Here’s how to make the perfect breakout breakfast space at home

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And yet, it’s often the one we spend the least amount of time, effort and expense on. Due to modern mismatched schedules, a lot of households don’t even share breakfasts together. While more formal mealtimes are resolutely taken at dining tables, breakfasts are far more flexible.

Solo breakfasts, for example, are far more lonely occasions, offering much-needed morning tranquillity in the right setting. Meanwhile, with larger groups, breakfasts can equally become buffets of both food and conversation. Either way, dedicated breakfast areas are perfectly designed to energise and prepare their users for the day ahead.

Breakfast bars sound fully committed to the demands of the morning meal, but most are simply double-depth kitchen islands with an overhang on one side. Facing the functional side of the kitchen allows serviced diners to continue their interactions with those preparing the food. The island in the Slab House in London, UK, for example, splits the two sides with colour, segregating function and living in the open-plan arrangement.

Kitchen islands with clear splits in height and material like Valcucine’s Artematica island allow breakfasting users to see those in the prep-space, while sitting at a comfortable table height. But if those seated for breakfast prefer to join the action of the living area, slim breakfast bars such as in the Bellarine Hillside House in Wallington, Australia, put the seats on the other side, looking out.

For those without the open space required for a kitchen island, breakfast bars are not so simple. The compact Operations Within Apartments project, for example, made space by fitting a breakfast bar that can be lowered into position, then raised away once the meal is done. But for small kitchens looking for more permanent breakfast settings, small round tables like Vista by Radis offer the perfect compromise. Fitting snugly into a kitchen corner and making sure buffet breakfast items are within reach at the centre of the table.

With a large footprint, the East End House in Long Island in New York State, US, has plenty of space for both a kitchen island and a small kitchen table, and a few more tables besides. With five separate seated dining spaces, hungry vacationers have their pick in the holiday home, each of them set alongside a glazed view of woodland or sandy beach.

In areas of the world where conditions are favourable, meanwhile, fully outdoor dining areas – serviced by flush bi-fold or sliding glass doors and populated with weatherproof cushioned seating, are arguably best utilised at breakfast time. For example, the sunken seating set into the central courtyard of Casa Las Olas in the Dominican Republic offers space under foliage ‘for breakfast in the dappled morning light.’ Explain the architects, Young Projects.

With much to do of a weekday morning, time is invariably of the essence and breakfast is often sacrificed, becoming a rushed version of its former self with a takeaway coffee and cereal bar. Breakfasteers low on both time and blood sugar can feel relaxed and energised in as little as five minutes, however, when given a small outdoor space or even just an open window to gaze out of.

The San Joaquin Terrace in Aguascalientes, Mexico, for example, shows how flush-fitted sliding doors can extend space to bring the indoors outside and fill morning routines with sunrise and birdsong from the surrounding environment. At the Terra Lodge Hotel in Cape Verde, meanwhile, rooms are given their own private terrace from which to take in views of the city before visitors even head down for breakfast.

Looking to save time on the morning schedule, many attempt to multi-task – instead of mixing up brushing one's hair and brushing one’s teeth, however, combining breakfast with bath time is a possibility. The integrated bathtub at the Daichi Isumi House, for example, sits alongside a wide flat surface perfect for holding croissants and cappuccinos. Meanwhile, versatile folding tables like X from Agape can position bath-improving items closer to hand.

One of the biggest luxuries you can have with your breakfast is to take it in bed. With the kitchen so far away, however, the desire to retire back there is often lost by the time it’s ready. House on a House’s master bedroom ingeniously features a helpful little cupboard kitchenette next-the-bed, meaning sleepy owners can wake, brew and relax, all without leaving the room.

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