Project nook

There's an eating area in our kitchen. I wanted to maximize the amount of seating as well has creating a comfy morning room. I also wanted to get some more counter space as there was very little existing in the kitchen. I decided to make a counter height table but balked at the prices of them. They were usually at least $800 for a tiny table and four chairs. I liked this banquette from Ikea Hackers that someone made out of kitchen cabinets. The cabinets would add some extra storage as well. I decided to forgo the backing and just to use pillows. When it's done, it could seat anywhere from six to eight people if they're small.

Before we got started.

Painted the walls white. It was this awful dark beige colour that's in the rest of the house. I'll tackle that later.

Because we used 15" cabinets, and the cushion is 6", and I wanted the seating to be at least 24" to match the 36" high table, we had to stack the cabinets up on 2x4s. This also ensures that the doors of the cabinets will open without scraping along the floor. Here's the layout of it. 

Plywood laid over the top for seating.

That's how far we've gotten. I need to glue the cushions together (I have two different firmnesses) and cover them. After which I'll nail moulding around the plywood to keep the cushions from sliding off. Add some pillows and voila.

The table is about halfway done. I forgot to take pictures of the lumber. It's made out of cedar because that's the only wood I could find that had all the dimensions that I needed and also wasn't going to break the bank. We cut the legs to 33" and cut two dado joints perpendicular for the cross braces. The cross braces are 2x4s glue and screwed into the legs. Then some decorative crosspieces were added. Then the table support that we're going screw the tabletop to sits on the top of the legs. Here it is with one coat of paint and upside down: