The One Must-Have Kitchen Feature Of 2024
So-called beverage stations are the biggest trend in home kitchen design.
If there's any part of the home people love to spend time in, it's their kitchen—so it makes sense that seemingly everyone is keeping track of trends in kitchen design and adding certain features to their wish list, no matter their budget. Axios reports that the National Kitchen and Bath Association has released its report on the emerging trends in 2024, and one kitchen design element tops the list: the beverage station.
What is a kitchen beverage station?
Not being a domestic god myself, I wasn't entirely familiar with the concept of a beverage station. As it turns out, they're pretty much what they sound like: a little spot in your kitchen dedicated to your morning cup.
For some, that means a counter area for coffee-making equipment and mugs; for others, it's a dedicated space for storing wine and its accessories (glassware, corkscrews, etc.) all in one place. It might be a small cocktail prep area, or it might just be the landing spot for your favorite seltzers, sodas, and assorted thirst-quenchers. It's typically offset from the rest of the kitchen workspace, so it tends to be in kitchens with a generous amount of square footage.
Beverage stations are an emerging kitchen trend
I live in a small apartment with my wife, but even we have a little counter space dedicated to coffee making. Ours, admittedly, isn't much more than a drip machine and some mugs, but other people are apparently putting a lot of thought into their beverage stations. Axios says that Pinterest searches for "coffee bar styling" have increased by a massive 1,125% between September 2021 and August 2023.
These stations can be as simple or as tricked-out as you like. A quick Pinterest search netted a bunch of ideas, some as easy as a bar cart, others containing multiple small fridges and appliances like espresso machines and SodaStreams, plus drinkware shelves and cabinetry. TikTok also has tons of content dedicated to this topic.
I'm not a homeowner, but I wouldn't rush to jump onto this bandwagon. Counter space is most valuable to me when I can put it to use for cooking purposes, not decorative ones. But with everyone dreaming up their elegant morning coffee routines, it might just be a trend that home buyers start looking for, and demanding, in home kitchens.