Kitchen Café Chic
Your guide to café chic at home
Your guide to café chic at home
Baby, it’s cold outside — so let’s stay in!
Whether you’re celebrating St. Valentine’s, an anniversary or craving a home-cooked meal, your kitchen can provide the perfect backdrop for your romantic dinner plans.
Creating a cozy tête-à-tête café or bistro experience can warm up any kitchen — minus the tip, the pressure to clear out for the next couple, or the drafty doorway bustling with patrons — so you can look forward to dining at home more often.
Here are a few decor tricks that will help you create a fun and intimate café setting.
Table for two?
Any seating in a kitchen automatically makes it cozy, but a bistro table and chairs are built for intimacy. They occupy little space and add instant café cachet to any kitchen. Add a little height and intrigue by choosing stools with backs — the taller seats bring you close together. Alternately, you can outfit your kitchen with a breakfast bar or a built-in dining nook with bench seating. A wall-mounted table with tall wooden stools makes a casual coffee bar.
Feast for the eyes
It’s the little details that help set the mood.
- Hang vintage café wall art, such as metal signs or posters.
- Think French themes like cabaret dancers or retro ads for chocolate, liquor or product packaging.
- Post your favourite travel photos: black-and-white shots of famous buildings, slice-of-life outdoor markets or close-up street signs (especially en français) and mount them around the kitchen.
A special menu
A chalkboard menu is standard fare at cafés and bistros. Frame your chalkboard simply with wood or elaborately with decorative moulding. Use your finest writing to describe the night’s special menu and wine list, or scribble a romantic note to your date so dinner is a surprise.
Pleasing your palate
A bistro-style menu, with its simple, hearty cuisine, is perfect for dining in since. Don’t be shy about adding lots of garlic, wine and herbs to your dishes.
- smoked meats and sharp cheeses
- steamed mussels
- savoury soups and stews (e.g. French onion, beef bourguinon)
- steak frites (translation steak and fries)
- and sweet endings that include sorbet with fresh fruit, lemon tart and crème brulée.
Less light, more mood
Ambience lighting is a must and the nicest cafés provide warm,
soft lighting accented by candlelight. Dimmed pot lighting helps set the right mood, while under-cabinet
lighting helps during meal preparation without destroying the mood. Be sure to turn off harsh, overhead
lighting and opt for wall-mounted candle sconces for upscale dining fair. You can also go casual bohemian
by stringing some small lights near the dining area or strategically positioning small beaded lamps, or votive
candle holders.
Put the coffee back in café
The word “café” means coffee in French so celebrating the ritual of coffee makes sense.
- Invest in oversized café au lait bowls and show them off, either stacked in full view in a glass-front cupboard, on a shelf or hanging from hooks.
Collectibles, such as an antique coffee tin, porcelain canister or coffee mill, also add a touch of authenticity.