What is a combined kitchen? This is when the work and dining areas are combined. In the modern world this is an ideal option.
However, it is necessary to think through the zoning of such premises in advance so that it looks holistic, but all zones are visually separated.
Before making repairs or remodeling a room, you need to look at a photo of the combined kitchen in advance to understand how close this design and the solution itself are to you.
Advantages and disadvantages
Let's start with the amenities that a kitchen combined with a living room will bring, and this is:
- ease of movement due to the absence of doors and walls;
- “Everything is at hand, and the children are in sight” is an important moment for parents;
- cooking and communicating with family or friends at the same time - now you are unlikely to lose your mind when returning from the kitchen;
- the ability to organize parties or host more guests;
- twice the amount of daylight;
- the emergence of space for a dining area;
- using one TV or landline phone instead of searching for places to place them in each of the rooms.
By the way, A. Zemskov voices good advice in his video, we recommend watching it.
Interestingly, it is not only residents of small apartments who combine the kitchen and living room, although this issue is most pressing for them. As you can see in the photo, a kitchen combined with a living room is not only an opportunity to win a place.
The disadvantages of our large room are inferior to the advantages in terms of quantity:
- distribution of kitchen odors and noises;
- to demolish a wall, move a sink or make other changes to the technical passport of the apartment, you will need permission from the BTI;
- the use of materials resistant to high humidity that can withstand repeated cleaning;
- keeping both areas clean – now you won’t be able to put off washing the dishes until later.
And you know, someone will even consider the last point a plus and an excellent motivation for regular cleaning.
Later we will tell you how to overcome these simple obstacles. In the meantime, let's move on.
Conclusion
But if the difficulties of re-equipment do not frighten you, and you are ready to pay due attention to cleaning, then you can begin moving the kitchen. In any case, you already know how to move the kitchen into the living room correctly!
Design of a kitchen-dining room in a private house - see here.
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Zoning
The interior of a living room combined with a kitchen is usually divided into functional areas - kitchen, living room and dining room. Thanks to zoning, you will separate the kingdom of the hostess from the kingdom of guests and relatives, hide the cooking process from prying eyes and be able to retire in the kitchen out of habit.
In small rooms, the dining area can be combined with the living room, minimized, replaced with a bar counter, or completely eliminated as unnecessary. Here you can continue the family tradition by organizing a large dining table, or decide to make changes for the sake of space.
To visually separate a kitchen combined with a living room, use:
1. A relatively large piece of furniture - a table, a bar counter, a sofa, armchairs, a closet, an aquarium or a “living” wall of outdoor plants.
2.False walls, partitions, shelving of regular and irregular shapes and arches. On one side of the false wall you can place a mini-table, while the other will become a place for a picture or plasma. And if you cut a hole in it, a small table for two will fit perfectly in there - this way you will organize a compact dining area.
Separating the kitchen and living room with an arch is acceptable only for classical styles. Modern styles will suit a functional partition with shelves for kitchen utensils on one side and a bio-fireplace on the other. What do you think about perforated partitions?
3. Flooring design – the floor in the kitchen should be practical, and in the living room – conducive to relaxation. At the same time, the kitchen is often elevated to a podium, which makes it easier to connect communications, but may not be entirely convenient for charging.
4.Ceiling decoration - suspended, tensioned structures with different levels will help create a festive or romantic atmosphere in the living room, and will provide the kitchen with the necessary uniform lighting and working environment. The structural features of the room - for example, a load-bearing beam - will act as ready-made zoning elements.
5. Sliding or folding doors, which at any time will divide the premises into two parts. Believe me, this is imperceptible when the doors are transparent - for example, glass.
6. Curtains - light tulle, flowing muslin or a thick curtain will separate the kitchen from the living room without burdening the interior.
7. The texture and color of the materials used to decorate the walls, ceiling, apron, floor, and other horizontal and vertical surfaces.
Planning a kitchen with a peninsula is another zoning opportunity: a kitchen set or bar counter will do the job perfectly. The interiors of the kitchen and living room, correctly divided into functional zones, are presented below.
What is best to use for zoning - the size of the room and the interior furnishings will tell you.
What's the best way to arrange it?
Options for arranging a small space.
