The brunch scene is making leaps and bounds around the country, as cafes serving haloumi and bacon, smashed avocado, sugar-infused milkshakes and acai bowls continue to pop up on every corner. The food is great and the caffeine hit is welcomed with open arms, but it’s the café designs that really get people talking.
As breakfast and brunching becomes more popular, we are seeing cafés pull out all of the stops to create a lively and welcoming dining area that patrons simply can’t resist. Café owners are increasingly joining forces with specialist shop fitters such as TU Projects to design a space inspired by modern café trends that works well for customers and the business.
Here are five of our favourite café design trends right now!
Flora galore
Nothing sings spring like fresh blooms and a splash of colour. Flowers and plant life have been making their way into local cafes for some time now, adorning the tabletops, service counter, and front doorway of every humble café spot. We’re not talking about the bouquets you can pick up at your local supermarket, we’re talking about curated bunches filled with in-season blooms and greenery, all in the same colour palette of course. Some cafes are taking this to a whole new level and incorporating a leafy feature wall or vertical herb garden into their space to create an outdoor oasis that can be enjoyed all year round.
Untraditional seating arrangements
Like plant life, untraditional seating arrangements have become the norm when you think of sidewalk cafes, especially those with an alfresco dining area. The plastic restaurant chairs of the 2000’s are gone, replaced by funky seating arrangements such as long bench seats, mismatched antique chairs, padded milk crates, colourful cushions and high bar stools.
Open kitchen
Perhaps inspired by the concept of sharing food in the home, commercial café kitchens have followed suit and switched their kitchens to an open plan design rather than a hidden shack out the back. Many cafés and restaurants have adopted the ethos of bringing the kitchen into the café and making it a feature of the space, and it seems to be getting a huge tick of approval from diners who like to see where their food is being prepared.
Statement pendant light
Oversized and geometric pendant lights are in the spotlight when it comes to interior trends in the home, and cafes are no different. Opting for gorgeous droplights over each table, instead of florescent lighting, creates a stylish feature throughout the café and also sets an ambient mood for evening diners.
Clashing textures
Last but not least, clashing textures are a café design trend that will only continue to get more popular as we move into the summer months. Instead of creating interest with colour and patterns, cafes are opting for a minimalist approach and creating detail with clashing textures. Think up-cycled wood tables, concrete, copper fixtures, marble bench tops, intricate iron bars, crisp white shelves and shaggy pillows. The possibilities are endless when it comes to clashing textures for interior prowess.
#cafelove
Images from our Pinterest page, here!