Bar counter in the kitchen, types and installation

The bar counter in the kitchen is installed for var­i­ous rea­sons: in order to increase the area of ​​the work­ing sur­face, to main­tain mod­ern trends, or as an ele­ment of decor. Such a piece of fur­ni­ture will suc­cess­ful­ly fit into the design of any style. There are a large num­ber of options for such struc­tures. For this rea­son, before mak­ing a final choice, you should study the mar­ket, pay­ing atten­tion to the main cri­te­ria: con­fig­u­ra­tion, mate­r­i­al. An impor­tant para­me­ter is the appear­ance of the prod­uct, because it must suc­cess­ful­ly fit into the inte­ri­or.

Modern kitchen design

If you are inter­est­ed in the ques­tion of whether a bar counter is need­ed, you should learn more about what func­tions it can per­form. More recent­ly, such a piece of fur­ni­ture was used in restau­rants and cafes. With it, you can cre­ate a lighter, more com­fort­able atmos­phere. If ear­li­er the rack was installed main­ly in the West, today it is often includ­ed in the design project of res­i­den­tial premis­es in Rus­sia and oth­er coun­tries.

The kitchen bar counter dec­o­rates the room, gives it spice. Today, such a piece of fur­ni­ture is no longer con­sid­ered a lux­u­ry, but is used every­where.

The bar counter not only looks attrac­tive, but also dif­fers in func­tion­al­i­ty. So, this design ele­ment simul­ta­ne­ous­ly solves the fol­low­ing tasks:

• divi­sion of space into work­ing areas;
• there is an addi­tion­al coun­ter­top for cook­ing;
• the bar counter empha­sizes the style of the inte­ri­or, but this is only pos­si­ble if it has been cor­rect­ly select­ed;
• this piece of fur­ni­ture con­tributes to the cre­ation of a more com­fort­able atmos­phere;
• it is pos­si­ble to pur­chase a bar in the desired style direc­tion (clas­sic, hi-tech, avant-garde, etc.);
• if nec­es­sary, select a mod­el of a prod­uct equipped with a plu­ral­i­ty of draw­ers;
• sav­ing space, which is due to the com­pact dimen­sions and the sig­nif­i­cant height of the work­top, which makes it pos­si­ble to hide the chairs inside the struc­ture.

If the ques­tion is how to choose a bar counter, the advice of pro­fes­sion­als will help with this:

Variety of design solutions

It should be based on the para­me­ters of the room. For instal­la­tion in large kitchens, you can con­sid­er any options. In this case, the most pop­u­lar solu­tion is the bar counter in the form of an island, mount­ed sep­a­rate­ly from the kitchen unit. If the room is small, it is nec­es­sary to con­sid­er oth­er designs: trans­form­ers, fold­ing, rotary, cor­ner, for instal­la­tion along walls or win­dows. Options such as a rack-table and a design with many draw­ers are also pop­u­lar. These types of bar coun­ters save space.

In the form of an island

The ide­al solu­tion in the pres­ence of free space would be a kitchen set and a free-stand­ing bar counter (island type). This design allows you to solve sev­er­al prob­lems at the same time: it increas­es the area of ​​the work­ing sur­face, it is used as a din­ing table and bar counter. The prod­uct is often installed in the mid­dle of the room. If a stu­dio apart­ment is being equipped, a par­ti­tion is placed at the cen­tral point of the zone reserved for the kitchen.

Such designs are diverse, but in most cas­es a stand is installed in the form of a cab­i­net, in which draw­ers are laid, com­mu­ni­ca­tions are built in, which makes it pos­si­ble to mount even a sink. If a din­ing table is select­ed for a spa­cious kitchen, the bar counter will be the best solu­tion. How­ev­er, for this pur­pose, it is rec­om­mend­ed to pur­chase a design with­out addi­tion­al ele­ments. To oper­ate this piece of fur­ni­ture as a din­ing table, the sim­plest mod­el is enough.

Folding structures transformers

In the unfold­ed state, such prod­ucts are a full-fledged rack. If you fold it, some area will be freed up, which is essen­tial for small apart­ments. Fold­ing struc­tures can be attached to any wall. They con­sist of a work sur­face (table top) and an abut­ment (pipe)/brackets.

