How to divide the kitchen and the living room

Lily Cichanowicz Lily Cichanowicz
La belleza de lo simple , cs cs Cucina minimalista
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There are lots of benefits to open plan homes. They are both trendy and practical. They are trendy because they tend to allow energy and light to flow through the home and fit with more modern and minimalist styles of design. As for their practicality, they allow the home to be heated and cooled more evenly and they create an ideal space for more communal interaction with family and guests. Open plans can make any home more spacious and they challenge the traditional notion that our homes must be strictly compartmentalized. Opening up the kitchen so that it is connected more directly with the living room is especially ideal for many people’s lifestyles because these are two primary rooms where socializing and bonding with others takes place. With all of this being said, there are certainly means of giving areas in open plans and semi-open plans more definition. Creating some level of division can provide all the benefits of an open plan while making the home feel distinguished and focused. Here are six simple tips for dividing the kitchen and the living room.

Cultivating communnity with a kitchen Island

Modern and Bold Kitchen Diner homify Cucina moderna kitchen,black,white,marble,work surfaces,modern,large

A natural means of creating a sense of division between the kitchen and living room is to add a kitchen island. The island is a common element in any kitchen as it serves the practical purposes of storage and counter space. With strategic placement of the island in your home you can create a subtler barrier the kitchen and the living room. From the perspective of the kitchen, the divide feels much stronger than if you were looking at the kitchen from the living room. This is why the island is ideal for someone who would like to be able to focus in the kitchen and feel a bit sectioned off from the goings on of the house whilst cooking. Families with young children could certainly benefit from this arrangement because if a parent is cooking in the kitchen, they can still easily supervise the child playing in the living room. The island placed between the kitchen and living room can easily become a communal focal point in an open plan home.

Creating continuity with a classic Wall

Although it may not seem intuitive, it’s possible to have an open, connected home while still separating the kitchen from the living room with a classic wall. You can create a window in the wall to maintain energy flow between the two rooms or you can make large openings in the wall itself like we can see in this example by Wirth Architekten. Here, the furniture in the living area is arranged in front of the brick wall so it can act as a barrier while the large openings on either side of the furniture allow for a sense of continuity to remain between the kitchen and the rest of the home. Further, the way that the brick wall arches over the openings makes the wall feel more unified and less out of place in the space. We love the incorporation of a new material added through the brick wall. 

Linking the rooms with a low wall

Zona cucina e soggiorno homify Soggiorno moderno

A low wall is a traditional, tried-and-true means of dividing the kitchen from the living room. Many styles opt to blend the wall with its surroundings, like we can see in this home. Because the wall is less obvious than a classic wall, doing so is a good way to promote continuity in between the kitchen and living room. The white wall blends with the rest of the white interior in such a way that the division is not so strong. You can also feel free to turn the low wall into a feature wall by using a different material or colour, though this can have the opposite effect as it would with a classic wall because of our visual perception of continuity. Since the wall is small, however, this could be in the best interest someone who would like to create a stronger sense of division between the living room and kitchen with a low wall.

Divide with a dining table

A simpler and perhaps even more practical means of creating a division between the kitchen and living room than the island is to use the dining table. This is an ideal option for someone who is looking to add a divider between the two rooms that is one a budget or for someone with limited space. It is a perfect spot to plant your dining area in an open plan, something that can be a bit befuddling in the open plan. We love the example in this open plan. The table, island, and sofa are arranged in similar orientations so they create a sense of cohesion in the space while also helping to enhance the dining room table’s role as a divider since it resides in between the island and sofa. Another multipurpose option is to get an island that doubles as a bar and add some stools to get the benefits of the kitchen island and dining table in one.

Use a bookshelf as a barrier

An innovative and stylish divider to use between the kitchen and living room is a bookshelf. The shelf can act as a partial wall while doing double duty as a place for storage. You can go with a floor to ceiling shelf like the one in this home or you can try a shorter shelf that can act much like a more dynamic low wall. If you aren’t the bookish type, don’t be deterred by this idea! You can also store cooking supplies, decorations, plants and appliances on your bookshelf. Another benefit of the bookshelf is that you get to decide just how opaque you’d like for it to be based on how much stuff you store on the shelf. This is a fun and unique means of creating a divider, and we certainly recommend it.

The open space

La belleza de lo simple , cs cs Cucina minimalista

If you enjoy your open space, and aren’t quite looking to create a definite divide, there are options for you too. This living room and kitchen for instance are not significantly divided from one another. The area is rather small, so adding a divider would probably make the home feel crowded and take away from the space the open plan creates. Adding a bright, colourful area rug like the one we see here is an easy way to bring some sense of distinction to the living area. Arranging furniture around the rug will cultivate a sense of unity the pieces in the living space. Further, orienting the furniture so that it is not facing the kitchen will help to give some definition to the two areas. This is particularly true if you’re working with a corner sofa, as its modular configuration can become a divider in itself.

If you enjoyed this ideabook, check out this beautiful open plan apartment. It's the perfect couple's home. Happy decorating!

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