Choosing a compact kitchen set
The most optimal solution for a small kitchen-living room is considered to be an L-shaped set with a corner part equipped with a stove, sink and refrigerator. Such placement significantly saves space and rationally uses the corner in the room. If there is a window in the kitchen area, near this wall it would be appropriate to install a corner set with a table top that goes into the window sill.
The photo shows the design of a small kitchen-living room with a white corner set, complemented by a bar counter.
For a small room with a square geometry, a linear kitchen set arranged in one line is suitable. In a more elongated and narrow rectangular room, it is advisable to place the structure near a short end wall. It is better to equip the set with a narrow tabletop and, instead of a dining table, complement the space with a bar counter with high chairs.
The photo shows a small straight set in a small combined kitchen-living room.
Built-in household appliances
Using mini appliances and built-in household appliances, the interior of a compact kitchen-living room looks less cluttered and overloaded. Thanks to such a design idea as built-in appliances, the facades of the set acquire a uniform and holistic appearance.
In this case, the refrigerator is also hidden behind cabinet doors or the unit is installed on the side of the unit and decorated to match the color of the facade.
The photo shows a small kitchen-living room with a bright suite equipped with built-in appliances.
Furniture transformer
Thanks to transformable furniture, it is possible not only to relieve the space as much as possible, but also to make it more functional and comfortable.
It is appropriate to complement a small room that combines two different zones with a transforming table, which can be folded out to the desired size, and also provides the ability to adjust the height. An equally rational solution would be to equip a small kitchen-living room using a dining set with folding chairs. Once assembled, the stools can be stored on the balcony or in the storage room.
In modern design, there are certain models of kitchen sets that have transformable sliding drawers, roll-out or pull-out countertops, which allow you to expand the cooking area.
Choosing a style for a kitchen combined with a living room
Style direction is an important factor that influences the choice of materials, the design of furniture, walls, floors, ceilings, the number of decorative elements and the cost of repairs. When looking for a design style for a kitchen combined with a living room, you can focus on:
- the dominant direction in the apartment;
- design features of the floor, walls, window and door openings;
- estimated costs.
The kitchen combined with the living room may not completely correspond to the main style direction of the apartment, but it certainly should not contradict it. Here it is better to combine types of classical trends with each other or give preference to modern ones.
The original decoration of the floor, walls and windows is also a good hint, which, however, does not cancel the previous one. But this approach will reduce the cost of repair work.
For example, wooden beams will fit perfectly into a modern loft and a range of rustic styles. High ceilings are a great reason to surround yourself with luxurious Renaissance, Baroque or Classical furnishings.
Design features
A number of main nuances:
- The optimal color scheme for the design of a small kitchen-living room is white, milky, gray, beige or another delicate and pastel shade. In a small room, sharp contrasts, variegated and overly bright details are not welcome.
- In a small room in an apartment with a low ceiling, emphasis is placed on objects with a vertical orientation, for example, these could be tall cabinets, decorative columns, long curtains or wallpaper with a striped print.
- In order to give the kitchen-living room a horizontal volume, you should cover one of the walls with photo wallpaper with a realistic perspective image, install a long sofa, table or hang open shelves in a small room.
The photo shows a small kitchen-living room, made in light white and gray tones.
Kitchen-living room in modern styles
Household appliances, transformable furniture, strange, rich colors and contrasts, asymmetry, high-tech devices and a minimum of decor. If you have discovered your preferences and weaknesses in this list, this is a hint of modern style design.
Let's find out what will surprise us with the modern design of a living room combined with a kitchen by looking at popular style trends.
Loft
This native of the United States quickly assimilated into our climate. A loft-style kitchen-living room is an excellent choice for creative individuals who do not want to surround themselves with pretentiousness and luxury.
Distinctive features:
- brick or concrete walls, untreated plaster;
- beams, caissons on the ceiling are white, gray or brown;
- high ceilings and huge windows;
- slightly rough but functional furniture;
- pendant lamps and rotating spots;
- no extra walls or partitions.
Tip: since a brick kitchen apron is not a good idea, decorate it with brick-like tiles or imitating waterproof wallpaper.
Scandinavian style
Do you like white or wood wall coverings, natural materials and simplicity of shape? Pay attention to the Scandinavian style design. And if you manage to ensure environmental friendliness and maximum natural lighting, the purity of style will be guaranteed.
