Built in Bench Seating

Hello all! after 5 years of working on this kitchen, I’m happy to report we are done! This built in bench and table was the last little area we had to finish up. I felt like we needed a little more storage but also wanted a place to eat. So, we ordered the upper cabinets with the rest of the cabinets a while back, with the intention of adding a little kitchen bench area underneath. And I really wanted a corner bench, so here’s what I came up with.

Get all the details on how I built this DIY kitchen bench in our new little breakfast nook at uncookiecutter.com!

I honestly didn’t have a plan for this, I just sort of drew out what I wanted and went from there.The wall was sort of the guide for the dimensions of the bench. I also knew I wanted to add the little vertical strips on the side just for a visual effect.

The question I get all the time is…is there storage inside the built in kitchen bench? No! I decided not to make any moving parts, I tend to have trouble with those long term, plus whenever I have empty space to store crap in, I do just that. Store crap in it. I didn’t need that, so I decided not to put any storage in my bench.

A little background, this space used to be an outside garage closet. Behind that wall was a closet that opened into the garage. But it just got filled to crap and junky, not to mention rodents and birds got in there all the time, making storing stuff a pain. So, we flipped it around and made this area an extension of the kitchen.

First, we had to rip up and re-level the floor. You can read more about it here. Next we had the top cabinets installed way back when we had the rest of the cabinets installed. It sat like this for a while. Then I started on the built in bench.

I don’t have any actual plans for the built in bench. I just sort of figured out how I wanted it to look and the dimensions I wanted. As I’ve previously stated, I love building my own furniture because I can make it fit perfectly.

I built the general frame outside by just figuring the dimensions and using 2x4s and pocket holes. This part was pretty easy. I did have to take into account the 3/4″ plywood I was going to put all around it.

I built the little piece that jutes out just by playing around and figuring out the best way to hold it.

Once I had the frame built, I just added some plywood to cover, then filled all the gaps and added some plywood edge banding. then I painted and added the little slats on the side for visual effect.

I just used 1x2s for this. Sorry I dont’ have more pics of this, but I forgot. I basically just used a nail gun and level and left a 0.5″ space between each one. Then I caulked and painted.

Next, the fun part! I added some subway tile to match the rest of the kitchen and some plants and other decorative accessories and the built in bench was done.

Then we had the lockers installed and I built the table (details soon). Which means our kitchen is DONE! Woo-hoo!

Thanks for following along, let me know if you have any questions about this built in bench. Details on the game table soon. For now, shop this post below or shop my Amazon link here.

April

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