The living room combined with the kitchen saves a lot of space. Luckily, today there are effective solutions to overcome the shortcomings pointed out by opponents, such as advanced kitchen hoods that are silent and absorb all odors while looking really good. When organizing a combined space, it is worth considering the stylistic consistency of both parts and their functionality, choose the right style for interior design and equip it with modern scandinavian furniture.
A living room with a kitchen is a solution that is increasingly chosen by modern people. If you have the opportunity to refuse closed kitchens, then you should choose open spaces, suggests Keyrenter Raleigh Property Management. Both the arrangement of the living room and the kitchen separately are extremely important. Rooms should interact stylistically. Make sure you do two things for yourself:
First, you should determine what style you want to furnish these rooms in, whether it be classic, modern, Scandinavian, or perhaps glamorous.
Secondly, evaluate personal financial capabilities, needs and expectations regarding the appearance of the overall design and interior furniture.
Skillful zoning
For example, for a small room, there is a so-called peninsular style, when kitchen modules are assembled into an island, one end of which rested against the wall. Such a layout will take up much less space than, for example, an island one, and therefore will suit both a small apartment, where the kitchen is combined with a living room, and a studio apartment.
Other options
The shadow between the combined rooms may not be completely removed. Sometimes about half a meter is left from the floor, and such a long partition is obtained across the entire room, which can somehow be decorated at your discretion. The same mini wall can be, if necessary, erected in the right place.
There are kitchens and smaller than a kitchen of 8 square meters. m, but it can not always be made comfortable and functional. After all, sometimes you want to cram so many pieces of furniture and appliances into it that it turns out to be impossible in one room. And then the combination of two rooms will easily solve such a problem.
Where to place the kitchen-living room, the owner of the apartment decides: the combined kitchen-living room can be located in the largest of all rooms, for example, with an area of 24 square meters; can be obtained from the combination of a kitchen and a hall in a country house or in a townhouse, and thus a room with an area of at least 18-19 square meters can be obtained.
To make such a redevelopment is not only to ensure comfort in the kitchen. The combination of two rooms with an area of 9-10 square meters. m and 11 sq. m or 13 sq. m – it is also a simplification of movement around the apartment, convenience when setting the table, when replacing dishes, and so on.
Advantages
- The main advantage is that it becomes more spacious, and this is very valuable, especially when it comes to the tiny size of the studio kitchen. In the same case, if the initial projects aimed at combining the premises without replacing functionality, then one of the options for zoning the space will do.
- The connected kitchen with the living room is a convenience when receiving guests, and it will be much more convenient for a large family here – it’s not in vain that the reviews about such a redevelopment are only good. Now the family will spend much more time together. And such an unfair division, when the hostess is “torn off” from the rest of the household, resting in the living room while cooking, is also a solvable problem.
- Two windows will make the room brighter both in an ordinary apartment and in a cottage. There is no need for two TVs, you can install one large panel in the seating area. You can also freely place a kitchen set, which was so cramped in a small kitchen, and if you wish, you can get a real fireplace.
- The kitchen-living room with a staircase will make the room original and serve as a division into zones.
Disadvantages
- The main disadvantages that appear when combining these rooms are, of course, smells. Not everything depends on ventilation, odors will remain, and sometimes unpleasant. Before the unification, it was often necessary to clean only the kitchen, and after that, the whole large room was cleaned.
- The complexity of the design. To equip such a redevelopment, you need to try to make the living room cozy and fill the kitchen with everything you need, and everything together should look harmonious.
How to fit everything in small spaces
The combination method will be an excellent solution for rooms with a total space of 35-40 square meters. m. It is only necessary to think through all the nuances associated with smells coming from the kitchen, with moisture, which is always in abundance there, with grease splashes and other problems. All this must be taken into account when it will be necessary to separate the cooking zone and the relaxation zone, and this is not so easy, even if the area is larger, for example, 44 square meters. What must be in the kitchen: enough sockets so that you can connect all household appliances; all necessary communications; natural gas. These are all the reasons why moving the kitchen area to another place is unlikely to be possible. Yes, and safety precautions do not allow living quarters under the kitchen.
Ways of zoning
One of the design methods to consider combination options is a bay window, that is, a part of the room protruding outward. A bay window can have a different shape: rectangular, square, arc and even triangular, but in any case, a bay window always comes with a panoramic window. With a bay window, the room can be expanded and give the appearance of the room some originality. For the reason that the bay window is always with a window, they arrange a dining area there. A place for rooms with a bay window, as a rule, is on the first floors, but occasionally this design also decorates the second floor. However, the location of the kitchen with the living room on the second floor is quite inconvenient. As a rule, the second floor is used only as a bedroom.
Bar counter
The combined kitchen and living room may look different. But when we combine these premises in an apartment, we must not forget about zoning the space so that it does not turn out that the kitchen-studio is awkward and long. The easiest way is to divide the room into two zones with the help of a bar counter in it. Although it will block the room, the room will remain spacious enough. The kitchen and living room combined in this way is bad only if children and the elderly live with you in the family, for whom such a design will be uncomfortable. For such a family, a regular dining table is needed.
Duplex floor
This is another opportunity to combine two rooms. If the ceiling in the room is high enough for creative ideas, then the kitchen floor rises, as on a podium, or deepens up to 15 centimeters. It is convenient to hide unsightly communications present in any kitchen behind a small raised podium. Open-plan kitchens have come into fashion relatively recently, so they look very modern and respectable. Most often, such an interior is found in studio apartments, but in general, combining a cooking and relaxing area can be a great solution for both private houses and apartments.