Find Your Perfect Breakfast Bar Worktop
Breakfast bars worktops are a fantastically useful feature for almost any kitchen. They make the busiest room in the house more flexible, sociable and practical. And they needn’t take up much space at all.Â
They can be part of a main worktop or a kitchen island. They can also be free standing or butted up against a wall. Use them for informal snacks and meals, or as extra space for food preparation. Or sit on a stool and prop up a coffee or glass of wine while you chat with whoever is cooking – or take a quiet moment to solve a Wordle puzzle.Â
Breakfast bars are also perfect for youngsters to do a spot of homework with a plate of biscuits to hand. However you live, you’re always likely to make endless use of a breakfast bar.
How to choose a breakfast bar worktop for your kitchen?
Your breakfast bar needs to fit in with the overall look of your kitchen. If you are designing your kitchen from scratch, you have the opportunity to think about a breakfast bar with the same thoroughness as the rest of the room. As with your main kitchen worktops, we recommend using high quality stone for outstanding looks and matchless functionality.
You’ll need to think in terms of a depth of between 0.45m and 0.6m to give you enough room for a plate of food and a cup or glass. Each stool or seat at the bar needs a minimum of 0.5cm for comfort. So a breakfast bar which a family of four can use together should be in the region of 2m wide and 0.6m deep. But, of course, there’s nothing to stop you installing a smaller bar, even for a single seat. You do however need to think about the space around it – you really need 0.6m or more to make moving around comfortable.
A natural step is to use the same granite, quartzite or engineered stone as you use in the rest of the kitchen. Using the same colour and texture works very well in smaller rooms, rather than breaking your space into sections which can look bitty and make the room feel smaller than it is.  Â
But, particularly for standalone breakfast bars, a contrast material can create a look with extra interest and personality. Light and dark contrasts are always worth thinking about, as are complementary colours. If you have bolder tastes, you can use a dramatically bright or dark colour for your breakfast bar in the same way as you would for kitchen appliances or cabinets.Â
Why choose County Stone?
When you are investing in a new breakfast bar worktop, your stone needs to be supplied and fitted to the highest standards. The experienced team at County Stone will ensure that your countertop comes to you in perfect condition, and is installed to your exact specifications.Â
- Exceptional quality breakfast bar worktops
- A comprehensive range of breakfast bar colours and finishes
- Expert advice on the choices for your kitchen
- Hassle-free ordering
- Fast and efficient delivery and fitting
- Over 20 years of expertise and experience in worktops
How to add a breakfast bar to an existing kitchen
If you are adding a breakfast bar to an existing kitchen, or as part of renovation, it is definitely worth making sure the space works, as detailed above. In terms of materials, you may want to match matching existing surfaces. That’s more straightforward if you have man-made quartz or ceramic worktops, but matching can be tricky if you have natural stone – you’re unlikely to find exactly the same colours and patterns in a stone sourced at a different time from the original.
The rules for choosing a contrasting worktop are that there really aren’t any. It’s so much a question of personal taste. The only guidance we would give is to avoid anything that is too similar to the existing worktop. A smaller mismatch never works as well as a clear contrast.
Get a quote on breakfast bar worktops
What customers say about County Stone
Absolutely stunning! I am so pleased with every aspect of this company from sourcing my choices to edging, templating, fitting and finish. Thank you so much.
Annette Robinson
Fantastic service from a great company. Every member of staff we dealt with (sales, templating, installation) were friendly, knowledgable and incredibly professional. I would not hesitate to use them again. Highly recommended
Rob Slade
Great service from choosing to fitting our kitchen work top. A very professional service. Thank you County Stone
Nina Welch
Thank you so much to the team at County Stone, our worktops look amazing and have transformed our boring new build kitchen! The process was so easy and fast, excellent service
Gemma Savage
Breakfast Bar Worktop Ideas
1. Make a breakfast bar part of a kitchen island
These days, kitchen islands are a hugely popular feature of larger kitchens. They provide a work surface and space for a hob which aren’t looking into a wall, so whoever is cooking can face family and guests and chat while they chop and stir. As we all know, today’s kitchens are sociable spaces, not old-fashioned, tucked away places to work.
The kitchen island becomes even more sociable if there’s seating on the side facing the chef – that’s perfect place to relax and share the latest gossip, news and opinions. It can also be just as good for grabbing something to eat or using a laptop.Â
2. A lower level breakfast bar
Your island breakfast bar doesn’t have to be at the same level as the part of the island for cooking. The normal height for an island worktop is 0.9m, which is fine if you are sitting on a tall stool. If the breakfast part of the island is dropped down to normal dining table level (about 0.7m), it becomes a very attractive feature, and makes the bar distinct from the food prep area.Â
3. A higher breakfast bar
If you opt for a standalone or wall-mounted breakfast bar, you have the option of going higher, with taller kitchen stools. Going up to 1.2m for a high breakfast bar means you introduce a new plane which adds design interest to your kitchen – yet the surface is just as useful. And being higher than the rest of your kitchen work surfaces nothing’s going to spill onto it from below!
4. Make sure there’s room to tuck away kitchen stools  Â
Breakfast bars are great for making the best use of the space in your kitchen. To make sure you can move around as freely as possible when no-one’s sitting at the breakfast bar, allow enough room under it to tuck away or slide in kitchen stools.Â
5. Breakfast bars for smaller kitchens
If there’s limited floor space in your kitchen, it doesn’t mean you can’t have a breakfast bar. But you might need a different way of using space. For example, if you have an island, your breakfast bar may need to be a simple overhang on the short side rather than the long side. And for standalone or wall-mounted options, consider a narrower worktop. Even at around 0.35m, a breakfast bar can be a useful kitchen feature. Backless stools too are easier to tuck away completely, so don’t shy away from them. And bench seats can also be useful space savers.
6. Different shapes for breakfast bars
Breakfast bars are usually rectangular but they don’t have to be. Curves can look tremendous, and with skilled stonemasons like the County Stone team, there’s no limit to the shapes you can choose. Curves are not just about looks – they also make conversation easier along the line of seats.
You can also opt for L-shapes, or even U-shapes, depending on the space in your kitchen. As soon as you move away from simple rectangles, you give your kitchen a touch of originality and extra interest.Â
7. Breakfast bar or kitchen table?
Kitchens often feature a table that’s for general use. But space might mean you need to choose between a kitchen table and a breakfast bar. Many designers would argue that there’s often little point in having both.Â
If you have enough room, it’s well worth considering a breakfast bar that’s big enough for a family meal, or for informal entertaining. You’ll need at least two sides to sit at so you can chat easily, and you’ll need a surface that’s big enough for all the dishes you want to put out.Â
The advantage of a large breakfast bar over a table is that you can specify work surfaces which are the same as the rest of the kitchen to create a beautifully harmonious look. Stone kitchen worktops are also simple to live with – they don’t need table cloths or other coverings, and are easy to wipe down. They are stylish, and so much more hard-wearing than normal table tops. If you love stone surfaces, a larger breakfast bar could be exactly what it takes to perfect the look of your kitchen.  Â
8. No shortage of colour options
Breakfast bars give you a full range of options on colours and materials, not just for the surface, but also for side panels and supports. Running the same stone material as the surface down the side of breakfast bar can look superb, as can using strong pops of colour for supporting posts or back panels.Â
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Thinking about a breakfast bar? Get in touch now for a quote for a beautiful stone worktop. Our experts will tell you about the options and how a breakfast bar could be the perfect finishing touch to your kitchen.Â
See all our independent 5-star reviews and customer photos:
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