There is a style or technique of home decoration that goes something along these lines. You’re out shopping for a new couch for your living room when you see a dining table that would work really well in your breakfast nook. So you buy it. Sometime later, your sister has just updated her dining room furniture and offers to give you the chairs from her old set. Now you add a “new” set of chairs to the table you bought awhile back. Then one day you’re out antiquing and you spot an antique farm house bench that would just complete all the furniture in your breakfast nook. You have a new table, newish chairs from a completely different dining set, and now an antique bench. Nothing “matches,” but everything goes great together. Buying a breakfast nook table set is sort of the opposite of that, except for the everything goes great together part.

I like buying sets of furniture and I also appreciate the look that buying furniture piecemeal can bring to a home. I think the mildly obsessive compulsive aspects of my personality lead me to prefer matching sets of furniture. In fact, I can remember getting in deep trouble with my mother when I was young because I complained that the silverware she was serving for dinner didn’t match. She still reminds me of that to this day. Back to the topic at hand.

A kitchen breakfast nook set generally will have a table, a single bench without a back, and an “L” shaped bench with a high back. When a manufacturer uses the term nook, they are frequently referring to the L shaped bench part of breakfast nook dining sets. The corner shape and back are remarkably good at giving the feeling that your new breakfast corner nook set is a separate and distinct part of the house. As the name implies, you’re assured that all the pieces in your set will match. This definitely takes all the guess work out of making sure disparate pieces of furniture go together.

Prices for complete breakfast nook sets range from $300 (or less depending on quality) and go all the way up to $2000 before any delivery fees. A good value price point falls between $1000 and $1200. I’m always trying to maximize space so I tend to favor benches with built in storage compartments. These compartments are great for storing board games, toys, or art supplies. You will be surprised how much you can pack into a breakfast nook set with storage. I would not expect to pay a premium for storage functionality.

Here are a couple of breakfast nook sets that I think are a good value.

The Santa Fe Breakfast nook set comes with a corner bench with backrest, a rectangular table, and backless straight bench. This set will comfortably seat four or five adults. The contoured and smooth design plus the rich dark brown finish really give the furniture a Southwestern feel. However, the thing that makes this collection unique is the “variegated” slate inlay on the backrest of the L shaped bench. Unfortunately, the Santa Fe lacks any kind of built-in storage. All in all, this is a sharp looking set is well worth the roughly $1100 purchase price.

The Soho Delfino breakfast nook set comes with a rectangular table, two chair, two backed benches, and corner piece that connects the benches. This set features a modern design with chrome metal finish on the legs of each piece. The chairs and benches have padded cushions with stain-resistant microfiber covers. Each bench has a lift up seat that reveals a shallow storage compartment. The Soho comes in a number of colors. This collection won’t disappoint if you’re in the market for a black breakfast nook set. The microfiber cushion covers aren’t suitable as a substitute for leather, so if you have your heart set on a leather breakfast nook set, look else where.

Chairs are going to be your traditional, safe bet and my personal preference given my family situation.  The prices for chairs can start from cheap and non-durable over a few short years and go all the way up to absurdly expensive where you’re basically paying for the label.  I tend to shoot for the best value.  Which means I look for the lowest priced chairs that will give me a usable product for many years.  We have a wide selection of materials to chose from for our chairs.  There is the standard stained wood, painted wood, or painted wood with a distressed finish if you’re going for a country feel to your kitchen.  Perhaps a more modern look is more in tune with your style.  In that case, you can also chose chairs constructed out of metal.  For example you can buy aluminum chairs, chrome chairs, or wrought iron chairs.  Wrought iron chairs might damage hard-wood floors so be careful.

Stools are a nice change of pace.  They can provide a livelier, more social feel to a kitchen at a reasonable price.  I have stayed away from stools mostly because I have young children.  They have fallen off of or knocked over our wide based chairs more times than I can count.  The problem would be an order of magnitude worse with stools.  When my kids get a little older, say in two or three years, I might consider low, metal stools with a chrome finish.  I think that would give our kitchen a nice classic 50s soda fountain feel.  We’ll have to see what’s in style at that point.  You might also be considering the taller bar stools.  I think tall bar stools are a great fit for a game room or kitchen counter, but I personally feel like a breakfast nook should have a medium height table.  Medium height tables render taller stools inappropriate.

Benches are a staple of “breakfast nook sets.” Breakfast nook sets frequently feature a rectangular table with one or two high-backed benches and one or two benches without backs.  The high-backed benches provide the suggestion of an area separate from the rest of the kitchen even if the set is inside the same four walls as the kitchen.  Many sets will also feature an L-shaped bench. Bench materials consist of the usual suspects, including wood and metal.  Although, benches are most often made out of wood.  Wood is common because it can readily be distressed to provide a rustic or country element to a kitchen.