Folding benches for small kitchen?

[Josh Reet]

We've got a really small kitchen with not much room for a dining table. And of course, we've got no dining room in our small house.

What I would like to do is make a set of fold up benches that would fold up to the wall and out of the way when we didn't have 4 people at the table. Allowing the table to be pushed to the wall rather than having the extra chairs in the way as in the photo.

Does that make sense?

If anyone has any design/plan ideas, I'd love to hear about them.

[Jamie Buxton]

Sure, that make sense. You might consider folding the seats down rather than up. The argument against folding up is that the seat could come slamming down if it is accidentally unlatched. There are commecial drop-leaf supports available (http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=772) which might not be strong enough for your application, but you can make the same mechanism from wood and make it as strong as you like. Something like that is supporting the outfeed table on my table saw, and it supports hundreds of pounds.

[Josh Reet]

Originally Posted by Jamie Buxton

Sure, that make sense. You might consider folding the seats down rather than up. The argument against folding up is that the seat could come slamming down if it is accidentally unlatched.

That's a really good point about folding down vs up. I hadn't thought about it. But for my purposes, either would work.

[Josh Reet]

Bump.

Anyone else?

[Jamie Buxton]

You'll likely get more responses if you propose a design and ask for critiques.

[Josh Reet]

Originally Posted by Jamie Buxton

You'll likely get more responses if you propose a design and ask for critiques.

I suppose. But if I had a design, I'd probably just build it.

So I guess I'll do that.

I was just hoping that someone had done something similar.

[Kevin Groenke]

How about a couple of brackets attached to the wall (or a substrate attached to the wall) with piano hinges or similar. The brackets support the bench when perpendicular to the wall but hide behind the seat when it is folded down on it's own piano hinges or similar.

This model is pretty quick and crude, but probably gets the idea across better than my description.

[Phillip Bogle]

I understand that you wish to maximize the floor space, and there never is enough of any space regardless of how big the house is.

One thought would be the benches you mention but not fold at all. You can have benches but you gain linen storage or book shelves or ???? Not just having a bench to get the most floor, but gaining more storage, and if you have a small house I would bet that you do not have enough storage either. There are nook plans or parsons benches, or mud benches that all incorporate storage.

Just a thought.

Phil

[Josh Reet]

Kevin -

That's along the lines of hat I was thinking of and would probably work just perfect.

Phillip -

I thought about that, but was worried that those types of benches would defeat my mission to be able to push the table to the wall.

[Brian Kent]

Here is what they do in tiny Russian apartments:

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/200...an-No-832.aspx

Gate leg tables that fold to almost nothing.

[Ben Hatcher]

Josh, First, the easiest solution, just store the extra two chairs somewhere and bring them out when you need them.

Why wouldn't you be able to push the table against the wall if you had more permanent benches? Just put some feet under it that are high enough to accomodate your table base. Make the back lower than the table top, or if you want to get fancy, make a back that raises when needed.

[Josh Reet]

Originally Posted by Ben Hatcher

Josh, First, the easiest solution, just store the extra two chairs somewhere and bring them out when you need them.

Yeah, if that was a easy possibility, I would have already done it. I live in a 900 sq ft house with wife, toddler, wife's pregnant belly, 100lb dog and multiple cats. There's not a lot of extra room for storage except for out in the shop in somewhat inaccessible spots.

Originally Posted by Ben Hatcher

Why wouldn't you be able to push the table against the wall if you had more permanent benches? Just put some feet under it that are high enough to accomodate your table base. Make the back lower than the table top, or if you want to get fancy, make a back that raises when needed.

I was thinking that any back high enough to be useful would end up being at tabletop height. Whereas with wall mount benches, you'd have the wall to use as a back (without worrying about the bench sliding as with backless benches). but perhaps I will measure and look as some bench plans to see if my assumption is incorrect.

[Paul Atkins]

Looks like the window moulding would hit you in the middle of the back. Turn a chair sideways and sit leaning against to see. You might have to make a back for the bench too. I think the fold down bench would be a good idea, but it seems like the table top would hit the wall before the legs hit the bench.

[harry strasil]

Nesting stool benches, each one of the 3 top ones just enough biger to slip over the previous one, and a shaker style pedestal table that the top folds over to one side.

Or a good quality card table and folding chairs.

http://www.walmart.com/search/search...x=12&Find.y=14

http://www.woodmagazine.com/woodwork...trestle-table/