How to equip a small kitchen

The island is usually stove or sink, around which are placed all work surfaces. Many people think that the kitchen island can only be created inside a large area. This is not the case. If the cause will undertake an experienced designer who can create a cozy island of even a very small kitchen. How much money will it take to it - is another question.

 

Change the window sill on the countertop

The third step involves a more serious alterations kitchen space, which is why few dare yourself to apply such a method of design at home. This method involves the removal and replacement of the existing window sill of his top. This makes it possible to organize jobs for housewives, and the space below it to use for floor boxes and cabinets.And do not worry that it will strongly back away from the wall and take up a lot of space. The full width worktop will be only in the area of ​​the window, and on the sides it will act on the walls of a maximum of 30cm. Produce a countertop with a "sunset" on the windowsill too were not working, you can make it any shape: rectangular or rounded edges. And by extending it along the wall with a window, you can get not only the work surface, but also a full dining table overlooking the street.The only caveat in establishing such a plan - this is the height of a standard kitchen furniture 80cm, and the height from the floor to the window sill - 90cm, so you have to make furniture from this feature.

 
This is a classical style of decorating kitchen
 
          Features color selection

Selection of colors. Avoid dark deep tones as they are visually reduce the room. You come all sorts of shades of neutral and calm, as they contribute to the expansion of visual space. You can try to experiment with the dark and colored accents. They will make the room more interesting, but do not overdo it. Natural lighting to visually enlarge the room, so you should prefer translucent curtains. Glossy furniture perfectly reflects the light that helps to create the illusion of a large kitchen.

This is end for today!

Kitchen classic

A modern take on a farmhouse kitchen makes the welcoming heart of Lisa and Ashton Ward’s busy and sociable home

So small was the galley-style kitchen in the house Lisa Ward and husband, Ashton, had just bought, they honestly wondered how the previous owners had managed. ‘It was absolutely tiny and was soon earmarked to become the study instead,’ recalls Lisa. ‘We decided to re-think the layout of the house.’ And when she says ‘re-think’, she means it. Lisa and Ashton went for a total overhaul of the 1950s-built home in Berkshire. ‘We wanted to keep the character of the property, so we retained the frontage with its beautiful old red clay tiles but about two thirds of everything else went completely,’ she explains. ‘Now it’s an old house with a new build and a much more spacious feel.’

Key to that spacious feel is a very large and open-plan kitchen, dining and living room, with a large roof lantern and French doors to the two acre garden (the next phase of their extensive renovation project - it is currently being landscaped). ‘As much as I wanted to go with a sleek, all-white and very glossy kitchen, I knew it just wouldn’t fit with our family,’ laughs Lisa, full-time mum to Barnaby, 8, and Matilda, 6, and owner of three Dachshunds, Stanley Baxter, Henry Hudson and Ruby, not forgetting Poppy, the Springer Spaniel, Rambo the 13-year-old goldfish. ‘Wet dog tails, muddy paw prints and scooters speeding around are better suited to a room that can cope with a little wear and tear and a few knocks,’ she says.

Having owned a Mark Wilkinson kitchen before, the couple headed there for the new design. With a background in property development, Lisa says she has learnt to know what she likes. ‘I wanted a modern farmhouse look, which was quite clean and uncluttered -but with nothing gimmicky,’ she says.

A solid oak door leads into the pantry storing essential items

There are no prizes for guessing the favourite dog breed in this household. Ruby gets comfortable in the family seating area.

The island is topped in solid oak with White Spring granite, which copes better with water than wood, used to ‘zone’ the sink area

Simple framed cabinetry, hand painted in greeny-grey Fernlea, creates the traditional farmhouse look that Lisa had in mind, it’s clean lines and unfussy detailing adding the contemporary twist. ‘I like the heritage feel of the colour and it is very calming and soft,’ she says. There was a moment when I thought I should go for a vibrant pink island or something like that, but I knew I would quickly get bored of it – this is timeless.’ The large island serves as the main prep surface, with an oak breakfast bar area. To complete the design, Lisa and Ashton chose a custom-built Lacanche cooker. ‘We chose a combination of both gas and electric ovens, with four gas burners, a wok ring and a griddle, so we could still have cooking options if our unreliable gas supply was turned off,’ explains Lisa. ‘We also liked the design of the Lacanche.’ They added hand painted tiles to create another focal point.

‘The kitchen really works for our family. It’s great when we have big parties, or when it’s just us at home,’ says Lisa. Of course, ‘just us’ in the Ward household often means countless other four-legged friends. ‘I often look after my friends’ dogs,’ reveals Lisa, ‘I know – I’m animal mad – but I do think dogs make for calmer, nicer people. But whatever the mix,’ she says, ‘the kitchen always feels good.’

Mark Wilkinson Furniture also designed and supplied the furniture for the utility room which was made to match the kitchen

The vintage telephone is in good working condition




 


The butler sink and mixer taps echo those in the main room

Living-room & kitchen

One of the most popular designs - a free kitchen, not confined to the walls and doors from the living area. Visually expand the space, this interior has its own merits and the points that need to be improved, so before you go on the trail of fashion trends, you need to weigh all of these aspects. The main purpose of the open kitchen is, of course, the need to increase free space.
Small kitchen: there is a solution

Statistics say that the average person in the kitchen spends at least 2 hours a day, and not to mention the housewives who are fond of cooking. Therefore kitchen equipment must meet the requirements of comfort apartment dwellers, not the wishes of hypothetical guests. Often apartment is made with reference to the fact that people say or think, but this is incorrect. And if the owner is convenient to place a fridge in the warmed balcon to make a piece of space for additional cabinets, then why not do so. But not always, these measures are quite effective, because the kitchen are not just small, and ... tiny.