The kitchen-living room in the Scandinavian style does not deny the presence of ceiling beams and brick walls characteristic of the previous direction. Only the brick here is white. A distinctive feature of the style is a pendant lamp with an unusual lampshade in the dining area, much more soft and warm wood, complete freedom of action in terms of eco-decor.
A lampshade made of twigs, wooden shelves, a branch hanger - all this will only bring you closer to the Scandinavian setting.
Neoclassical
Have you already seen that most modern music carries classical motifs? Something similar is happening with apartment design, where classic elements take on a stylish and modern look.
Restraint, neatness, symmetry, mirrors, stucco molding, monograms, a little antiquity combined with modern materials and forms - this is what characterizes neoclassicism. This is a wonderful and most suitable choice for connoisseurs of elegance and tradition.
Minimalism
Minimalism is modern elegance, functionality, monochrome, maximum open space and minimum decor.
The kitchen-living room in the minimalist style is characterized by straight furniture facades, strict geometric shapes and smooth, non-textured surfaces. If your life credo is “nothing superfluous,” perhaps this style was invented especially for you!
High tech
Are you nervous about new technologies and high-tech systems? Then a high-tech design is more suitable for you.
It has:
- strict lines;
- straight, simple, but at the same time very functional designs;
- monotony with small rich accents;
- minimum of natural materials;
- chrome elements;
- high ergonomics;
- no textiles;
- smooth surfaces of furniture, walls, floors and ceilings.
Well, if modern trends are not to your liking, let's go back to the roots.
Kitchen-living room in classic (traditional) styles
By classic we mean a whole family of trends, essentially differing in the level of pretentiousness and avant-gardeism, color palette and correctness of forms. We will go through the most notable of them.
Kitchen-living room in Provence style
This romantic and very gentle destination, named after the southern French region, will fill your home with comfort and warmth. A kitchen-living room in the Provence style is an abundance of daylight, decor, textiles, ornaments, floral patterns and soft, pastel colors.
To fully match the style, furniture should be made of light painted wood, while natural, artificially aged materials can be safely combined with imitations. The monochromatic design of the walls will be diluted by curtains with a checkered or floral print.
And short curtains to match the color of the tablecloth or kitchen apron will replace the doors of the kitchen unit.
Cute vases and figurines, bottles and pots decorated with ribbons, forged elements, bows, lace - if you think that there is never too much beauty, you will find yourself in this style.
Classic style
If you:
- are obliged to correspond to high status in everything;
- want to emphasize your noble origin;
- you simply do not accept changes and are not ready to part with antique interior items;
- Do you consider decor an integral part of comfort?
– think about decorating in a classic style.
It accepts expensive, noble materials in the decoration of floors, ceilings, walls and furniture, a symbiosis of laconicism and decorativeness, elegance and strict symmetry of forms.
A classic kitchen combined with a living room is and will remain timeless, as these photos will confirm.
Country
Having considered Provence - a type of French country - it would be unfair not to pay attention to other national village styles, united by the simplicity and comfort of design. The meaning of style is the ability to escape from the bustle of the city by simply returning home.
All that remains is to choose a country that is close to your soul - your native one or a distant but beloved one. It turns out that there are many types of country music - Russian, Italian, Indian, Egyptian, American, Japanese, and they differ in objects, materials and colors.
But here's what they have in common:
- eco-materials;
- antique, vintage items;
- knitted, patchwork, hand-made textiles;
- authentic decor items;
- often - a round wooden table with a “great-grandmother’s” tablecloth.
Art Deco
The brilliant brainchild of neoclassical and modern, art deco is an exquisite combination of steel, glass, leather, mirrors and silk. All this may well end up in your kitchen combined with the living room.
The originality of the style is manifested in strong lighting, the play of light and shadows, multi-stage design, contrasting stripes or cages. But the style decoration of the room will be considered complete and fully consistent with the style, provided that the interior contains objects of art and elements of luxury.
Modern
Especially for refined natures, connoisseurs of exclusive products and accessories, we will consider a fabulous version of the Art Nouveau style (Tiffany).
Imagine it as if in a classic kitchen combined with a living room. Now you asymmetrically stretch the doors and furniture, giving them curved shapes, add stained glass instead of glass, optical illusions on the walls and ceiling, and make the combination of white and blue colors dominant. You're almost there!
