THE LIVING KITCHEN

Modern kitchens are part of wider, open-plan living areas, and in turn, we are seeing them seamlessly adapt and become today’s family living space.

Whether big or small, the kitchen is the hub of the home. It is where food is made, and in turn, where family and friends congregate to eat, talk, laugh, and cry. However, this wasn’t always the case, and in older homes, the kitchen was a contained space with a separate dining room and living room. Often when they’ve purchased an older home, the first thing today’s homeowners do is remove the walls that separate these spaces and combine them into one large open-plan space full of life and energy with the kitchen at the heart of it all. In the same way, most new homes embrace today’s more casual lifestyle and are being built without a dining room or formal living area in preference for one large space that offers all of this around the kitchen design.

Within these larger open-plan spaces, kitchen islands have become a must have and are noted for being both a functional and sociable addition. If space allows, an island will be accompanied by a dining table; informal and formal dining options together within the one space. In fact, in some designs the island and dining table merge into one, offering bar stool seating and an area that drops down to accommodate a dining table and chairs.

Other design elements within modern kitchens that allow them to blend perfectly within a larger open-plan living space include open shelving that allows for decorative touches, as well as cabinetry and worktop colors and finishes that extend from the kitchen into entertainment units in the living room or tabletops in the dining space. Even kitchen appliances are changing as designers work to make them more aesthetically pleasing within today’s living kitchens.