Breakfast bar design ideas for kitchens of any size
A breakfast bar is a great way to add a dining area to your kitchen without needing space for a table. Since the kitchen is usually the social hub of any home, there’s a lovely informality to pulling up a bar stool and having a snack at the centre of everything. As a bonus, there’s often almost no distance at all to the fridge/microwave/wine cooler. From modern to traditional, minimalist to elaborate, we’ve pulled together some gorgeous breakfast bars for your dining pleasure.
Simon Brown1/9Picking up on a reference to modernist Italian architect Carlo Scarpa in her client’s brief, Beata Heuman draws the eye to the kitchen with a circular marble splashback in this Paddington flat. It is cleverly framed by the sculptural curves of the archway over the breakfast bar.
Yuki Sugiura2/9The breakfast bar in Matilda Goad’s home is, she explains, “made a little higher than it would usually be”, and is specially reinforced to accommodate two articulated stools of the kind one would usually find in sushi bars in Japan.
Lucas Allen3/9Henri Fitzwilliam-Lay, the owner of this Victorian country house in Shropshire, has enhanced the interiors of this grand property with her signature mid-century aesthetic without compromising original features. In this blue and white kitchen, an island-cum-bar forms the centrepiece to the room, white subway tiles and marble herringbone flooring giving the space an industrial edge, which works well below elegant cornicing.
4/9This white and blue open-plan kitchen in a modern city flat transformed by our Designer of the Year Sophie Ashby has a marble splashback and barstools around an island.
Alexander James5/9Deep blue lights from Charles Edwards hang in the kitchen of this beach house in the Bahamas. The room is largely painted white, which contrasts with the dark wood flooring and kitchen island. Bulky ovens and stackable bar stools add an industrial-style edge to the scheme.
6/9A hybrid breakfast bar and kitchen island takes centre stage in the Plain English kitchen of this family house on Long Island in the USA. A delft-tiled splashback and a cool, mid-blue ‘Scullery Latch’ colour on the island contrasts with red bar stools to give the space a unique character.
Alexander James7/9The owners of this Arts & Craft house in west London built a new extension to house a modern kitchen that would still work with the rest of the house. Working with interior designer Nicola Hicks, they used Bulthaup b3 laminate cabinets in conjunction with a natural olivewood bar top, which softens the feel of the space.
Laura Rupolo8/9This eclectic kitchen by Extreme Design was designed exclusively for a family to fit in their newly renovated barn conversion in Buckinghamshire. Drawing inspiration from the architecture of the barn, the kitchen uses natural timber on the breakfast bar.
9/9This kitchen by Teddy Edwards is housed in an extension off the dining room of an Arts and Crafts house. A T-shaped breakfast bar and island configuration allows four people to sit facing each other, which is more conducive to conversation; underneath it are speakers and shelves for cookbooks.
