The Banquette: Boombastic or Booty Numbing?

What are your opinions about banquettes for dining and eat-in-kitchens?

In theory, I love them. I love the way the look, so cozy and intimate and comfortable.

But for some reason I can’t bring myself to pull the trigger on it. I worry it might be a little too reminiscent of Mel’s Diner or something.

Except for this one from Horchow:

That one is swoon worthy.

But the price tag is also enough to make you fall out, so I don’t even consider it in the running of candidates for my house. And while it is beautiful, I have to wonder how many people are supposed to sit on those chairs? Two people are expected to sit comfortably on each chair? For real? I don’t know about yall, but I don’t want to be all up in my neighbor’s Kool-aid while I’m eating. Nor do I want to feel like the Princess and the Pea while I’m eating. And while I’m examining this setup let me ask you this–if two people sit together on one bench do you have to coordinate efforts when scooting up to the table? How exactly does that work? Remember when cars had bench seats and both the driver and the passenger had to pull the lever underneath the seat and say “One..two…three..SCOOT!” to get the seat adjusted just right? That’s what I’m picturing here. Yeah, that ain’t as glamorous as it looks, Horchow.

But I digress…

Currently we have a pub height table in our kitchen. I followed the trend from a few years back and wound up with this one:

At first I really loved this table, mainly for it’s looks. But after a few years of actual everyday use it would not be my first choice again. I don’t like sitting up high. Because honestly? It makes my backside hurt when I sit there for too long. Just keepin it real here. That’s not something that gets advertised with these pub height tables, but they really should come with a warning label that says “May induce numb booty syndrome.” On the other hand, maybe that is God’s way of telling me to get my unskinny booty up and stop eating so many baked goods. If I ate at a banquette everyday, I might get so comfortable during dinner that I might not be able to fit in the booth after a while. Hmmm… something to consider.

For many moons I’ve said that I would love to have a banquette in my kitchen, as evidenced by my senior design project from all the way back in that last millennium called 1999.

See? There’s a banquette over behind that creepy kitty.

My tastes have changed over the years, of course, but this is one thing that is still on my to-do list for my dream house designs. When I ran across that photo of the Coventry collection on the Ballard Designs site it reignited my fire for the banquette dining bench. I figure after ten years of lusting it’s time to follow through.

I think I might need one in my next house. Plus I would just love to be able to write a blog entry called “Breaking Bread and other Baguettes in my Banquette” because I am an alliteration whore.

Does anyone have any experience with one in their home? Do you love it? Hate it?

Does your booty get numb in it?

These are things that I need to know, Innernet. Holler at me.