Visiting a favorite coffee shop is fun but sometimes can be an expense not always affordable. We love coffee at our home and the coffee pot is always ready so we can pour and enjoy a cup.
I decided to make a coffee area in our home to give it that coffee shop look. Making a DYI home coffee bar brings a friendly atmosphere into the kitchen and gives us a chance to drink coffee like we would if we were at our favorite coffee shop.

I was given a buffet by my sister-in-law when she moved from her home. She used it for games as it has two drawers on top and four doors opening to shelves below. It makes a perfect coffee bar for my kitchen. I like the appearance so I left it in the natural state of stained wood. Eventually I will tile the top when I have free time to donate to DIY projects. For the time being I have a leaf design washable table cloth on the top. The leaf design matches my kitchen decor which is shades of green and accented with green men plaques.

Inside the buffet there is adequate space to hold coffee cups, glasses we use to drink ice coffee from, coffee accessories like cafes and coffee grinders. The drawers hold utensils for stirring, coffee recipes, and packets of creamers and sugar and stirs when not in use. The top of course is used to hold the coffee pot and the special ingredients to make coffee with different creamers, spices, and sweeteners. For the most part we drink our coffee black but we like to experiment with different ingredients for a change. I call this dessert coffee! Often after a meal I will fix a special blend of coffee by adding different ingredients like a flavored creamer and cinnamon or nutmeg rather than indulging in a piece of pie or cake. It takes care of my sweet tooth and provides me with a comfort drink I can enjoy while relaxing after a meal.

Here are some ideas for things you may want to provide on top of a coffee bar -

Small stainless steel thermos pitchers or colors of you choice for liquid milk or creamers. You can have a variety of dry creamers available as well according to your tastes and the season.

Container for stirs- Shopping for fun, colorful or decorated stirs adds some fun and interest to making the coffee and are easy to keep in one place. Putting them in a container that is festive or matches the surrounding decor of the kitchen is fun and creative.

pice shakers- It is fun to experiment with different tastes and sprinkling spices like nutmeg or cinnamon gives coffee an interesting taste to make it special.

Milk Frother- I use a manual milk frother. Mine is small, stainless steel and looks like a tiny coffee pot with a plunger inside. If your not familiar with these the process is to put milk inside the container and move the plunger up and down which makes foamy fluffy milk for the top of coffee. There are wands and other equipment available and each are wonderful and more professional but my main goal for this bar is to reduce spills and mess and let a person design their own cup of coffee in a short period of time so this is the best choice for my style of coffee bar.

Sweeteners – Don't get stuck in the thought that plain white sugar is the only choice to sweeten coffee.
Be adventurous and visit culinary shops that carry a variety of flavored sugars. Don't forget about alternatives like maple syrup, stevia and around the holiday season provide candy canes or peppermint to dissolve in the coffee.

New ideas will begin to grow the more you use your coffee bar so start small and be adventurous. It just may become your new hobby.