4 Benefits of a Breakfast Nook
September 3, 2019A well-planned, custom breakfast nook in your new home can provide several benefits. The primary purpose of a breakfast nook is to be an eating area, but there are many more advantages to including a breakfast nook in your custom home design. Breakfast nooks are a cozy place to start the day and they offer an incredibly efficient use of space. Here are just a few benefits of a breakfast nook:
1. More Surface Space and Seating
Breakfast nooks provide you with a significant increase in surface area that serves to supplement the counter space in the kitchen. Even kitchens with large islands can benefit from a bit more countertop area. Whether it be for cooking and food prep, serving, or even additional seating, breakfast nooks create more available options for you and add space to the kitchen. Plus, it frees up other areas so you can add more storage to your kitchen design.
In this way, they can contribute to a more convenient and better functioning kitchen or dining area in the home. Breakfast nooks can also provide a more informal eating area for the family. In homes with younger children, they can be especially convenient alternatives to having little ones eating in a fancier dining room with tables, chairs, or floor surfaces that are harder to clean. Plus, a breakfast nook keeps them within your view when you’re doing something in the kitchen.
2. Not Just for Eating
The breakfast table is for more than just eating, especially in a busy home with a large family. In fact, it’s common for a kitchen or dining room table to become a workplace for the entire family. Likewise, these areas often serve as craft tables for youngsters. As such, the presence of a breakfast nook can keep some of the clutter and mess associated with these activities away from the more formal areas of the home.
Breakfast nooks naturally become areas where children work on their homework assignments, color, or draw. And, don’t be surprised if you find yourself gravitating to the breakfast nook to complete your monthly bill payments or sort through the current week’s stack of mail.
The cozy and comfortable nature of these areas, plus the ample table/countertop space, make them a good fit for these activities. Depending on the size, layout, and seating capacity of your breakfast nook, they can make a great gathering place and provide an area free of electronic distraction for a fun family game night!
3. Open Concept
The idea of a “nook” might put you in mind of something that is cozy and more constrained in proportion or layout. However, when it comes to breakfast nooks, this doesn’t have to be the case. When a breakfast nook is added to your custom home design, you can design it so that it remains an open and inviting space that provides quick access when you need to grab a bite to eat on the go.
It doesn’t take a huge amount of space in order to effectively implement a breakfast nook into a home’s floor plan. Often, these features are incorporated into areas that would otherwise go unused. As such, they may be creatively tucked into a corner between a kitchen and dining room. One of the bay window ideas is to use one as seating for a breakfast nook. In this way, you’re able to receive the many benefits of a breakfast nook, such as increased counter space and seating without taking up a lot of floor space in the home.
By carefully planning and customizing a breakfast nook, you can help to maintain a more open floor plan within the general kitchen area. You may even be able to eliminate the need for an island or make it possible to get what you need with a smaller kitchen island. Or, you could design your kitchen in a way that allows you to have it all plus a breakfast nook and still have plenty of space!
4. A Relaxing, Comfortable Space
Perhaps the most valuable benefit of adding a breakfast nook to your custom home design is that it serves as a relaxing and comfortable space for dining and recreation. Along with the added efficiencies a kitchen or dining area gains via a breakfast nook, the relaxing and comfortable nature of these home features is one of their greatest aspects.
Breakfast nooks are designed to be warm and inviting. They often incorporate natural light sources and/or dimmable lighting fixtures that correlate with a unique design aesthetic in the home. Many will also feature cushioned seating that provides an additional level of comfort versus more formal dining room chair options. All of these things can contribute to the creation of a warm, cozy, and inviting space to enjoy the start of the day or some quality family time in the evenings.
There are several benefits of a breakfast nook. One of the best things about breakfast nooks is just how customizable they are in nature, especially when you add them to your custom home during the design phase. Due to this fact, the specific benefits will vary from one home to the next. But, the one consistent thing is that each breakfast nook, regardless of size or style, promises to offer a wide array of significant benefits. This is one of the reasons they are popular custom home design ideas.
If you would like to discuss how you can incorporate a creative and custom breakfast nook into your custom home design, give Custom Home Group a call at 717-284-4090. We can help bring your dream custom home to life!