Small Coffee Bar Ideas on a Budget
Looking to create a small coffee bar? Here are some small coffee bar ideas that you can create on a budget.
For more apartment ideas:
College Apartment Kitchen Idea

Small Coffee Bar Ideas on a Budget
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THE PROBLEM
One of the problems with an apartment is a small kitchen with a small amount of counter space. This picture shows my daughter’s apartment kitchen counters on move in day – not much there!

So what is a little apartment kitchen with no counter space to do? Add some with a bar cart. You can use a bar cart for a lot of things – for drinks, to serve food to a gathering, or as a coffee bar. These girls start their days with coffee so we chose to make a small coffee bar.
And if you are in college or just starting out, you need small coffee bar ideas on a budget!
FIRST THINGS FIRST
The first step to creating a small coffee bar on a budget is to find a reasonably priced bar cart. Many affordable carts in all finishes are available on websites like Amazon and Zulily. This iDesign bar cart cart came from Zulily.

ASSEMBLE THE CART
A budget bar cart will come in a box and will need to be put together. Don’t let that scare you. Assembling a bar cart is super simple. My daughter and I were able to easily put it together in about 15 minutes. The only tool we needed was a phillips head screwdriver. I even forgot to take my Covid mask off. (I was wearing it because the other girls and some of their parents were in the apartment.)


One of the best things about a bar cart is that they almost always have casters. Being able to move the cart around is handy in a small space if you want to rearrange.

SMALL COFFEE BAR IDEAS
Your coffee bar will need several items:
The first is a coffee maker. A Keurig is easy to use and the pods are inexpensive compared to other types of single serve coffee makers. You can save money by buying refillable pods and putting your own ground coffee in the pods. If you use refillable pods, I recommend filters. I make a pot of coffee every morning in my Keurig caraffe. Using filters in the refillable pods is the only way to go to avoid the mess of cleaning the pod all the time.
A fun addition to the coffee bar are coffee flavoring syrups. Don’t forget to get the pumps as well.
Add a plant or other decorations to add personality to your cart.
We added a mug tree. The gold looks modern and sets off nicely against the black cart. The gold mug tree came from Amazon.
You need mugs for your coffee and you cannot go wrong with white mugs. They also set off well against the black cart. The white mugs came from Target. Here is a similar white mug set from Amazon.

If you have room, you can add water bottles or a container for your coffee pods. These green Perrier water bottles add more personality and color to this small coffee bar.

DOESN’T IT LOOK AMAZING!
This small coffee bar is so cute. What fun to grab coffee from this coffee bar every morning on their way to class. (Or to their desks in their rooms. It is 2020 after all.) You can use these small coffee bar ideas to make a coffee bar of your own.
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