Booth Seating Dimensions?

[Mike Berrevoets]

I need to build a "L" booth for the corner of our kitchen. (Technically a Banquette I suppose)

We want a padded seat and I'm struggling with the seating dimensions.

What is a typical foam thickness and density for something like this? 2", 3", 4"?

If I'm shooting for a particular seat height how much is the foam going to compress?

Any rules of thumb for the angle of the seat back? I was thinking 10 degrees sloped back.

If I have a padded seat is there any reason to put a few degree slope on the seat itself?

I'd like to have something that is comfortable. I was thinking of doing a mock-up to double check the design but if I can narrow down some of these dimensions maybe I can just do one mock-up. Or, if this is all pretty standard stuff I can get away without doing a mock-up.

[Andrew Gibson]

Hi Mike I used to work in a cabinet shop that specialized in Restoration furniture. The foam density and thickness depends on the speck of the job. Some jobs called for a "30 minute seat" while others a "90 minute seat"
to make it more confusing one manufacturer may have a different firmness rating than another for the same foam... at least as I recall. A medium density foam should work well, we would use a 2" foam for a sports bar booth. But for a sit down restaurant 3" with a layer of 1/8" "car headliner" foam did the trick for a "60 minute". A "90 minute" would get 2" foam than a 1" of a step down in firmness, or make a 60" and use "zig-zag springs" instead of a solid base... but this takes sewing. I would not allow more than 1" for seat compression. And with a firmer foam maybe none at all.

For the back we would typically see something like 1" of setback for every 8" to 10' of height. A typical wedge for a seat back would be 1"-2" at the top, 3"-4" at the bottom, and 18" tall. We would cut these out of 2" thick sheets and just stack and glue to make the wedges, then wrap in headliner and upholster. The easy way to do it is make a 2" foam panel and pop it into a frame to set the angle. Use a softer foam for the back than for the seat. If you use a 2" foam find one that when you sit on it you do not feel the hard surface under the foam.

[Mike Berrevoets]

Andrew - Thanks for the info. I was looking at foam online tonight and it's very confusing. Medium, medium firm, lux, heavy duty, on and on. Prices all over the map for items that seem equivalent. This is almost as bad as buying a mattress....