If the kitchen area has 6.5 square meters, the family of three people in it simply does not fit, you must either make a fridge in the pantry or on the balcon, or there is not at the table, and the bar at the sill and in turn. By getting rid of the partition between the kitchen and living room, you can solve this problem. In this case, the kitchen door of the corridor can be removed and the passage lay. Often, in this place formed a niche in which very successfully gets cooler.

In any case, the absence of passages and the demolition of walls in themselves increase the kitchen area. Added to this is an additional living room area in which to organize the dining room area, because in small kitchens was not originally intended place for dining room.

Kitchen, combining with living room - a popular design method, which is used as in the design of a new spacious studio apartments, lofts, cottages. That is not always the goal is to increase the area - the idea of an open-plan kitchen and attractive in itself. It so happens that the kitchen is small, and the adjacent room - very big. In this case, some moving a wall, reducing the size of the room and increasing the area of the kitchen. In a small room equipped with a living room - such as a bedroom or nursery, and in the spacious kitchen, combined kitchen and living room. Instead of one or two rooms in the apartment you can get two or three - though one of them will be combined with the kitchen, but with a deficit of square feet is not a bad option. Sometimes combining the kitchen with the living room plotting to increase not only the cuisine but also the living room combined space in any case, it is more spacious.


Remember, food is a wet zone. Do not carry the wet zone in a residential area. That is not to combine the kitchen with living room and kitchen area to move to where the lounge.

Kitchen-living room or living room: pros and cons


Kitchen-living room has its advantages and disadvantages.



Advantages are obvious:

visual extension of the light sources and the increase in a single area, as two windows to cope with this function is much better than one; simplify the process of organizing the celebrations, when the lady is not necessary to leave the common room and lose track of the conversation in order to check the readiness of dishes or serve a table with new products;

psychological aspect, related to the fact that the owner, put on the table and the cleaning after the meal, as it were, from the general life, while the total space of the kitchen and dining room hostess can always be in the "thick of things."

for fans of the collective parties is the most suitable option, as in the compact kitchen to store more than 6 people is problematic, and a living room area copes with it easily.

another advantage of the kitchen combined with living room - no need to buy an extra TV for the kitchen, it is enough to buy a big TV panel for living room area. Many owners of large kitchens dreamed of having a fireplace in the room. Combining the kitchen with the living room, you can mount one common chimney.

the main convenience that makes kitchen design, combined with the living room - it is an opportunity to have dinner and supper for a full dining table.

Kitchen-living room: deficiencies

odors from cooking, which fume cupboard handles only partially, especially when it comes to products with a particular flavor;

sounds made when working with a microwave, oven or dishwasher immediately become the property of the society, which is not always convenient and pleasant;

increased demands on the cleaning, if a couple of cups in the kitchen and a plate thrown at the sink, do not have a material adverse effect on the interior, then the combination kitchen with living alone, even forgotten the tissue can spoil the overall impression. Many housewives admit that they had to regret about the combination of the kitchen with the living room because of this nuance. But it is more closely related to humans, a perfectionist, often accustomed to receive visitors, delighting their perfect order in his apartment. If you are not one of those people who have a bad mood on the kind of dirty dishes, then combining the kitchen with the living room does not make you regret later on. 

Living-room-design When people talk about the combination of the kitchen with the living room, does not mean their complete dissolution in each other, and complement one another. The kitchen should be separated from the living room at least visually. It uses special techniques of zoning, there are several.

  Kitchen-living room zoning
First, it is, of course, a bar that separates the kitchen area from the living room area. This is the most common way of zoning, if you create a kitchen-living room. Bar counter can be fixed - is part of the wall that once divided the kitchen and living room, or a new false wall. This part of the wall from the floor easily converted to poluperegorodku, acted as a bar. As the finishing stand, you can use facing stone, wood paneling, laminate, etc.


Mostly false walls, however, can perform a purely decorative function and zoning. The second common method of zoning - split-level floor. If ceiling height allows, the kitchen floor is raised by about 10-15 cm Podium can perform not only resonating function. Under the podium, you can hide the pipe, flexible liner and other communications. The third way of zoning in the kitchen-living room - a combination of floor coverings.

Flooring in the kitchen area is usually faced with tiles, the flooring in the living room the choice is made in favor of laminate flooring, carpet. Different flooring demarcate the kitchen area, dining room, living room.

The fourth way - the island. Island is set on the border between the kitchen and living room. In this island can function as a bar (this is even desirable).


 The fifth way - a large dining table with low-hanging ceiling lights above him. Table is placed on the boundary between the kitchen and living room. It is visually divides the space, brings order into the space of a combined kitchen-living room. The sixth way is that removed only part of the wall that once divided the kitchen and living room, and is very wide opening, which may have an arch or a more complex shape. This opening can get bar-counter or dining table (narrow side of the aisle.)


 The seventh way of zoning: the installation of light, translucent walls, partially enclosing the living room from the kitchen. Partitions may be sliding or folding - if necessary kitchen area you can hide from the eyes of the guests.