From the guest working on a laptop or reading a novel to the group of friends catching up, coffee shops are now a very popular spot for a wide range of customers.
This simply entails that your coffee shop interior has the ability to engage your guests, increase comfort, and urge them to become loyal patrons. A coffee shop is a basically a café that serves coffee, a variety of coffee related beverages along with light refreshments.
A coffee shop is an informal restaurant. A coffee shop can range from an owner – operated small business to a multinational corporation such as Starbucks.
From both a business and cultural perspective, coffee shops serve as locations for social interaction where customers can engage with others, read, write, study, entertain each other or pass time. So the décor tend to resemble that of a bookstore displaying pictures of various artworks on the walls.
A coffee shop interior design is usually similar to a café but many of them are adapting to the industrial design and the metal/wood combination in restaurant furniture.
People working in the coffee industry can feel confused about the design for their environment especially when it comes to finding the elements that showcase their business the best. It is always advisable to take a step back to look at the business as a whole and see what the venue can offer on all fronts. This can help you decide which interior design works best.
Always have it in mind that a successful coffee shop and/or a café will infuse everything the brand represents into a three-dimensional space. The venue’s interior, customer service and product can be brought to life through innovative graphics and branding.
Note that efficient operations and a powerful identity can work together to establish something even bigger depending on how high you aim. Nonetheless, all factors need to work harmoniously and if any of them don’t, your business could suffer.
Different Types of Coffee Shop Furniture
The interior of a Coffee shop sets the tone of your space and should be consistent with your brand. Since some café customers will nip in for perhaps a few minutes, while others linger for an hour or more, it is important to offer different kinds of furniture to suit these different needs.
Your choice of furniture will also depend on whether your coffee shop is mainly serving beverages, or if there will be a more substantial food menu.
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Table of Content
Stools
These can be high or low. For instance, if you have a counter where customers can sit, high stools with footrests will be required; these are often metal/chrome, with cushioned seats, though more traditional wooden styles are available. Stools can also be low cubes, cylinders or in triangular shapes; these can be useful for more informal environments, for filling awkward corners, or for children.
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Tables
Café tables are usually smaller and lighter than restaurant tables. It might be wise to use a café space flexibly, rather than sticking to a rigid layout, and lighter, smaller tables will help you to achieve this, being easier to move around.
Coupled with conventional four – legged tables, there are pedestal tables and pyramid tables – these are supported by a column, rather than legs, and with a substantial, solid base. “Poseur” tables are higher and smaller, generally big enough only for single customers or, at a push, two.
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Side Chairs
A side chair is a chair without arms. This makes it easier to move the chair around and will save space by fitting under tables if necessary when not in use. This chair might be made from wood or metal and be traditional or contemporary in style.
Armchairs: In café furniture, this does not mean an “armchair” of the kind found in a domestic living room; it simply means a chair with arms. Additionally, these can be traditional or contemporary in style, in wood or metal. Armchairs will take up more space but offer customers greater comfort.
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Bentwood Chairs
Note that with their curved plywood forms and light, natural wood finishes, these chairs often echo the classic styles of great furniture designers such as Arne Jacobsen. They are strong, comfortable and stylish, giving a “continental” flavour to an environment.
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Stacking Chairs
For businesses that use their café space for other purposes, they will probably need stacking chairs. Stacking chairs are now available in a wider range of styles than many people realise. Many stacking chairs are aluminium, or with aluminium frames, with seats perhaps in wicker or wood – effects slats, though wooden models are also available.
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Outdoor Furniture
For a Coffee Shop with an outdoor space, at the front of your café, or in a terrace or garden at the rear – the furniture for this space will have to be hard-wearing and weatherproof. Metal is a common choice, though today’s synthetic wickers and wood – effect finishes are also durable and withstand the weather.
If your outdoor space is used only in the warmer months, its idea to use stackable furniture for this space so that it can be stowed away when not in use.
Main Coffee Table Styles
A coffee table is a long, low table which is specifically designed to be placed in front of (or next to) a sofa or upholstered chairs to support beverages, magazines, books, decorative objects, and other small items to be used while sitting, such as beverage coasters.
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Industrial Coffee Table
Industrial style evokes the purposeful look and feel of factory tools, leveraging metal and wood in more rough – hewn, sturdy construction. Note that these can pair well with loft – style living rooms, or stand in perfect contrast to softer surroundings.
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Parsons Coffee Table
A modern square or rectangular table, a parsons table has four flush, square legs that are equally as thick as the flat top. According to reports, the parsons table is a modern design created in the 1930s. Even with its simple shape, a parson’s coffee table can be embellished with upholstery or different materials to fit many design schemes.
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Shaker Coffee Tables
Shaker furniture is a unique style of furniture developed by the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, commonly known as Shakers, a religious sect that had guiding principles of simplicity, utility and honesty. Most of their beliefs were reflected in the well-made furniture of minimalist designs. Furniture was constructed thoughtfully, with functional form and proportion.
Instead of using ornamentation — such as inlays, carvings, metal pulls, or veneers — which was seen as prideful or deceitful, they developed “creative solutions such as asymmetrical drawer arrangements and multipurpose forms to add visual interest.”
Furniture was constructed from cherry, maple or pines lumber, which was generally stained or painted with one of the colours which were dictated by the sect, typically blue, red, yellow or green.
Drawer pulls for dressers or other furniture were made of wood. The classic design of the Shaker coffee table allows it to work in a range of rooms. It features simple straight legs, dovetail drawer with Shaker wood knob, and a slight bevel to the top detail.
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Mid Century Coffee Table
Mid – century modern simply means the interior design style that was popular between the 1950s and 1960s. Mid – century modern coffee tables are characterised by clean, simple lines and bent wood or moulded plastic construction. Most of the time, wood furniture has a simple finish to show off its natural beauty.
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Cottage Coffee Tables
Have it in mind that cottage style is as much a frame of mind as it is an approach to decorating. There’s an everyday ease in the way it celebrates imperfections, ordinary treasures and blended families of furniture. Note that cottages tend to be humble, unpretentious and full of heart — traits most of us would be proud to claim.
Both cottage and country styles feature feminine lines and detailing, such as turned legs. Painted and distressed finishes are common features of country and cottage coffee tables.
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Modern Coffee Table
This simply refers to furniture produced from the late 19th century through the present that is influenced by modernism.
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Contemporary Coffee Table
Though contemporary and modern may seem interchangeable, contemporary style refers to what is currently popular. Contemporary designs more or less feature stark interiors with bold, bright accents. Glass tops and metal bases are common features of contemporary coffee tables.
Conclusion
Furnishing a coffee shop can leave you with a headache that not even caffeine and a croissant can fix. But, it doesn’t have to be that way; although larger eateries have space to experiment with different themes and trends, coffee shops have a special kind of ambience and they are the perfect space to display individual style and character.
By nailing down your brand and selecting décor to express it, you can be well on your way to creating a successful coffee shop.