When we first toured our current home, we noticed that there was a separate freezer in a little nook within the kitchen. I immediately thought that it would be the perfect spot for a little coffee bar since we would be replacing the lab fridge with a standard kitchen fridge/freezer combo.

The day we started moving in we started demolition of the kitchen. The “dining room” and kitchen were raised about 6″ higher than the “living room” (I have dining and living in quotes because it is really one big great room).

Since the house only has 8′ ceilings, getting those 6 inches back was important, plus I was bound to trip up or down the step multiple times.

We weren’t sure what sort of utilities were run through this step, so we started demolition with the kitchen island so we could peer into the step and see inside. It turned out we could easily run everything in the joists!

With the step getting removed, that meant that all of the pantry (and future coffee nook) walls needed to be updated since they would no longer go to the floor. Since we needed to redo all the walls, we were able to customize this nook to the perfect size.

We decided to make the coffee bar nook large enough to hold our wine fridge and a small cabinet of drawers so it became more of a dry bar in addition to a coffee bar.

I wanted to do open shelving in the coffee nook to show off my coffee mugs and wine glasses. We also ended up putting some serving dishes up on the top shelf. My dad built the shelves, and we stained them in the same color as our handrails and my display nook.

The back wall is painted Behr Marquee Lagoon to correspond with the accent wall behind our TV in the living room.

When we moved in, I had an espresso machine that moved along with us; however, I had a specific espresso machine in mind that I wanted to buy eventually (with integrated bean hopper) so we made sure that it would fit whenever I made the purchase.

Since this coffee bar was essentially built from scratch, we took advantage of the open floors to run a water line to the nook in case I ever upgrade to an espresso machine that requires water input.

My mom regularly watches Emmett so we added a mini Keurig machine so she can get coffee throughout the day.

I’ve enjoyed trying a variety of small batch coffee beans, especially since COVID times. I find that the smaller batch beans are less oily and work better in the Breville Barista Express coffee machine.

I keep my beans in this glass canister from Target, and the pods are in a smaller version.

Most mornings I make a basic latte or mocha with a bit of chocolate sauce, but every once in a while I feel like being a bit indulgent with a flavored latte. I especially love these smaller syrup bottles that have an easy pour top, and wish that they came in more flavors!

I also keep my straws here for iced coffees, or other cold beverages. I got a few of these glass straws about 10 years ago and absolutely love them! They clean great in the dishwasher, but don’t have the odd feeling that comes from metal. So far, I’ve only broken one (well, technically the cat broke it).

While not everybody has the ability to design a coffee bar nook from scratch, a similar feel can be achieved in an existing kitchen. The key is to integrate both products that you use regularly, and items that you absolutely love.

Have a favorite coffee mug from that vacation you took? Show it off! Can’t live without a splash of vanilla syrup in your coffee? Make it easy to access! If you are ready for a little DIY project, an upper cabinet could be replaced with open shelves (just be prepared to do some drywall repair and painting).

Our coffee bar nook is used just about every day as I make my morning coffee (and sometimes an afternoon coffee as well). I hope it gives you some great inspiration for your own coffee spot.