50 Best Cafe and Coffee Shop Counter Designs
We have curated 50 Best Cafe and Coffee Shop Counter Designs from everywhere in the world. Each cafe counter design links to a full design article from our bestcafedesigns.com blog.
One thing bestcafedesigns.com aims to do is feature things that are not featured anywhere on the internet. We are already the only blog within the top 100 Architecture blogs that focuses on cafe designs. We like to focus on topics that are interesting but also very specific to a design and travel-oriented audience.
As bestcafedesigns.com explores cafe designs all over the world. In other articles we look at cafe booth seating design, Interior design ideas, cafe design considerations and exterior.
Stone or marble is mentioned in 11 of the 31 counter descriptions below, timber or wood in 13, tile or terrazzo in 6, steel or mirror in 6 and concrete in 2. Many of the counters also build in lighting, display, storage, seating or coffee stations, so use the list to compare both materials and layouts.
Harudot / Nana Coffee Roasters / IDIN Architects Thailand
A super long counter bench for the full span of the amazing skylight
Brownie Project Gallery / Shanghai / Offhand Practice
Set within an existing concrete structure of a gallery, with a striking V shaped timber frame and mezzanine deck above
Cloud Cafe, Victoria Shanghai Academy / MAD Studio
Clean white counter with curved corners, set within a curved arch with indirect lighting and vertical pink tile splashback
Kirkuk Mars Coffee House
Dark timber counter with timber batten features, dense batten splashback and open shelving with integrated lighting
La Joie Dose Bakery & Cafe / Riyadh Saudi Arabia / Livelli Architects
Stone counter top with timber curved siding, suspended curved lighting, and perforated screen with integrated planting
Arabica Xiamen Cafe
White on white counter with integrated glass display with glazed rolled corners, integrated lighting in kickplate
Shanghai Cafe / Aloha Cafe / Atelier IN
Plywood counter with furniture ply exposed edges, facebricks stacked vertically as siding, and rear shelving
Collins Street Cafe / First Love Coffee
Countertops are made from Verde Alpi green marble. Green terrazzo, which contains Verde Alpi marble chips, sweeps across the floor and up the main wall.
Roastery Bali / Expat Coffee / Expat Roasters Seminyak
Stone and steel counter top, with split height to allow for counter service and seating at the bar
Art Cafe / Bound Cafe / Anatomy Architecture
Stainless steel cafe counter with barrel vault ceiling
Armadale Cafe / Hanks Café & Bagelry / Leftfield Studio
Cranked counter with stone top and vertical slip porcelain tile siding. Painted white brick walls behind
Best Berkeley Cafe CA / Mind Coffee / Mahyasalehistudio
Folded vertical surfaces, counter under curved fabric ceiling
Toronto Cafes / Buno Coffee / Architecture Riot
Mirror stainless steel counter, lower service counter with glazed display, open shelving
Bogota Review / Colo Coffee Usaquén / CREARQ
Stone cafe counter with integrated pour over stations
Bogota Cafe bar Colombiano / Colo Coffee Andes / CREARQ
Stonelike cafe counter with carved out seating areas, kickboar lighting and a seamless finish
Kazakhstan / Julius Cafe / New Almaty Architects Workshop
Cafe counter with continuous tile finish on counter top, siding and floor. Dark wood panelling behind.