The inte­ri­or of the kitchen with a fold­ing bar counter looks rus­tic. How­ev­er, if there is not enough free space, you can sac­ri­fice sophis­ti­ca­tion by choos­ing a func­tion­al, but less attrac­tive prod­uct. The dimen­sions of the rack-trans­form­ers vary. How­ev­er, small­er mod­els are more in demand than oth­ers. This is a jus­ti­fied choice, giv­en that a fold­ing bar counter is more often mount­ed in small kitchens.

Trans­formable struc­tures are offered in two ver­sions:

• fold­ing;
• slid­ing.

Prod­ucts of the first group are ful­ly fold­ed. Slid­ing racks do not change in shape and con­fig­u­ra­tion. They are a struc­ture that, if nec­es­sary, is pulled out from under the coun­ter­top. A slid­ing trans­form­ing bar counter for a small-sized kitchen is also more suit­able than sol­id, sta­tion­ary coun­ter­parts. When choos­ing such a mod­el, you should pro­vide free space next to the coun­ter­top, near which the struc­ture will be installed.

in corner kitchens

If the head­set is installed in the cor­ner of the room, you can place a bar on one side of it. Thanks to the par­ti­tion, the illu­sion of a sep­a­rate kitchen is cre­at­ed. If you look from the side, this room is per­ceived as such. The cor­ner bar counter for the kitchen is installed in sev­er­al ways:

• in the form of a sep­a­rate par­ti­tion that acts as an addi­tion­al coun­ter­top;
• as a con­tin­u­a­tion of the head­set.

The lat­ter option is prefer­able. In this case, the design looks more organ­ic. It is impor­tant to use the same mate­r­i­al for the coun­ter­tops, then it will be pos­si­ble to cre­ate the appear­ance of a sin­gle prod­uct. If the rack is installed sep­a­rate­ly, the seam may be vis­i­ble. It is cov­ered with an alu­minum lin­ing. It is not nec­es­sary to make a cor­ner, you can place a semi­cir­cu­lar design in the kitchen. At the same time, there is a slight sav­ing in space. Cor­ner kitchens with a break­fast bar are often equipped along with the instal­la­tion of an island-type prod­uct.

Folding and turning

Both options are infe­ri­or in appear­ance to sol­id, sta­tion­ary prod­ucts. Fold­ing bar coun­ters allow you to tem­porar­i­ly increase the cook­ing area, after which the struc­ture is assem­bled. The table­top can be lift­ed, in some mod­els it falls. Brack­ets and self-tap­ping screws are used to fas­ten the reclin­ing work sur­face. If a mobile mobile struc­ture is con­sid­ered, it can be installed in any con­ve­nient place, how­ev­er, the height of this prod­uct should be slight­ly low­er than the coun­ter­top under which it is planned to hide it.

The rotary bar counter is a design with a pipe. It not only slides out from under the hid­ing work sur­face, but can also be posi­tioned at any angle: per­pen­dic­u­lar or along the coun­ter­top.

Such mod­els are com­bined. They are called retractable. You can use the rack attach­ment type. It becomes part of the island or table, because it increas­es the area of ​​the work­ing sur­face. There is no attach­ment to the wall or fur­ni­ture. The struc­ture is inde­pen­dent. You can even make a bar counter of this type with your own hands.

Along the walls

This is more of a func­tion­al solu­tion than a design move. The need to posi­tion the prod­uct along the wall is often due to the min­i­mum free area. In addi­tion, such struc­tures can be trans­formed, which fur­ther saves space. They also place a rack against the wall in order to replace a full-fledged din­ing table with such a prod­uct, which also comes from the need to free up some space in the kitchen.

The wall bar counter bears lit­tle resem­blance to an attrac­tive sta­tion­ary struc­ture installed in the cen­ter of the room (island type). If you mount such a prod­uct near the wall, you will need an addi­tion­al source of light­ing, because you will have to sit with your back to the ceil­ing lamp and the win­dow. Users who pre­fer this mod­el are right in one thing — a wall-type bar counter takes up lit­tle space, espe­cial­ly if its height allows you to hide chairs under the table­top.

By the window

The rack is placed par­al­lel or per­pen­dic­u­lar to the win­dow block, the choice of its posi­tion is deter­mined by the con­fig­u­ra­tion of the kitchen and the pres­ence / absence of free space near the open­ing. It is more con­ve­nient to install this design along the win­dowsill. This saves space. This option is suit­able for small spaces, for exam­ple, when it is not pos­si­ble to install a din­ing table.

