F&B DiningKeneki

Restaurant interior design is about setting the mood before the first dish arrives and keeping it through a long evening. K F&B Dining designs restaurants, bars and cafés in Singapore. Dining is theatre, and we design the stage: layered lighting, tactile surfaces, banquettes upholstered for comfort over long evenings, and acoustics tuned so conversation carries across the table but not across the room.

What we design

• Restaurants: dining rooms, private dining rooms and chef’s counters.
• Bars and lounges: where lighting, seating height and acoustics decide how long guests stay.
• Cafés: daytime spaces that work for a quick coffee and a two-hour meeting.
• Hotel F&B outlets, developed with our Hospitality studio.

We design the front of house and coordinate closely with the operator’s kitchen consultant, whose layout fixes service routes, extraction and drainage.

How we approach a dining room

We begin with the menu and the service, not the décor. A tasting menu with long sittings needs deep, comfortable chairs, generous table spacing and soft, low light. A busy lunch café needs durable seating, quick turnover, and a counter that guides the queue. We ask the operator about covers, average sitting time, table mix and how staff move between kitchen and floor.

Table mix and seating

A good room mixes table types. Banquettes along walls use space well and give guests a view of the room. Loose tables for two can be pushed together for larger groups. A bar or counter gives solo diners a place to sit. We plan the mix against the operator’s booking data where it exists.

Restaurant and café interior design: light and sound

Lighting does more for a restaurant’s atmosphere than any finish. We light the table, not the ceiling: pools of warm light on each table, softer light on the walls, and very little general overhead light in the evening. Every circuit is dimmable, and we set scenes for lunch, dinner and late evening. Our Journal guide to restaurant lighting design goes into the detail.

Noise is the other common failure. Hard floors, glass, stone tables and exposed ceilings make a full room loud. We add absorption where it does not show: upholstered banquette backs, fabric or felt panels behind them, absorbent ceiling finishes and heavy curtains. See our acoustic finishes for the materials we use.

For cafe interior design, the balance shifts. Daylight leads, the palette is lighter and the room needs to feel right with ten people or fifty.

Materials that survive service

• Upholstery: hard-wearing contract fabrics or leather for banquettes. Mohair velvet is one of the most durable pile fabrics and suits evening rooms. See fabrics and upholstery.
• Tables: sealed stone or timber tops that tolerate wine, oil and constant wiping.
• Floors: slip-conscious finishes near the kitchen and bar, softer finishes in private dining.
• Walls: washable finishes at chair-back height, with more delicate wallcoverings kept above it.

Our process

1. Brief: concept, menu, covers, service style, budget and opening date.
2. Concept design: layout, lighting approach and palette, coordinated with the kitchen consultant.
3. Detailed design: drawings for joinery, banquettes, bar and lighting, with samples.
4. Approvals: landlord approval, and any submissions to the relevant authorities, prepared with the operator’s qualified professionals. Operators should confirm licensing requirements with the relevant agencies early.
5. Fit-out: carried out by our partner contractors under our coordination.
6. Pre-opening: lighting scenes set, defects closed, care notes handed over.

How fit-out is delivered

Keneki designs and manages the work end to end. Joinery, upholstery, stone and installation are carried out by our network of local partners and contractors, including partner workrooms for banquettes and curtains. We coordinate their work, check samples and inspect quality. Our portfolio shows an evening restaurant concept rather than a completed venue. To talk through a new opening or a refresh, arrange a consultation.

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