Best 20 Open Plan kitchen living room design ideas

Creative ideas for making a large and small open plan kitchen living room interior design ideas, with examples for open concept living-kitchen design combo images for inspiration.

modern small open plan kitchen living room design ideas zoning

One of the newest trends in the design of living quarters has been the unification of certain rooms into single spaces. A vivid example of which can be a kitchen-living room. This layout has a huge number of advantages, that’s why it quickly gained interest and trust. Correctly arranged kitchen-living room designs will be a real gift for any hostess. In the open plan kitchen living room design, and without taking your time off from cooking, you can look after children or meet guests. Also, all serving is done on the kitchen table, so there’s no need to move the dishes from one room to another nor worry about cleaning. The open concept kitchen-living room design, if properly designed, will always be visually perceived more spacious and lighter, which can be seen in the pictures in our selection.

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Open plan kitchen living room: basic rules of interior design

The kitchen- living room concept or design can vary depending on the imagination of the hosts. However, it’s necessary to know some basic principles that can’t be neglected in the arrangement of such premises. First, the zoning of the room. This is necessary for a better psychological perception of space and for introducing harmony by proportional filling. By splitting the area into zones, materials such as different coatings and building materials are used like adding elevations and partitions in the interior or decorating bar counters and others. An important role is played by the contrast of the interior. The breakdown into zones should be very thoughtful, since, ultimately, it will still be a single space.

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modern small open plan kitchen living room design ideas zoning

Another important point is the choice of colors. Kitchen-living rooms decorated in typical tones won’t always be the right choice. Although many like this option, some interior objects or entire zones can be emphasized with more vivid accentuating shades when it comes to applying the open concept kitchen-living room design. Also, we should note some features of the properties of the selected tones. For example, bright cold tones are capable, at a visual level, to increase space, while the darker ones only narrow it. Green and blue colors are soothing, but yellow and red, on the contrary, will cheer and inspire to new culinary masterpieces. Proceeding from this, the kitchen-living room design can be designed on the principle of "kitchen - brighter and more saturated, and the resting place - less contrastive.”

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Options for zoning the open living room-kitchen zoning

As mentioned earlier, different coatings are often used for the zoning of open plan kitchen living room designs. Such designs can be useful not only from an aesthetic point of view, but also in terms of practicality and convenience. For example, the open plan kitchen-living room design can contain elements such as tiles in the kitchen area and use laminate flooring in the living room. Tiles will be the most convenient option, as they’re easy to wash in case of any contamination, and the laminate flooring in the living room will give a rich look and comfort, which can also be supplemented with rugs. Also, for the territory of the hall suitable coatings can be carpet and parquet. You can resort to the use of the laminate or linoleum in both areas, which vary greatly in texture and color.

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modern small open plan kitchen living room design ideas zoning

The ceiling is also included in the open plan kitchen-living room design. This contributes to the visual separation of territories. In this design, suspended structures of different contours are used as straight, arched, curved and others. Moreover, different levels may differ in color, pattern, texture and other characteristics.
The decoration of walls in the kitchen-living room can also have its own unique design (in some pictures on our website it’s shown in detail). It can be a wallpaper of the same color, but having a different pattern, a combination of a wallpaper and painted walls or decorative plaster and wall panels or man other solutions. The basic principle is the harmony in any combination.

Furniture in the open concept kitchen-living room design should be practical (resistant to moisture and steam), comfortable and in harmony with the overall conceived design of the room. In the living room, the presence of soft cabinet furniture is desirable, for it creates a comfortable and homey atmosphere. In this case, you must consider the size of the room. Kitchen-living rooms should have enough space for movement and ease of cleaning.

To select the necessary equipment in the kitchen, you need to determine how much it will be used. If home-cooking is not done a lot, it’s advisable to limit the most necessary appliances, and if the hostess is a real cook, then the technique should be enough. The only obligatory element included in any kitchen-living room design plan is the hood. Its installation is considered unconditional, since without dense partitions, the rest area can quickly be saturated with the smell of food prepared on the stove.

How to zone open concept kitchen living room design

It was already mentioned that the kitchen-living room design can accommodate such elements as zoning with the help of coatings, walls and ceilings and a color palette. This all refers to the so-called "visual zoning". There’s also another method of dividing the space that’s called "actual division", when the partitions, transparent planes, screens, podiums and steps, and furniture go into the course. Partitions are partial, stationary and mobile. Partial partitions serve for some "camouflage" of the cooking area to hide things from guests; for example, a dishwasher with unwashed dishes. Fixed partition, which separates the kitchen-living room area, should not exceed more than half the size of the wall, and it should be mobile or in a position, if necessary, to separate the kitchen from the living room. A very good option for a real separation of the zones of the kitchen-hall is a glass partition. It tightly protects the territory of the living room from the odor of cooking food and, at the same time, visually leaves the space united. Such an element of separation of zones, like a step separating the kitchen area, must, of course, be excreted so as not to cause accidents and injuries.

The furniture in the kitchen-living room design includes the presence of elements such as a bar counter (a tall narrow table), a shelf with transparent shelves and so on.

living room-kitchen designs in private houses

The kitchen-living room design is much more common in private houses than in apartments. One of the reasons for this is the owner's ability to plan, allocate the necessary space and think over the location of the windows for better lighting of such a room. A good option would be a kitchen-living room, with access to a terrace (a photo of this design is attached to the article). In this case, you can install the overall doors of the glass structure near which the living room area will be placed. The advantage of this design is that, while resting, you can enjoy the surrounding scenery, look after children frolicking in the fresh air, and enjoy this additional airing. Also, the terrace itself serves as a continuation of the recreation area if you install the necessary furniture on it. Another element which kitchen-living room design plan can have in a private house is a staircase (if the house has several floors). In this type of houses, it would be advisable to place the cooking zone in the circumvolute space, and the free space below can be used to store kitchen utensils. Also, a ladder can separate the recreation area from the kitchen.

modern small open plan kitchen living room design ideas zoning

There are some features of the design of private houses built of wood. Such rooms, as a rule, require good lighting. They can be decorated in such styles as the "country style" in the white-brown palette, "chalet" using the wall texture from the calibrated log or "eco-style", where only natural materials are used. The open concept kitchen-living room design plan in a private house would look spectacular if decorated in the style of a medieval castle using materials such as stone and wood, but the room should be spacious enough. In other perspectives, all the above described kitchen-living room ideas are preserved. It’s enough to apply imagination for the kitchen-living room in the house to become the most favorite place for all family members.