The Perfect Home Kitchen Coffee Station
Whether you are inspired by a desire to save money, or you just love lounging at home, creating a personalized kitchen coffee station is a great idea. Most coffee drinkers will agree, I’m sure, that part of the enjoyment around the drink is the routine — the ritual of making a cup in the morning to start the day. So, why not embrace the ritual and create a customized coffee space just for yourself? Here, I’m sharing tips for creating your own at home coffee bar, complete with recommendations for coffee station decor, worthwhile appliances, and handy brewing accessories.
Table of Contents:
Shop At-Home Coffee Station Essentials
Assessing Your Kitchen Space for a Coffee Bar
Contrary to what you might think, it doesn’t take too much space to build your own at-home coffee bar. Whether you’re in a smaller apartment kitchen or have a spacious area to work with, you’ll want to consider the same things: counter space, access to outlets, and cabinet availability.
The footprint of your coffee station will necessarily include your coffee maker or espresso maker. These machines are typically too big and bulky to consider putting away after each use. Besides the appliances themselves, you may want to keep canisters of coffee beans on the counter, along with sugar or any syrups you keep on hand. If you’d prefer to keep these canisters out of sight, you’ll need nearby cabinet space in which to store them.
Examples of at-home coffee stations
Essential Tools and Accessories for Your Kitchen Coffee Station
At its very core, a kitchen coffee station is quite simple. All it needs is some kind of coffee maker, filters, access to water, and your choice of coffee beans. If you prefer to grind your own beans, you’ll need a grinder, too. Beyond these basics, you can add in the fun coffee bar styling pieces. These include decorative mugs (my favorite!), organizational caddies, and cute coffee station decor. I’ll cover the bulk of the latter in the next section. This section is dedicated to brewing tools for your coffee corner.
Investment Pieces for Coffee Lovers
There is quite the range when it comes to quality and price of coffee makers available. I’ve hand my fair share of super affordable makers (RIP to my college Mr. Coffee, which cost $15 from Target in 2011 and served me well). On the other hand, though, I’ve had a couple higher-end coffee makers over the years, leading up to two coffee-lover investment pieces I have now: the KBGT Thermal Coffee Brewer from Moccamaster and the Breville Super Automatic Barista Touch espresso maker. If you are willing and able to take care of these higher priced options, then they are well worth the money for any coffee enthusiast.
The KBGT Thermal Coffee Brewer from Moccamaster
If you prefer a drip coffee maker, the KBGT Thermal Coffee Brewer is a great option. The price fluctuates a bit from store to store, but it’s typically around $350. The Thermal Coffee Brewer has an insulated stainless-steel carafe that maintains the coffee’s temperature during and after brewing. It’s a rather large carafe, as well. It makes about six full cups of coffee at max capacity (approximately 10 servings of coffee).
I use this coffee maker to batch brew iced coffee for the week. It brews quickly and evenly, and the machine is easy to care for. The coffee maker comes apart simply, and each piece is quick and easy to wash.
Furthermore, I have been very impressed with Moccamaster’s customer service. After about a year and a half of use, the plastic water reservoir on my maker cracked. When I contacted the brand about it, they provided a mailing label to send the coffee maker in for repair. My Thermal Coffee Brewer was returned to me within a matter of weeks (about three in total, if I remember correctly) with a brand new water basin. The repair was free of charge because the maker was within warranty.
By the way, Moccamaster has a similar style with a glass carafe. The glass style comes in a variety of fun colors, as well. I wish the Thermal Coffee Brewer came in fun colors, but, alas, it’s largely limited to white, silver, or black. I think foregoing the colors is worth it for the insulated carafe.
The Breville Super Automatic Barista Touch Espresso Maker
As far as lux coffee appliances go, you can’t get much better than the Breville Super Automatic Barista Touch espresso maker. With an easy-to-navigate menu screen, built-in coffee bean grinder, and all the coffee bar essentials you could ask for, this is the best one-and-done espresso maker you can buy.
I got mine about a year ago and found it to be easy to use right from the start. It seemed overwhelming at first, with all the pieces and accessories that came with it. However, it is truly a user-friendly machine.
With a color touchscreen, you can choose between a variety of coffee drinks, from simple espresso to lattes to cappuccinos. There are also eight spots available for personalized beverages. Each drink is customizable and has built-in options for single or double shots.
For me, the built-in coffee bean grinder has really elevated my espresso game. With a few quick taps, the Breville Super Automatic Barista Touch espresso maker doses out and grinds the exact amount of coffee needed for my drink of choice. I enjoy the ritual of tamping down the freshly-ground coffee before brewing, as well. It gives me a chance to smell the fresh coffee beans! (Note: since I got my espresso maker, Breville seems to have installed the coffee tamper as a fixed part of the machine.)
This espresso maker typically runs around $1,000, but is often on sale around holidays and major sales events.
It’s definitely worth keeping an eye out for a good deal, especially at stores like Bloomingdale’s and Williams Sonoma.
My go-to drink is an iced latte, closely followed by a delicious cappuccino. Here are the essentials you’ll need to make an iced latte!
A note on the colors: I recommend sticking with one of the main Breville colors for this machine, like black or stainless steel. The Damson Blue color is typically backordered, which is a bummer because it’s very pretty. I had ordered it in blue originally. However, I changed the order to stainless steel after four months of the blue being backordered.
Shop My Top Choices for Coffee Makers
Coffee Bar Styling and Decor
Here is where you can really personalize your coffee bar: with the styling and decor! When you begin to plan for your kitchen coffee station styling, consider what storage you need and which pieces you want to display alongside your coffee maker(s). Here is where access to cabinets can come in handy. This is especially the case for less sightly supplies, like extra bags of beans or filters.
Low profile spice racks can serve you well in your at home coffee station. These give you a visible-yet-contained space for accessories and brewing tools, like spoons, frothers, fancy sugars, or even coffee bean grinders (this smaller style would suit well!).
You could opt for a larger style, though, and accentuate the area with your favorite decorative cups or fancy canisters. For example, I use this larger tiered serving tray from Mikasa for my tea and coffee accessories. While the majority of the space is used for practical purposes, I earmarked much of the top tier to display my decorative cocktail napkins, a favorite mug of mine, and to add a pop of color with faux flowers.
Top Coffee Bar Styling and Decor Pieces
Enjoy Your At-Home Kitchen Coffee Station
In short, to create the perfect home kitchen coffee station, keep in mind your own personal preferences. Consider what your coffee routine means to you. If you want something utilitarian, to help you get out the door faster in the morning, then streamline the design with just the basics.
If, on the other hand, you’re looking to create a calming corner where you can have a mindful moment, consider which parts of the routine serve that purpose.
By bearing these details in mind, I am confident you’ll craft your perfect coffee corner with which to enjoy this wonderful drink!
Are you an iced coffee lover like me? Whether I pour a glass as part of my morning routine or as an afternoon pick-me-up, I’m fully team iced coffee year round!
Get my tips for making the perfect iced coffee at home here!
Great tips! I set up a coffee bar station in a corner of my kitchen over the holidays, and it was a big hit. With 12 people needing to be caffeinated at different times each morning, it was nice to make it a self-serve situation. 🙂
Self serve coffee stations are the best for that kind of holiday hosting!!