workspace and table area - a real focal point in your kitchen.
In this way, your family - or your guests if you’re hosting a dinner party - can sit and chat to you as you prepare food. With the addition of a steaming water tap, you can make hot drinks or fill a saucepan at the pull of a lever, without having to interrupt your conversation to walk across the room to boil the kettle.
You can also include a wine cooler within this central area to offer guests a choice of wine as they sit at the bar.
A creative breakfast bar
A breakfast bar is often the focal point of your kitchen, so it is fun to get creative with the design.
A breakfast bar can be designed to fit in any space and can be any size and there are so many different combinations, styles and purposes.
Here are some ideas to inspire you:
A curved bar, going around the corner of a room
A breakfast bar as an extension of a window ledge
Bar tops made from concrete, glass, metal or tiles
Bookshelves underneath and at the sides the bar
Colourful, contrasting stools
Iconic designer bar stools
A simple ‘shelf’ breakfast bar - a bar top against a wall
A folding breakfast bar to save room
A breakfast bar on wheels for flexibility
A breakfast bar with decorative tiles underneath - Moroccan tiles are on-trend
Coloured lighting underneath the bar at floor level or underneath a glass bar surface
A breakfast bar with different levels
You can vary the materials that you use for the surface of your breakfast bar and you can also vary the levels so that the space has obvious areas for different purposes with the dynamic of your kitchen changing to suit each purpose.
You could opt for a breakfast bar which is a couple of inches above or below an adjoining kitchen island, which separates the island as a food preparation area and the bar area as somewhere to eat, drink, socialise or work on a laptop.
A breakfast bar with statement lighting
A breakfast bar provides the perfect opportunity to feature some statement lighting. As the bar in the kitchen is often naturally the most social area, add some glamorous lighting overhead for an extra element of style.
The length of the breakfast bar lends itself to a line or group of lights above it, such as low-hanging pendant lights or ornate chandeliers.
If you feel your kitchen needs an injection of colour, light shades offer the perfect opportunity. Think 1960s style curved shades in warm oranges and reds or a bright, bold green.
You can also add a statement lamp to the bar top, perhaps a lamp with a sculptural design like an animal or a Tiffany lamp for a retro glow.
A simple wooden breakfast bar
For a warm, homely and inviting look, a simple wooden block breakfast bar is a popular choice.
The wooden bar top can be paired with industrial metal legged stools or matching country kitchen style wooden frames. The wood can be cut to size easily so you can have a long bar top or a small, intimate wooden bar.
A breakfast bar with a dining table extension
In a large kitchen you can create a party space and bring together your whole family with a breakfast bar and kitchen island which extends into a dining space.
You can add comfortable, cushioned and upholstered bar chairs to the dining space for ultimate comfort in your kitchen.