If the area of ​​​​the room is sig­nif­i­cant, you can place the rack near the win­dow per­pen­dic­u­lar to the open­ing. This method is also suit­able for cas­es where it is nec­es­sary to dis­tin­guish between a stu­dio apart­ment, sep­a­rat­ing the kitchen from the liv­ing room. It is advis­able to use this method if the win­dow is locat­ed near the kitchen set.

With shelves and drawers

This option is a struc­ture closed on one or two sides. Its advan­tage is the abil­i­ty to use addi­tion­al shelves and draw­ers. It is advis­able to install a prod­uct of this kind in the kitchen, where food is often pre­pared, and for this pur­pose a large num­ber of dish­es, uten­sils, con­tain­ers for bulk and dry prod­ucts were pur­chased. At the same time, it becomes pos­si­ble to feel more free in the work­ing area, since a lit­tle space will be freed up on oth­er shelves and sur­faces.

It is rec­om­mend­ed to install a design option that is open on one side. In this case, it is much more con­ve­nient to sit: there is a space under the table­top where you can posi­tion your legs.

On the sides and on the back wall of a free-stand­ing struc­ture there will be draw­ers / shelves. Users who pre­fer ful­ly open racks will have to opt out of this option, as it does not pro­vide for the pos­si­bil­i­ty of installing addi­tion­al struc­tur­al ele­ments.

Rack-table

This is a com­bined ver­sion, it is a two-lev­el design. The din­ing table and bar counter are com­bined. The low­er lev­el is used dur­ing meals. Part of the struc­ture with a work­ing sur­face locat­ed above is oper­at­ed as a rack. This option helps free up space. It is safe for chil­dren, because there is no need to seat the kids on high chairs.

The kitchen table under the bar has a small area. For this rea­son, sev­er­al chairs can­not be placed near the bot­tom table­top; no more than 2 pieces can fit here. Accord­ing­ly, the rack-table is rec­om­mend­ed to be installed in small-sized kitchens.

Materials for the manufacture of racks

The most com­mon types:

• tree;
• dry­wall;
• glass;
• a rock.

Prod­ucts of each group have their pros and cons, so it is rec­om­mend­ed to eval­u­ate the oper­at­ing con­di­tions at the stage of design selec­tion. To sim­pli­fy the task, options for bar coun­ters are con­sid­ered, tak­ing into account their com­pli­ance with the main require­ments:

Wooden

The fol­low­ing species are most often used: pine, nee­dles, birch, oak. The lat­ter option is more prefer­able, since it is char­ac­ter­ized by increased resis­tance to mois­ture, how­ev­er, prod­ucts made from this mate­r­i­al are more expen­sive than ana­logues. Wood­en bar counter is made of sol­id wood. In order to ensure mois­ture resis­tance, the sur­face is var­nished or oiled. Advan­tages:

• attrac­tive­ness;
• ver­sa­til­i­ty — a wood­en struc­ture will fit into the inte­ri­ors of most styles;
• long peri­od of oper­a­tion sub­ject to care­ful care;
• envi­ron­men­tal friend­li­ness.

The mate­r­i­al has more dis­ad­van­tages:

• com­plex care: it is not rec­om­mend­ed to use spe­cial clean­ing prod­ucts, a damp cloth is enough for clean­ing;
• over time, the prod­uct is deformed;
• expo­sure to mois­ture;
• high risk of dete­ri­o­ra­tion in appear­ance, which is facil­i­tat­ed by spilled liq­uids that stain the sur­face (cof­fee, tea, wine);
• with poor-qual­i­ty pro­cess­ing, you can dri­ve a splin­ter under the skin.

From drywall

Such mate­r­i­al is often used in con­struc­tion, includ­ing its use in the arrange­ment of var­i­ous struc­tures. A dry­wall bar counter has its advan­tages:

• ease of instal­la­tion;
• rel­a­tive­ly low price;
• the abil­i­ty to cre­ate a struc­ture of any con­fig­u­ra­tion: with bends, turns, etc.;
• the fin­ish­ing of gyp­sum boards (gyp­sum boards) can be dif­fer­ent.

