Best Cafe Exterior Design Ideas
The exterior design of a cafe serves as its visual identity, inviting patrons to step in and experience a cafe or coffee shops space and food and drink offering. In this article, we’ll explore innovative and best cafe exterior design ideas that captivate attention, reflect the cafe’s character and create enticing atmosphere for guests.
Quick summary: The best cafe exteriors do three things: a clear, welcoming entry, one memorable material or colour, and somewhere to sit outside. The four cafes below show each idea in practice.
Mug ‘n’ Hug / Limassol Cyprus / dogma
In this beautifully designed cafe from Limassol Cyprus, they have a welcoming entry with openable glazed door and windows. The cafe integrates a custom designed external seating against a timber siding of the bar. The seating has beautifully crafted curved bevel edges that show off the high quality furniture plywood. The coffee bar can serve externally as well as internally.
Harudot / Nana Coffee Roasters / IDIN Architects Thailand
Harudot designed by IDIN Architects has a dramatic A frame form in dark external timbers. The front entry is characterised by a large portal frame in timber with double height glazing. Several sections of the cafe are open to the sky with a central feature tree and surrounding seating.
Shanghai Cafe / Aloha Cafe / Atelier IN
This is a small and quaint cafe in Shanghai by Atelier IN. It has a rich and distinctive red brick and frame colour. There are integrated booth seating on the inside and outside of the window. The distinctive face brick is stacked and continues from the outside to the interior detailing.
Alpine Cafe / Cang 41 / Sanctuary in the Snow / JUMGO Creative
Distinctive and bold red colours define this Alpine Cafe designed by JUMGO Creative. The red colour and form and detailing mimic a scientific research facility, with beautifully contrasting interiors.
What these exteriors have in common
- A welcoming entry: openable glazed doors and windows, and a coffee bar that serves both inside and out (Mug ‘n’ Hug, Limassol).
- One memorable material or colour: dark timber at Harudot, red brick at Aloha Cafe and bold red at Cang 41.
- Built-in seating, from curved plywood seating against the bar to booths inside and outside the window.
- Open-to-sky space, such as the central feature tree and surrounding seating at Harudot.
Quick answers
A clear, welcoming entrance, one recognisable material or colour, and outdoor seating that feels part of the building.
It can carry on the same materials, like the stacked face brick at Aloha Cafe, or deliberately contrast, as at Cang 41, where the red exterior contrasts with the interior.
Openable windows, an outdoor-facing coffee bar and built-in seating let a small cafe serve and seat people outside, as at Mug ‘n’ Hug.
More cafe design guides
- Best Cafe and Coffee Shop Interior Design Ideas
- Cafe Design Considerations
- Best Cafe Booth Seating Designs
- 50 Best Cafe and Coffee Shop Counter Designs
- Best Garden Cafe Designs
- Best Beach Cafe Designs
- Best Heritage Cafe Designs
There are no shortage of innovative cafe exterior designs on bestcafedesigns.com Feel free to browse around
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.
