Is that a good place for a window seat? As we sit down with our client at the kitchen design meeting, we learn about them, their needs and the space. When clients ask about a bespoke window seat, we look at how it can be incorporated into the kitchen design. It is one of those features that actually pays a kitchen back twice over: once in seating and once in storage.
In this blog, we talk about all things window seats and why they’re a feature that shouldn’t be overlooked.
A bespoke window seat is a built-in bench, made to the exact dimensions of your kitchen window, that combines comfortable seating with concealed storage underneath. Designed and hand-built in our Hertfordshire workshop, it becomes part of the cabinetry rather than a piece of furniture placed against it.
When You Know a Window Seat Belongs
Can you answer these three questions? If you can, you know your window seat has earned its place in your kitchen design.
- Is there a window? A window where natural beams of sunlight come through? A window seat without a window is just a bench.
- Does your household actually sit down in the kitchen? Sit properly for breakfast, for homework and for a glass of wine while dinner is being cooked? If the answer is yes, a window seat turns that sitting into something the room was designed around.
- Does the kitchen have a wall it can afford to lose? For example, our Victorian project in Sawbridgeworth has incorporated a bench seat running the full width of the window. It’s a piece of furniture that the whole family now gravitates to.
Sawbridgeworth Window Bench Project
Why a Window Seat is Such a Good Idea
There are many reasons why a window seat is such a good idea, and the obvious one is seating. It adds capacity without adding clutter, meaning offering more seating for three or four people, where a chair counts as one seat. You don’t have the visual clutter of chair backs and legs, and because it’s fixed, you don’t have to pull it out or rearrange it. You instantly have a tidier kitchen.
Handmade kitchens are made with a lot of cabinetry, however beautifully made and beautiful to look at. A window seat breaks a run of cabinetry where the upholstered fabrics, scattered cushions and the texture against painted timber are mesmerising. It’s these details that stop a kitchen from reading as just a set of cupboards and actually show a room someone lives in.
Above all, it earns you more storage. It can be space for pots and pans, board games, cookbooks, placemats, table linen and blankets. What’s more, it is extra storage in exactly the part of the house where you actually use those things.
A Bespoke Seating Area Designed Around Your Room
This is where being handmade matters most. A bespoke window bench is made exactly to the size of the window.
Every window seat we build at The Handmade Kitchen Company is drawn specifically for the room it’s going into. The result is nothing short of beautiful, a design that the kitchen was built around rather than one that looks like it was delivered flat-packed and persuaded to fit.
Choosing bespoke opens up the design choices that pre-made seating cannot offer. The seat height can be built to exactly match the height of your dining table, and the depth can be adjusted to the geometry of your bay. Similarly, the storage below can be drawers with lift-up lids or on pull-out mechanisms.
The Design Decisions You Get to Make
Being bespoke, it is drawn and built from scratch, so almost every detail is a choice. The layout is designed around your life and how you use your kitchen.
The seat can be upholstered in the fabric of your choice, with scattered cushions on top, or built as a timber base with an upholstered back panel running up to the window. Each design gives a different feel. The storage underneath can be configured to exactly what you want to store. If the window seat is near the back door, it can be divided into storage for shoes, dog accessories, hats and scarves. If it sits directly in the kitchen, it can hold less-used items and heavy pots and pans.
It can also extend your cabinetry, flowing into a bookshelf, a low cupboard or an integrated fridge-freezer. It is hand-painted in the colour of your kitchen and matches the shaker style. Naturally, the hardware and timber all carry across from the kitchen, reading part of the room rather than an accessory that has just been plonked there.
Bespoke Window Seat FAQs
Does a window seat need a window?
Yes. Without natural light coming through, a window seat is really just a bench. The window is what makes the seat a destination in the room and the reason your family will gravitate to it.
How much storage does a bespoke window seat add?
Typically the full footprint of the seat. The space underneath can be configured as drawers, lift-up lids or pull-out mechanisms, holding anything from pots and pans to board games, cookbooks, table linen and blankets.
Is a bespoke window seat better than a freestanding bench?
Yes. A bespoke window seat is built to the exact geometry of your bay, hand-painted in the colour of your kitchen, and matched to your cabinetry hardware and timber. It reads as part of the room rather than an accessory placed against the wall.
Where does The Handmade Kitchen Company build window seats?
We design and hand-build bespoke window seats from our Hertfordshire workshop for clients across Hertfordshire, Essex, London and the surrounding counties. Recent projects include bench seats in Sawbridgeworth and Much Hadham.
Related blogs:
Fitting in a Seating Area in a Bespoke Kitchen
Make an Open-Plan Kitchen Feel More Homely with The Handmade Kitchen Company
Design a Bespoke Kitchen That’s Perfect for the Whole Family
Bespoke Handmade Banquette Seating
If you are lucky enough to have a window in your kitchen, the design is already orbiting around it, and it’s time to think of a bespoke window seat. It will be designed and built to exact specifications, giving you seating, storage and the feel of the room for a very long time. Contact us today for more information. We look forward to hearing from you.
