A banquette built into the bar of our kitchen showroom in Lakewood to double as seating at our conference table.

When I think of banquettes, the word clever comes to mind because not only are they purposeful for sitting, they offer many other benefits as well. First, they make great use of space. When you don’t have a lot of room in your kitchen, banquettes are nice because you don’t have to allow for extra room that you need when using chairs that are going to be pulled out only to go back in.

Another great advantage is that you can often squeeze in an extra person with a banquette because you don’t need the side space required of chairs and, because there is no seam, people can sit continuously along the banquette without discomfort. If you have an extra child visiting for dinner, that can come in very handy.

The third, and perhaps, most compelling reason to make use of a banquette in your kitchen is that, if planned correctly, it can become a well-purposed piece of furniture. Some choose to build drawers and cabinets into their free-standing banquettes, but one of the most simple configurations is a storage bench where the top just simply lifts up to hold serving pieces, linens or even extra sets of silverware for entertaining.

This banquette just off the kitchen provides the right size “footprint” to maintain the walk-thru space to and from the outdoors.