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The kitchen combined with the living room: design ideas, the pros and cons of an open plan

Not so long ago, an open-plan kitchen came into fashion. Most often, this option can be found in a studio apartment. However, you can combine it with the living room in any apartment or private house. It doesn’t matter what area these rooms have; in any case, you can create a stylish and extraordinary interior, making the home more practical and vibrant.

Pros and cons of combining a kitchen with a living room in an apartment or private house

Any association can have both positive and negative sides. Among the advantages of combining the kitchen and the living room are the following:

By combining the two rooms, a bright and spacious room is obtained, capable of combining several zones with different functionality.
For owners of small apartments, the kitchen-living room becomes a real salvation. Here you can successfully organize the working and dining areas, creating an organic image of the room and simplifying the process of table setting.
The traffic in the house is reduced.
During cooking, the hostess has the opportunity to communicate with household members in the living room or to look after the children playing.

There are few drawbacks, but still they are:

The sounds of kitchen appliances and the smells of the upcoming dinner will penetrate the living room. Solve this problem can help household appliances with reduced noise and the installation of a powerful hood over the stove.
In a combined room will have to be cleaned more often.

But all the negative aspects can be minimized, you just need to plan the correct location of the recreation areas and the kitchen.

Layout of the kitchen-living room

There are many options for zoning the room, in which each element will have its own tangible boundaries. To conditionally divide the space, designers often use the kitchen island. It will not completely cover the space, and it is convenient to approach it from any direction. Usually this module has the same shade as the kitchen set. But in some cases, its part, facing the living room, can be made in a different color, in harmony with the design of the recreation area.

No less effective element of zoning is the peninsula or bar counter. On one side, the module is fixed to the wall, which allows you to outline the border of the kitchen. Sometimes open shelves or wall cabinets are placed above the peninsula.

Partitioning, shelving, screens or partial overlap can be a variant of zoning. The fireplace built into the partition will look spectacular. In this case, the hearth can be bilateral or made only towards the living room.

To plan the placement of the headset in the kitchen will help the dining table, mounted on the border of the rooms. With this variant of zoning, an angular or linear layout is mainly used. From the side of the living room, a conditional separator of two zones can be an item of upholstered furniture.

In houses or apartments with a large area, ceiling or floor coverings can be used for zoning the premises. At the same time, the kitchen area is located on a small podium. Making out a ceiling, the built-in illumination system is used.

Kitchen-living room design

In order for the two combined rooms to look holistic, it is important to design them in the same style. As for the kitchen-living room, restrained directions that emphasize ergonomics and functionality will be appropriate here.

Classic style

The luxury and tranquility of this area will be an excellent choice for owners of luxury apartments and cottages. Its distinctive feature will be space, a large amount of light and expensive materials.When choosing kitchen appliances, preference should be given to retro collections, the shade of which will be in harmony with the general color scheme.

Modern kitchen-living room

The modern style is characterized by a minimal number of things, each of which is in its place. The room is dominated by smooth and even surfaces, steel, achromatic shades and touch control technology. This style is chosen by motivated people who value their time dearly.

Provence

The romanticism of Provence is more suitable for country houses. In such a room, you can use a vintage set, place wooden beams on the ceiling, and decorate the cooking area with a fireplace. The guest area has a soft corner with upholstery in a small flower. And in the center of the room to establish a large dining table with a beautiful handmade tablecloth.

Scandinavian style

Finishing the room with light wood, plenty of light and light walls with the addition of small gray-blue details characteristic of the Scandinavian style, are more suitable for small rooms. These shades are ideal for the kitchen. A decorative fireplace, ethnic rugs or textiles will help to soften the cold in the living room.

Loft-style kitchen-living room

The characteristic features of the loft are open communications, brickwork on the walls, unprocessed wooden surfaces and an abundance of metal elements. Sofa upholstery can be deliberately worn. And instead of pouffes, you can see wooden boxes. A table in a loft apartment can be brought down from simple boards, and ordinary plastic chairs are often placed next to it. At first glance, such an interior looks careless, but this gives this stylistic direction even more informal freedom and makes it memorable.

Kitchen-living room in Khrushchev

Often the owners of not comfortable Khrushchev decide to redevelop their homes. At the same time, the combination of a tiny kitchen with a living room becomes the most common option. The function of the dining table here can serve as a bar. It will free up some space and fit perfectly into any style.

Split the room into different zones will help the flooring. So, ceramic tiles of light shades are used for the kitchen, and light parquet in the living room.