Breakfast Nook Bench Top Tutorial

For the longest time I dreamed of having a breakfast nook with some sort of built-in benches. As a kid, my mom would always point out nooks with built-ins, bay windows, and window seats. I guess the breakfast nooks and built-in benches stuck with me. The first home my husband and I bought was a 1920s Spanish style bungalow that had been remodeled, and most of the character removed. In an old listing, we saw that our kitchen originally had a built-in banquette. It may have been added by the first owners after the home was built, but it was vintage and cute looking. I mourned that lost formica table and curved bench, even though I had never laid eyes on it in person. When it came time to buy our second place, we didn’t find the dream nook. However, the kitchen would need a remodel and there was space for built-in benches!

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Install cabinets for bench

We worked with our cabinet company to design the nook benches. They included two drawers and two cabinets. My son loves to play there while I cook too. Anyhow, I can’t remember if the company offered a bench topper…

Cut and fit butcher block to cabinets

We decided to find butcher block on our own. We purchased unstained birch block from a big box store. There are stained versions, different wood species, and different sizes. So many ways to customize, which lead to our predicament. My husband cut the wood to fit on the cabinets and we let it sit. We lived with it untreated for a couple years, which is not recommended! The wood can warp etc. We just could not settle on the color, and we had so many other projects that took our time. As we approached the holidays in 2019, we buckled down, chose a color, and got to work.

Sand the butcher block

We used an orbital sander with 120 grit sandpaper pads to sand down the butcher block. Man, there is something satisfying about using one of these sanders! Luckily, our wood was in pretty good shape, considering we used it untreated for so long. There were no major stains or warping.

Gather stain materials and choose a color

We tried out many different colors of stain, before deciding to mix our own. Ultimately we chose Minwax Driftwood and Dark Chestnut. We mixed the blend in a small empty paint can and applied with a staining pad.

Follow up with a coat of polyurethane

Two coats of stain were applied and one coat of polyurethane. I didn’t take any photos of the poly process. It’s pretty straightforward; apply with brush and let dry according to product directions.

Install corner cabinet

The corner of where the cabinets meet is hollow, and perfect for storage. The only problem is that it is only accessible from the top. The nook is “L” shaped with two separate pieces of butcher block. In order to keep that as useable space, we thought to create a lid. That meant cutting the block up and figuring out how to make the lid. Clever husband made supports out of MDF that he secured to the wall. These allow for a hinge to attach, as well as extra support for the lid to rest on.

Install hinge to lid

The mister found a hinge perfect for our lid. He attached one side to the lid and the other side to the MDF along the back wall along the inside of the cabinet.

Install lid to base

Securing the lid hinge to the MDF frame was tedious. The angle was awkward and the small screws kept coming loose when you tried to screw them in. We tried a couple different approaches until we found it was easiest for me to hold the lid while husband screwed down the hinge. Meanwhile, our son was running around in the background trying to show us his Lego tower. “Mama, mama, mama, papa, papa look at this!” Then he grabbed his toy drill to join in the fun!

We also installed a soft close lid support hinge, which I forgot to take pictures of. I did include it in the materials. It was fairly easy to install, but one of the hinge pieces broke during the process. The pack came with two hinges, so we took a piece from the second hinge. The lid is pretty heavy and just after a couple days of use, I see that a second soft close or even a hinge with the lid stay function would be really handy.

Secure lid

Once the lid was in place, all sections of the block were secured to the cabinet frame. The lid is seen in the photo above, just under where the screw is being drilled. The piece of wood laying across the bench is the quarter round wood used along the edges where the bench and wall meet; see below.

Install final touches

To create a finished look, my husband used quarter round wood along the bench edges.

Before and After

It feels good to wrap this up. In the above “before and after” you can see it took quite a bit of work to get to final stages! When we toured the home before buying, the nook appeared as the photo on the left shows. Up next, I would love to finally make a cushion for the bench!

Frequently Asked Questions

How long will it take to build a breakfast nook? We didn’t dedicate entire days to work; it was chunks of times here and there. I also wasn’t sure if I should include the time taken to install the cabinets or just the butcher block process. And do you include research and shopping?? I estimated 5 days if you were able to dedicate entire days to this and you didn’t take almost 2 years to decide on a color!! Another thing is drying time between coats. We followed the product instructions, and basically let each coat dry over night.

How much does it cost to build a breakfast nook?

Costs will vary depending on the type of butcher block, base and amount needed.

Where can I buy cabinets to build a breakfast nook?

We bought ours from CliquStudios, but places that sell cabinets like Home Depot or Lowe’s can work too.

Materials

Ideas to get the look without the DIY

Thank You!

Hope you enjoyed reading about how to make a breakfast nook bench, and more specifically how to make a breakfast nook with cabinets. Pin the image above to save this article for later! I would love to hear what you think about this project. Thanks for reading and visiting my casa!

For another great before and after, you have to see what we found behind faux wood paneling.

Or check out this handy tip for old windows.