Small kitchen-living room: zoning options and examples of interior design

Open-plan kitchens have been in fashion for a long time: they moved from Western interiors to apartments of the Slavs, and people were able to appreciate the convenience of such solutions. The kitchen, combined with the living room, seems to be a spacious room, but not every layout contributes to this. But even a small kitchen-living room can become a comfortable, functional and useful room for the whole family.

Before deciding on such a design, you need to weigh all its pros and cons. When a blank wall disappears between the hall and the kitchen, the concept of dwelling radically changes. And you need to start with the topic of psychological comfort: the open plan will appeal to those who are tuned in to sociability, constant contact with interlocutors.

But usually people who decide on a combined project understand and accept this feature of the premises in advance. Instead of two rooms, we get one studio with kitchen and living room functions.... And the studio is always a lighter, more visually spacious format, where you can't hide from your household.

The indisputable advantages of a combined room:

• the opportunity to communicate with the family while cooking, watch TV;
• the opportunity to look after a small child who can sleep in a crib or play in an arena in the hall area while mom is cooking;
• a sense of spaciousness, the interior now does not look small and closed;
• great design possibilities, because the dining table can be taken from the kitchen to the hall, which means that a larger set can be installed in the kitchen.

The main disadvantage is that it is no longer possible to retire in the kitchen or in the living room. Combining the kitchen with the hall also requires a single stylistic solution; in rare cases, two zones are performed in different styles.

In almost every project of combined rooms there is a divider that separates one functional area from another. It can be small and conditional, but there are zoners that are comparable to a dividing wall.

Separation options vary.

• False plasterboard wall. The solution is widespread, but not so popular anymore. Often, shelves or a niche are made in such a partition, in which you can arrange decor items. In a small apartment, it makes no sense to make a wide wall of gypsum plasterboard, as this will "eat up" part of the usable area. But a meter wall is not a bad option. Often, the kitchen is blocked from the entrance (due to this, the bathroom can be expanded), the entrance to the kitchen is planned through the living room. In this case, there may be two false walls, 1 m wide each.

• Bar counter... It is also not the most popular option, but if you abandon the idea of ​​installing a structure on a metal leg, everything will not be so old-fashioned. The bar counter can look like a miniature island. But in this case, you will have to put a couple of bar stools next to the structure, and this will also take up part of the space.

• Rack. This option can be called successful, since the rack is through, not as massive as the wall. On the shelves of the rack, you can arrange flowers, books, souvenirs and other decorative elements.

• Glass partition. The glass does not look as dull as a false wall, which is why the owners of small apartments often install such a partition. The glass structure does not “eat up” the light; it can be very compact and stylistically match the design concept of the room.

• Sofa. If you put it on the zone dividing line, it will conditionally separate the kitchen from the living room. But under such conditions, the kitchen should have a powerful exhaust system, since textiles absorb odors well.

Many owners of such combined spaces dispense with an explicit separator. Sometimes the living room begins with a dining group that is no longer included in the original kitchen area.

Finally, you can zone the territory in the house with finishing. In the kitchen area, due to its functional features, moisture-resistant and heat-resistant materials are used: ceramic tiles, porcelain stoneware, artificial stone, as well as tempered glass, washable wallpaper. In the hall, wooden surfaces, laminate, as well as carpet, decorative wallpaper are more convincing. The difference in textures will serve as a visual zoner, but the coloristic and stylistic solution should be integral.

Dim light colors create the illusion of increased space in the room. And if you use dark and saturated shades, the room, on the contrary, will visually decrease. That's why the optimal solution for a modest kitchen-living room will be white, gray, pastel and beige shades.

It is worth paying attention to the trendy colors in the interior of 2019.

• Spicy honey. This is a pleasant warm caramel shade, depending on the color of the partner, as well as on the lighting, it takes on amber, sandy and woody colors. It is a comfortable and cozy color that makes the room warmer. It is ideal for forming a traditional style.

• Bamboo color... You can call this shade a dull orange. It is well suited for decorating the accent wall of a room, for choosing upholstered furniture.

• Gray coffee. Cozy and at the same time illuminating color.It will go well in the kitchen-living room with sky blue and pale gray-beige. For southern sunny rooms - a good option.

• Rose quartz. The color is elegant and purebred, very warm and soft. Would be a good solution for northern cuisine, which should be made a little warmer.

If the transformation takes place in a two-room apartment, try to make the arrangement of the rooms somehow overlap with each other. One color palette and one interior style are basic requirements. But if you have a bright and warm kitchen-living room, the bedroom can be just milky, restrained. Nevertheless, the rooms have different tasks, and if in the expanded kitchen everyone communicates, relaxes together, arranges gatherings, then the bedroom should be an ideal place for solitude.

Deciding on the style right away is a difficult task. I would like to make a renovation that will look fresh and relevant for a long time. To do this, it is not worth doing it according to the standards of magazines fashionable a couple of years ago, but taking a closer look at what is now at the forefront of fashion will be the right decision.

Designers pay attention to important nuances.

• Interior personalization... In the era of information, making a room exactly like in a photo in an interior magazine or a popular website is not difficult. Living space today requires personification. This can be craft furniture, art objects in the interior, and even a mixture of styles.

• Boho... Interiors in bright boho are in great demand today, but for a small kitchen-living room it will be a difficult option. However, if you are inspired by stylish examples, and not overdo it with details, you can get a very beautiful space.

• 70th. The aesthetics of the 70s is experiencing a new wave of popularity today. Olive color, warm ocher and terracotta tones, velvet and geometric ornaments return to the living room.

An active ornament in the interior is also in vogue, which will reveal itself well against the background of such colors as French vanilla, gray-green, mint, brown hazelnuts, warm gray.

There are still relevant elements connecting with nature in the urban interior - flowers and greenery, first of all. Hand-made decor is popular: good old macrame is again in demand today and decorates the walls of many kitchen-living rooms.

Those who intend to make a room in a Scandinavian style need not be upset: this solution can no longer be fashionable or not, it has become a classic.

Illustrative examples of the arrangement of a space in which both the kitchen and the living room are located on the same territory will be more eloquent than many fashionable descriptions.

8 kitchens-living rooms with a modest area.

• Actual shades of the season - coffee gray, white and blue - connected in a kitchen of 18 squares, which the owners decided to make a 2-in-1 room. A good option for a one-room apartment: a living room will fit in the large kitchen, and the former hall can be turned into a bedroom.

• The zonator in this case is the sofa. The space seems spacious, although these are typical rooms. White serves as a "mediator" of zones and interior elements.

• Beautiful classic, a lot of light and the appropriateness of each interior element. Without such a solution, the kitchen and living room would look narrow and cramped.

• Kitchen + dining room + living room. And all in warm woody shades that add warmth to the room.

• Very small space well appointed - a small kitchen, a comfortable, albeit small dining table, a cozy sofa. For lovers of compact furniture and kitchens, the option is very good, while the feeling of space and fresh air is preserved.

• An interesting zonator in the form of filament curtains clearly separates the kitchen from the living room, but it would look completely different if there was a blank wall. A great example of how in a small space you can apply imagination and make a fashionable interior.

• It seems that due to the separation, the living room suffers, it becomes small. But this is not so: due to the location of the dining group at the intersection of the zones, the space becomes a spacious studio, where everyone will find a place.

• Everything is very compact and very harmonious... And a table for the whole family, and a cozy sofa, and a TV, and not the smallest set - everything fit here. Another option for those who believe that the living room can also be moved to a large kitchen.