Most dining rooms use a mix of banquettes, booths and freestanding chairs. Each type seats guests differently, fills space differently and costs differently. Here is how we help clients decide.
Banquettes
A banquette is a long upholstered bench, usually along a wall, with tables and chairs facing it.
- Capacity: efficient; you can push tables together for larger parties and seat people closer than with chairs alone
- Flexibility: high, because tables move and combine
- Feel: comfortable and cohesive, and great for defining a wall
- Best for: wall runs, curved corners, two-tops that combine into larger tables
Booths
A booth is two facing benches with a table between them, often with high backs.
- Capacity: fixed; a four-person booth always seats about four
- Flexibility: low, but guests love the privacy
- Feel: intimate, quieter, often the most requested seats
- Best for: diners, bars, family restaurants and anywhere privacy matters
Freestanding chairs
- Capacity: the most flexible for changing layouts
- Flexibility: highest; tables and chairs move for events and large parties
- Feel: depends on the chair; a well-built wood chair becomes part of the room's identity
- Best for: open floors, patios and rooms that change layout often
Cost
Built-in banquettes and booths usually cost more per seat than chairs because of the frame, upholstery and installation, but they last a long time and help define the room. Custom chairs vary widely with the design; hand-turned or heavily shaped chairs take the most labor.
Mixing seating types
Many of our projects combine seating types. At Cantina Pedrigal we paired curved leather banquettes with ebonized dining tables. At Slow and Low communal tables run between benches and spindle-back wall benches. At Okesutora we built a production run of hand-turned spindle-back chairs and benches.
Related guides
Restaurant banquette dimensions · Restaurant seating capacity · Restaurant build-out timeline
See our restaurant banquettes, custom restaurant chairs and custom restaurant tables pages, or send us your floor plan.
Fine dining: we have built custom furniture for two Michelin-starred Sacramento restaurants, The Kitchen and Localis. See our fine dining work.