Café Style Shutters

How Café Style Compares

Full-height shutters cover the whole window in one panel — simple and elegant, but you close everything together. Tier-on-tier shutters split the window into two independent panels, so you can close the bottom and still open or close the top. Café style is the more open of the three: the top is permanently clear. Choose it when you want privacy at eye level and as much daylight as possible, not a window you can black out at night.

Where They Suit a Lincolnshire Home

They are a natural fit on Victorian and Edwardian sash windows, and on the lower lights of a bay. In Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Louth and Lincoln we often fit café style to street-facing kitchens and dining rooms — the rooms where you sit at table height and do not want passers-by looking in, but you still want the room to feel bright. On a typical sash, we set the top of the café panel around the meeting rail so the split looks as if it belongs to the window.

They also work well in a living-room bay with a window seat, and in ground-floor rooms that look onto a garden rather than a busy road. For bathrooms and kitchens we can make them in our waterproof composite; for living rooms, white painted wood or MDF is still the most popular finish.

Louvre Size and Height

Because only the lower half is shuttered, louvre size matters more than people expect. A 47mm or 63mm louvre gives a finer, more traditional look on a smaller sash. A 76mm or 89mm louvre opens up more of the view when tilted and suits wider bays. We will show you samples on the visit so you can see the difference against your own glass.

Panel height is a design choice, not a fixed half. Most café style shutters sit somewhere between 700mm and 1100mm, depending on sill height, the meeting rail, and whether you sit or stand in the room. Too short and you lose privacy; too tall and you start to lose the “open top” that makes the style work.

When Café Style Is the Wrong Choice

Skip café style if you need the room dark — nurseries, shift-workers’ bedrooms, or a television wall that faces a street lamp. In those rooms full-height or blackout shutters are the better answer. They are also a poor fit if the window is overlooked from an upstairs neighbour or a raised pavement, because the open top still shows the room. For those elevations we usually recommend tier-on-tier so you can close the top when you need to.

Materials and How We Fit Them

Café style works in every range we offer. Painted wood and MDF are the usual choice for living rooms and dining rooms. Waterproof PVC composite is the sensible pick for a kitchen splash zone or a steamy utility. Frames are made to the exact reveal, so the lower panels sit on the sill and the open top looks intentional rather than unfinished. We measure in your home, make the panels to those sizes, and fit them ourselves — the same free visit and no-obligation quote as any other style.

If you already like the café look but want the option to close the top later, say so on the visit. On some windows we can design a full-height frame with café-height panels now, and add a top tier later. That is not always the cheapest path, but it saves ripping out a good lower panel if your privacy needs change.

Café Style Shutter Prices

There is less panel than a full-height design, so café style is often the more affordable of the three main layouts. As a guide, most made-to-measure windows still sit in the same broad £250 to £750 per window range as other styles — width, louvre size and material move the figure more than the café cut itself. A free home visit gives you an exact, no-obligation figure.

Frequently Asked: Café Style Shutters

What are cafe style shutters?

They cover only the lower section of the window. The top stays permanently open, so you keep daylight and the view while the panels give privacy at eye level from the street or garden.

Are café style shutters good for bay windows?

Yes — they suit Victorian and Edwardian bays and sash windows, especially street-facing kitchens and dining rooms. We make each panel to the exact reveal so the lower half sits neatly on the sill. See our bay window shutters page for how we treat the whole bay.

When should I choose full-height instead?

Choose full-height or tier-on-tier if you need to close the whole window at night, want blackout in a bedroom, or the room is overlooked from above as well as from the street.

How much do café style shutters cost?

They usually cost a little less than an equivalent full-height design because there is less panel. The honest figure depends on width, louvre size and material — we price after a free measure so you are not guessing from a headline number.