This young couple loved the vintage banquette breakfast nook in their kitchen, but needed more space and storage for their growing family.

This early 50’s built-in banquette was in pristine condition. Tom and Laurel carefully removed it piece-by-piece, documenting the process so that the banquette could later be donated to a local business.
Tom and Laurel sealed the original asbestos flooring underneath the banquette, installed new linoleum, and added new baseboards.

Laurel installed new electrical outlets at counter height, and the walls were repainted. An Ikea Värde Base Cabinet quickly turned the reclaimed corner into an efficient workspace, and 20 square feet of usable space was returned to this kitchen.

Update: The banquette has a new home in Theater 1 of the New Parkway Movie House in Oakland’s historic uptown neighborhood.