No more is the kitchen a place just to cook, it is becoming more often than not the heart of the home, a space to mix, mingle and socialise in the family home. It is therefore no surprise that more and more people are looking to create an open and spacious centre to their home, where more and more activities can be undertaken in a large central and spacious hub.
Beit the traditional kitchen and separate dining room ‘knocked through’ or a single story extension to elongate the kitchen space we find more designs requiring extra functionality to include additional seating and living space within a larger open-plan kitchen.
Flat screen TV’s, sofa’s, floor to ceiling sliding/bi-fold doors and much more are now becoming more and more desirable to extend and enhance the living environment within a central hub. Making the traditional living room more of a ‘bolt-hole’ which is used more as a retreat at the very end of the day, as the majority of tasks and socialising is undertaken in the extended kitchen environment… Which is why it is so important to create a multi-functional habitat as more and more time is being spent in the kitchen by more and more families.
Often large open-plan living spaces are associated with contemporary designs. That doesn’t necessarily need to be the case. Many traditional and classical designs lend themselves to this open-plan living style, keeping a warm and cosy feel to what is in essence the ‘family room’. As can be seen from the below design and layout, the traditional Cambia range from Schuller Kitchens works extremely well in this wide open setting, with dining facilities in the kitchen and the relaxed sofa seating area opened up with large internal folding doors. This is an extremely good example of how open-plan living does not need to be ultra modern.
It is fascinating to see this trend progress. We have moved a long way away from the distinct rooms of the past where the cooks stayed firmly in the kitchen whilst others were either waiting in the dining room or were in a separate living room. It always struck us as a waste of useful space when you saw the smart family dining room used a few times a year or piled high with clutter as an overflow storage room! Maybe this realisation has pushed us to make more use of all of the space available in our homes, bringing style and colours from our wider environment into the kitchen living space which really enthuses us to design more bespoke and personalised layouts for all our clients… as we all deserve the perfect kitchen and living environment that works for all our family.
Studio 35
35 Blossom Street, York, YO24 1AQ