American Art Nouveau - and Tiffany also bears this name - is characterized by simplicity, elegance, practicality, and the presence of the latest technologies and objects of applied art.
What are the main tasks you have set for yourself in arranging the premises?
The only main task was the proper zoning of the apartment, because it is so small that every centimeter counted; it was necessary not only to accommodate everything necessary, but also not to overwhelm it, so that there was still space.
Color solutions
When choosing a color for a kitchen combined with a living room, you should take into account:
- design style;
- rules for combining colors in the interior;
- personal preferences;
- psychology of color.
Some may classify the last point as esoteric, but this is not so. If you have already decided on the interior style, let him point you to the right combinations. For the classics, these are pastel, delicate shades, diluted with dark brown or black in the minority.
Provence loves soft blue, pink, light green in combination with wood. Scandinavian style is a mix of white, gray and wood. Country styles are characterized by national colors. Art Deco is decorated in black and white, sometimes in beige-brown or silver-black.
There are rules for choosing colors that are associated not with style, but with proportions and the number of colors, and here they are:
1.60x30x10 is color harmony. 60% of the space belongs to the main color (wall decoration, upholstered furniture), 30 to an additional color (furniture facades), and 10% should be devoted to accents.
2. A color-balanced interior is represented by one or two primary colors and the same number of additional colors or accents.
Whether to follow the rules is up to you to decide. One way or another, their violation is only welcomed by the latest fashion trends.
Let's start with the main thing, and this is the color of the walls. A kitchen-living room in white is a universal solution and convenient in its own way. This way you will further increase the area of the room, and later you can easily paint it in any other color.
There is only one minus - in the kitchen area the white will quickly lose its freshness, so be prepared for regular wiping.
More suitable from this point of view would be a design in beige or gray. This wall color is an excellent background for all other colors and most styles.
In monochrome interiors, the accent will be the unusual color of the wallpaper, decorated with photo printing or three-dimensional images. A bright, cheerful and at the same time waterproof design for a kitchen apron is the best gift for every housewife.
Don’t forget that dark colors are space eaters and should be used in the minority. A fashionable decoration for the guest area will be an accent wall, the role of which will also be played by a dividing partition.
The design of the ceiling is most often a color continuation of the walls, but there are also more modern options - combined or two-level ceilings with PVC or satin fabrics. A glossy or textured finish will harmoniously complement the kitchen set and upholstery of upholstered furniture in the living room.
Decorating the floor in white is a very bold, but not entirely rational solution for the kitchen, and even more so for the living room. A more cunning move would be white “marbled” - with veins or inclusions, beige, brown, gray or black. Striped, checkered and patchwork options are also very relevant, but not for very colorful interiors.
The color of the furniture in the kitchen should echo the furnishings in the living room. You can bring it there, for example, using elements of an accent wall, textiles or sofa cushions. It wouldn’t hurt to transfer the color that is present on several vertical surfaces to one of the horizontal surfaces, combining these planes into one.
A little about the psychology of color: bright, flashy colors tone up, increase appetite and can make it difficult to fall asleep, and children are most sensitive to this. If you have them, just in case, check out the characteristics of the selected color.
Flaws
The kitchen-living room is an interesting solution in terms of interior design and functionality. Despite many positive aspects, this combination of two rooms also has a number of disadvantages that should be taken into account before starting redevelopment.
The living room is a room where household members can relax, spend time together, and receive guests. The kitchen has a completely different purpose. Various culinary delights are prepared and meals served here. To properly combine these two different rooms, you will need the help of specialists. And not only a construction and repair team, but also a designer-stylist for decorating the interior of a house or apartment.
It is also important to take into account the fact that after redevelopment, these two rooms become one; such premises are also called a kitchen-studio. If there is a small child in the family, then it is important to think about whether the baby will be comfortable and comfortable in a place where there is noise from household appliances.
When choosing colors for furniture and textiles, you will have to abandon light shades. Since they will get dirty faster under the influence of temperature changes and fumes released from food during the preparation of any dishes. Of course, you shouldn’t completely abandon light colors, you just need to take into account that it will take more time to clean a kitchen-living room made in this color option.
To prevent odors, grease, soot and fumes from spreading into the rest room, you will have to purchase a good, high-quality hood. A practical and functional hood should be powerful and high-speed, but not make too much noise. This kind of household appliance cannot be called a cheap pleasure.
