Today's small space solution doesn't come from a home, but rather from a coffee bar wedged between two escalators in a Michigan Avenue mall. With just a couple of counter bars (a classic solution for tiny kitchens), the King Café at 900 N. Michigan made such good use of its limited space that it won an Interior Architecture Award from the AIA...
Esyn Design Architects created seating space for 10 people with a set of slim stools, two narrow bars, and cutout storage: all great ideas for a galley kitchen. If you're thinking of trying a similar setup in a home, check out these kitchen counter bars from AT, as well as our roundup of the top ten bar stools. To read the AIA's comments on why King Café won the Interior Architecture award, click here.
Photos: Mark Ballogg via AIA Chicago
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
I'll get right on this as soon as I install the escalators...
view bepsf's profile
I think this really cute cafe is one of the best pieces of new design in the city at the moment, glad to see it featured.
view dn's profile
I've been here. I noticed they make use of the space behind the escalators by putting in a creamer station & also a glass
enclosed area for what I am assuming is the cafe's only storage.
This is a good example that shows us that by making use of spaces that are normally voids in our homes, it can result in surprisingly useful functional spaces. For example, the space behind an open or closed stair, the long hallway and above or below a bed.
view nkr707's profile
Where are those bar stools from?
view dmoo83's profile