Coffee Bars Can Add Value to Your Home

BY DONNA BROADUS

About 10 years ago, I started encouraging and helping others to set up coffee/drink bars in their homes. Not only does it add something of interest, but it also provides extra storage and use. Plus, buyers love them!

I have helped install lots of different types of coffee bars. Some reimagined the “desk areas” of kitchens, which were popular in the 1990s; some were made by adding an antique chest, bookcase or sideboard to the kitchen. Others, like my own, were created by remodeling a closet and turning it into a coffee/drink station.

I recently remodeled two built-in coffee bars in what previously were pantry closets, for a house-flipping project completed last year, as well as in my own kitchen.

When we remodeled my kitchen more than a year ago, we expanded the cabinets and added an island into what once was a breakfast nook. When adding the extra cabinets, we installed a new, more usable pantry, alongside a new refrigerator. The old pantry was a closet on the other side of the refrigerator, which we left “as is” at the time of the remodeling, for extra storage.

However, I always wanted a separate area for my coffee machines and nugget ice maker. In March, I finally took the plunge. My contractor removed the old pantry door and frame, opened the sides of the closet to make it wider, and added a curved area at the top. Before adding a basic, white base cabinet with a drawer and bottom doors (from Home Depot) to fit into the new open area where the closet was, two electrical outlets were installed for the small appliances. An inexpensive butcher block was cut to make the counter for the cabinet base, as well as three matching floating shelves. We then installed leftover brick backsplash to match the kitchen backsplash. The project only took a day and a half to complete, and the total cost was around $1,200 for supplies and labor.

Last year, I did essentially the same thing in the flip house, by opening up a pantry closet that went under the stairs. However, we also removed the side wall to open the coffee bar to the kitchen and make the kitchen look much bigger.

For those “old desk areas” in many of the kitchens in the Towne Lake area, you can remove the upper cabinets and install floating shelves to make the area look separate from the rest of your kitchen. Most people I’ve worked with have added a wine fridge or an ice maker in the space below the desk space. This is less expensive than adding new cabinetry. Happy coffee drinking!