The dis­ad­van­tages of this mate­r­i­al include low strength. For this rea­son, dry­wall is often attached to a met­al frame. In addi­tion, the plates are exposed to water.

Equip­ping the rack in the kitchen, it is rec­om­mend­ed to select a mate­r­i­al that has mois­ture pro­tec­tion.

Stone

Gran­ite, mar­ble, arti­fi­cial stone, brick are used. In most cas­es, the first two options are used in the man­u­fac­ture of coun­ter­tops. A bar counter for a kitchen made of arti­fi­cial stone is a uni­ver­sal solu­tion, as it can be used in inte­ri­ors of dif­fer­ent styles. Exter­nal­ly, the prod­uct of this type resem­bles a nat­ur­al mate­r­i­al. Advan­tages:

1. dura­bil­i­ty;
2. attrac­tive­ness;
3. strength;
4. mois­ture resis­tance.

Most designs are char­ac­ter­ized by ver­sa­til­i­ty, the only excep­tion is a brick bar counter. It will fit into the inte­ri­ors of some styles. Arti­fi­cial stone is more often used, sim­i­lar prod­ucts can be cre­at­ed from nat­ur­al stone, but the cost will be high­er. For this rea­son, gran­ite and mar­ble are used less fre­quent­ly.

glass

The use of designs with a trans­par­ent table­top is an unusu­al solu­tion. Glass bar coun­ters have their advan­tages:

• attrac­tive­ness;
• strength;
• mois­ture resis­tance;
• designs seem lighter, almost weight­less;
• long ser­vice life if used cor­rect­ly.

There are also many dis­ad­van­tages of such prod­ucts:

1. over time, attrac­tive­ness is lost due to the for­ma­tion of limescale in places of active use;
2. a glass bar for the kitchen will cost more than ana­logues;
3. dif­fi­cult care, because you need to reg­u­lar­ly remove traces of dish­es, drops of water.

Non-standard solutions

To make the orig­i­nal design, var­i­ous mate­ri­als are used. It is per­mis­si­ble to com­bine them at your dis­cre­tion, cre­at­ing prod­ucts of irreg­u­lar shape, with an unusu­al fin­ish. A bar table in the kitchen can have a sim­ple design, but at the same time look orig­i­nal. For exam­ple, an open-type rec­tan­gu­lar prod­uct is cre­at­ed, and the table­top goes into sup­ports. Oth­er non-stan­dard solu­tions:

• par­ti­tion wall;
• a two-lev­el stand of an unusu­al shape with a catchy design;
• aquar­i­um design, with an aquar­i­um inside.

In most cas­es, the right choice of acces­sories for the bar counter in the kitchen makes the par­ti­tion unusu­al.

Bar counter lighting

If such a design was installed for the pur­pose of zon­ing the room, it is rec­om­mend­ed to orga­nize the main light­ing above the work area. In the case when the island rack in the kitchen is mount­ed in the cen­ter, the lamps are installed direct­ly above it. Addi­tion­al­ly, it is nec­es­sary to orga­nize the illu­mi­na­tion of dif­fer­ent parts of the room: the low­er part of the cab­i­nets, nich­es, etc.

If there is no desire to install a cen­tral lamp, you should choose the option with illu­mi­na­tion of dif­fer­ent zones: work­space, racks. This cre­ates a warmer, more com­fort­able atmos­phere. Light­ing above the bar is a must if it is used as a din­ing table.

Mounting Tips

The method of erec­tion of sup­port­ing struc­tures is deter­mined. If brick is used, you need to com­plete­ly lay the first row, then it will be eas­i­er to cre­ate even walls. In the case when a met­al frame is select­ed, it must be attached to the floor, if nec­es­sary, addi­tion­al fas­ten­ing to the wall is pro­vid­ed. Installing a fold­ing bar counter does not require much expe­ri­ence. In this case, the table­top is fixed to the wall with fas­ten­ers and brack­ets.

Slid­ing struc­tures often do not con­nect to the head­set. The most dif­fi­cult thing is to cre­ate a rotary rack, because in this case you need to accu­rate­ly deter­mine the loca­tion of the two ele­ments to be con­nect­ed. The dis­tance between the kitchen and the par­ti­tion should be small. The scheme of the bar counter is drawn up in advance, while tak­ing into account the dimen­sions of the future struc­ture and loca­tion in the room.