Cat Cafe Bangkok Thailand / Petrichor Cafe / AA+A Architecture
Stainless steel with curved sections, curved timber panelling in vertical plane behind
Cafe Buenos Aires / DUCA Caffe / OHIO Estudio + Estudio RIPANI
Timber counter top with blue siding, and open shelving behind
Southbank Cafe / Cafe Gadot / Aktis Architects
Cafe counter integrated with scaffold structure in solid timber
Alchemy Origin / Metagram
Terracotta stacked tile
Fineprint HK / Metagram
Exposed steel frame, stone counter, integrated siding lighting
Espresso Alchemy Harbour City / Metagram
Stone cafe counter, integrated linear down lighting under counter top, vertical ceramic tiling with tilt upper course to integrate lighting
Gold Coast / Burleigh Cafes / Palm Springs Burleigh
Pastel green cafe counter, horizontal log detail
Arboleda Monterrey / Antilope Cafe / Massoperations
Cafe counter in deep stone reveal, translucent glazed panels surrounds with integrated lighting
Sets Cafe Berlin
Stone counter, curved fibreglass siding
Best Cafes in Berlin / Aera
Timber counter with charcoal and mirror rear walls
Dickson Cafe / High Rd
Concrete look cafe counter with monolithic appearance, and integrated storage
Canberra Cafe / Cupping Room
Timber cafe counter design, wood panelling siding
Curitiba Paraná / Brazil cafe / Bonin Bakery / MOCA Architecture
Timber and stone cafe counter top with timber batten siding
Maros Cafe / Hifi Coffee Eatery / INS Studio
Vertical Batten siding, timber ceiling
Cafe in Makassar / MKO Culture / INS Studio
Timber cafe counter with timber bar, under ephemeral enclosure
Cafe counter materials in this collection
- Stone and marble. Collins Street Cafe pairs Verde Alpi green marble counter tops with green terrazzo that sweeps across the floor and up the main wall. Roastery Bali combines stone and steel, and Colo Coffee Usaquén builds pour-over stations into a stone counter.
- Timber. Kirkuk Mars Coffee House uses a dark timber counter with a dense batten splashback, Aloha Cafe in Shanghai a plywood counter with exposed furniture-ply edges, and Cafe Gadot a counter integrated with a solid timber scaffold structure.
- Stainless steel and mirror finishes. Buno Coffee in Toronto has a mirror stainless steel counter with a lower service counter and glazed display, Bound Cafe pairs stainless steel with a barrel vault ceiling, and Petrichor Cafe in Bangkok curves its stainless steel sections against curved timber panelling.
- Tile and terracotta. Alchemy Origin uses terracotta stacked tile, Espresso Alchemy uses vertical ceramic tiling with a tilted upper course to integrate lighting, and Julius Cafe carries one continuous tile finish across the counter top, siding and floor.
- Concrete-look finishes. Dickson Cafe has a concrete-look counter with a monolithic appearance and integrated storage.
Counter layout ideas worth copying
- Split height. The counter at Roastery Bali splits in height to allow for counter service and seating at the bar, and Buno Coffee adds a lower service counter.
- Built-in lighting. Arabica Xiamen lights the kickplate, Espresso Alchemy adds linear down lighting under the counter top, and Kirkuk Mars Coffee House lights its open shelving.
- Built-in display. Arabica Xiamen integrates a glass display with glazed rolled corners into a white counter.
- Coffee stations in the counter. Colo Coffee Usaquén has pour-over stations built into its stone counter.
- Counter and seating together. Colo Coffee Andes carves seating areas out of a stone-like counter with kickboard lighting.
- Scale. Harudot runs one long counter bench the full span of its skylight.
Quick answers
There is no single best material. The counters in this collection use stone, timber, stainless steel, tile and concrete-look finishes. Stone and stainless steel are hard-wearing, while timber adds warmth, so many designs combine them, such as the timber and stone counter top at Bonin Bakery in Curitiba.
Beyond the work surface, the counters here build in display cases, storage, lighting and coffee stations. Examples include the glass display at Arabica Xiamen, the integrated storage at Dickson Cafe and the pour-over stations at Colo Coffee Usaquén.
A split-height counter lets one structure do both, as at Roastery Bali, where the split height allows for counter service and seating at the bar.
More cafe design guides
- Cafe designs: ideas by style
- Cafe and Coffee Shop Interior Design Ideas
- Best Cafe Exterior Design Ideas
- Best Cafe Booth Seating Designs
- Cafe Design Considerations
- Best Small Cafe Designs
- Best Modern Cafe Designs
- Best Minimalist Cafe Designs
See more cafe designs sorted by style, with photos, architects and cities.
Author: Andrew Chung
Andrew Chung is an architect based in Sydney, Australia, and the founder of Best Cafe Designs. He combines architecture, photography, coffee and web design to showcase exceptional cafe designs from around the world.
