Coastal Kitchen Design With Breakfast Nook: Behind The Design With Real Examples

This post is about a coastal kitchen design I completed for a project.

The interior design style of modern coastal has been becoming more and more popular lately.

And I really love that it’s starting to trend more, because I think it can look really beautiful, even if a home isn’t necessarily on the beach.

So in this post, I’m sharing a little behind-the-scenes of a project I did where I was choosing the finishes, fixtures, and furnishings for an open-concept kitchen and breakfast nook.

The key was to keep things restrained and focus on the soft colors of sand, water, and sky…and then translate those elements into everyday selections that wouldn’t go out of style and would hold up to the daily wear-and-tear of a kitchen.

So here’s I did it:

Finishes and fixtures of a coastal kitchen design

Behind the design:

Engineered hardwood flooring throughout the kitchen and attached breakfast nook – This is a very durable option that still brings all the beauty and warmth of genuine hardwood flooring. The white oak color also plays the role of our ‘sand’…a gorgeous natural tone that won’t go out of style.

Quartzite countertop and slab backsplash – I believe natural materials are best, and when it’s too costly to use marble, I tend to recommend quartzite. The Florida Wave specification is especially lovely for this coastal-inspired design.

Super white walls and cabinetry – The idea was to keep things bright, like a day at the beach. And the paint color Super White by Benjamin Moore definitely achieves this. The recommendation here is to go with an eggshell finish on the walls and a satin finish on the cabinetry to create a subtle visual difference.

Mixed metal finishes – I am strongly anti-matching metal finishes! In this design, the cabinets and sink tap are in a polished nickel finish, and the task and accent lighting feature brass finishes. This subtle contrast helps keep everything from being too matchy and flat.

Subtle colors and texture – Finally, the soft furnishings in the kitchen bring in more of that coastal vibe. The island seating features a seagrass material, and the kitchen runner rug brings in a touch of blue, like waves gently lapping the sand.

Coastal kitchen breakfast nook

Behind the design:

This home featured an open-concept kitchen with a breakfast nook off the side.

So the design of this small yet important area of the kitchen had to complement all the elements within the main part of the kitchen.

Engineered hardwood flooring – This is the same flooring as the main kitchen area that’s carried into the breakfast nook.

Wallpaper – Since the kitchen is bright and airy with its Super White paint, we can have a little fun in the breakfast nook by bringing in more color and pattern. This light blue wallpaper very much keeps with the coastal color palette, and the scalloped design is reminiscent of seashells…without literally being seashells!

Custom banquette – The breakfast nook sits in a small rectangular area. To make the most of the space, a custom banquette can be built to hug the wall. This banquette will allow more sitting room than a typical free-standing table and chair setup. (If you like this idea, be sure to check out this post with more ideas for built-in breakfast nooks!)

Multiple sources of light – I always like to design a lighting plan that allows for different lighting scenarios. In this case, the triple-arm sconces (with this amazing scallop shade detailing!) can be installed on the wall above the banquette for either extra lighting or to create a more cozy, intimate vibe when the larger overhead pendant light is off. And you’ll see that these light fixtures also have that brass detailing, matching the lighting in the main kitchen area.

Material colors and textures – Since there’s color happening on the walls with the wallpaper, it would be best to keep the banquette simple and go with an off-white performance fabric. Performance fabric is a great choice for the banquette and the throw pillows because in a space like this because it’s much more resistant to food and liquid stains, as well as durable to everyday use sliding in and out of the banquette.

The custom window treatment and pendant light feature rattan materials that again bring in that beachy vibe.

How to embody the modern coastal style in your suburban home

If there’s one thing to take away from this post it’s this: Don’t go literal.

These coastal kitchen and breakfast nook designs work well because they’re inspired by a coastal/beachy elements: sand, water, sky, brightness, and nature.

I translated those elements into timeless design features that when pulled together, create the feeling of being at the beach.

Keep it so subtle that the design style is more subconscious and less obvious.

An example of this is in the smaller details: in the breakfast nook design above, the sconces have scalloped shades…like little waves. And the wallpaper also features a scalloped design, but if you look closely, it’s botanical leaves that are arranged in this shape…it’s not actual shell print.

If someone walks into your coastal kitchen and can immediately say “This is a coastal/beachy kitchen”…you’ve probably gone too literal.

But if someone walked into your coastal kitchen and used more feeling words like bright, clean, serene, timeless, organic, natural to describe it…then you’ve probably nailed it.

Because good coastal design (and good interior design all around) isn’t about creating a theme…it’s about creating a feeling.