Bar counter in your kitchen

Furnishing the kitchen in a modern way, it is difficult to deny yourself such a pleasure as a bar counter. It creates a special holiday mood, relaxedness and ease, quite organically fits into the modern style of housing, into our hasty life. Suitable both in a large modern kitchen of an isolated type, and in a kitchen combined with a dining room, when there is a need for an easy conventional division of space. Its appearance in the residential interior is inspired by the culture of restaurant food and “fast food” that has come to us from the West. But in Russia, as you know, they know a lot about food, they like to sit in detail, to eat slowly, with feeling, sensibly, with an arrangement, not like some. Therefore, the bar has acquired its own “national characteristics”. First: it is most often located in the kitchen or tied to it in meaning and constructiveness. Second: in the overwhelming majority of cases, it does not replace a free-standing table, but organically complements it. If someone here and there sometimes abolishes a full-fledged dining table, leaving only a bar in the dwelling, then he is probably wrong. And it is certainly not right if there are small children in the house. A child has no place on a high bar stool.

Consider several types of this fashionable detail of a modern interior..

Classic bar counter is a tall element on bar consoles. Its height from the floor is 110-115 cm. High chairs or stools with a comfortable crossbar – a footrest, with or without armrests – are organically combined with this option. Optionally, you can make the stand and the seats not very high.

Combination with a dining table. In this case, its height is equal to the height of the working surface (90 cm), and appropriate chairs of average height (63-65 cm) are selected. It is convenient to sit on such a chair when working in the kitchen..

Combined composition usually has two levels of height. The one that is higher serves as the actual bar counter, and the second level, lower, becomes a table. This option is often used when a bar counter separates the kitchen from the living room. The dining table area pivots towards the kitchen and the high area faces the living room. This is sometimes very convenient, it is only important that such a combined structure does not lose its aesthetics..

Bar counter in the kitchen block in the center of the room looks very good in spacious rooms. This is a popular kitchen layout, in which an “island” appears in the room. A hob and a small sink are placed on it, and the “island” is extended by the construction of the bar counter, fixed on consoles. Sometimes in such a symbiosis it is even difficult to understand which is which. But there are fans of this option. This design is especially attractive for the hosts who like to receive guests and treat them with ardor, with heat, special dishes prepared with their own hands “in front of the amazed audience.” How is it done in exotic, oriental restaurants.

Bar. Here we say: kitchen, kitchen … But the bar counter did not appear in the kitchen, although, it seems, everyone has already forgotten about it. In spacious apartments, it becomes possible to create a full-fledged bar as a separate world, not tied to the kitchen in any way. It has a small sink, a small refrigerator for liquors, juices and fruits. Well, and the accompanying background: cabinets or shelves with glittering bottles.

In this case, the stand seems to return to square one. It really becomes a place for leisure, easy communication with a glass in hand. Such a solution is most appropriate in a studio apartment in which one person or a young family lives. The bar can be located anywhere: in the billiard room, pool, video room.

Our today’s heroine does not belong to pieces of furniture, but to structures. In the catalogs of furniture factories, ready-made racks are practically absent. Manufacturers offer only their component parts: a wide variety of shelves, lighting, functional racks, different legs and plinths, countertops, chrome-plated or brushed metal fittings. From all this, they come up with their own version. It is clear that if the bar is located in the kitchen, then it should be of the same construct as the kitchen furniture. In the rest of the premises, its design is also tied to the general style solution of the interior..

In terms of composition, the bar counter can be single-level, two-level, multi-level, although the latter are now in less demand. Cabinets, if any, can be open, closed, glazed, with lights, stained-glass windows and without. Quite often, the rack is additionally emphasized from above – a special form of a level ceiling or a cornice-roof, which are made in the same style as it. Very often, such a cornice is decorated, equipped with lighting..

They make it … yes, from almost all those materials that we meet in the decoration of a modern interior: wood, chipboard, laminate, natural and artificial stone, glass, tiles, metal. These materials are often combined. Corian is now popular in the cladding of countertops. This is a composite material, very similar to natural marble, but more durable, and when damaged, it is sanded. The color palette is almost unlimited and includes a whole collection of “natural” options. It is incredibly plastic, unlike other materials, has practically no restrictions on choice, it allows you to make any configuration of the table top: rectangular, streamlined or even multifaceted. The shape is largely prompted by the room itself, the organization of the working area, the composition of the kitchen. But congestion with corners and bends is best avoided. It is important that it harmoniously fits into the ergonomics of the kitchen, does not interfere with movement. Countertops and countertops in the kitchen don’t have to be the same material. For example, the same Corian goes well with glass. In modern structures, there is generally a lot of glass: tabletops, doors for the lower cabinet, hanging glass shelves. In combination with lightweight leg designs, lighting, it all looks very beautiful.

Great importance in the organization of the bar is attached to the vertical space around it, lighting, hinges, items for accessories, light shelves. A so-called functional “tree” can adjoin it: for placing wine glasses, straws, napkins, glasses, fruits. Such a “tree” sometimes looks very picturesque, even obscuring the stand itself.

Here are options for small kitchens. If there is not enough space, but you really want to, combine the bar counter and the dining table in one multi-level composition. If the room is very tiny, then it is more rational to create only the appearance of a bar counter, that is, a slight extension of the working tabletop, without any lower cabinets and piles on top. In a small kitchen, the bar can be grafted onto a tree or functional counter designed to accommodate accessories. Many people want to have a high bar counter in a traditional kitchen, but this one will look inorganic here, the most appropriate bar counter will be as an extension of the countertop. You can adapt the plane of the cutting table for this matter.

When you “compose” your bar counter, the main thing is not to overdo it. This is especially true of the modern style with its consistency and even asceticism. Impressions from him are kept on clear lines, the horizontal arrangement of objects in space, the level of lines. You have to be very, very careful here. Keep in mind three main points: convenience (from the very beginning, decide how you are going to use the rack and whether the chosen design will be able to meet the assigned tasks), zoning (is there a need for a conditional division of space, and how does it solve this problem), aesthetics (how our “beauty” will look in the room, be combined with it).