A kitchen niche is a relatively new concept among interior designers. As practice shows, not everyone understands this as the same thing. Someone believes that on the balcony you can make a kitchen area and call it a niche, someone is ready to donate a pantry for the kitchen. However, there is a clear definition of what a kitchen niche is.
What it is?
In accordance with the standards, a kitchenette is called non-residential premises with a sink and stove. The minimum area of this room should be 5 m2. The smaller the useful area of an apartment, the more profitable it is to organize a kitchen zone of this type in it. Most often, this type of kitchen is equipped in studios or one-room apartments. However, due to the small footprint, niche kitchens are also well-deserved in multi-room dwellings. In the houses of the old layout, a niche was provided directly during the construction process.
Advantages and disadvantages
Like any other interior solution, a niche with a kitchen area has both pros and cons. The undoubted advantages include the following:
- saving the area of the apartment, since there is no dining area in the niche;
- the opportunity to place the "kitchen" in a place where it is dark - in the pantry or in the corridor, since insolation and light-transmitting partitions are not so important for the kitchen;
- the ability to place another room in the room provided for by the project for the kitchen.
In addition, there are several disadvantages.
- High probability of obstructing proper air circulation and ventilation.
- Engineering communications will not be easy.
- Lack of natural light (accordingly, it is necessary to use electricity).
- In accordance with SNiPs and SanPiNs, only an electric stove can be installed in a kitchen niche. Gas stoves are prohibited here.
Where to post?
There are rules and regulations where it is possible and where it is impossible to place a kitchen-niche zone. Accommodation is possible only in the area provided for by the project for the kitchen premises, or in a non-residential premises (corridor, pantry). As for the living rooms, the placement of a kitchen corner is excluded. This also applies to wet spots. - a toilet, a bathroom or a combined bathroom. Also, a balcony and a loggia are completely excluded for arranging a kitchen.
BTI believes that the kitchen in the apartment is where the stove and sink are located. Accordingly, when planning a kitchen corner in a niche, it is precisely in the non-residential part of it that these 2 “pillars” should stand. As for the refrigerator and dishwasher, they can also be accommodated in living rooms. The kitchen in the niche should be located in such a way that it occupies 5 m2, while the living quarters remain untouched. The exit from the kitchen should not lead to the room equipped with the toilet (both a joint bathroom and a toilet).
Situations in which a niche kitchen is set up
Not every apartment needs a similar design solution. Apartments of a new layout with spacious rooms and premises allow you to equip a large island-style kitchen. As for studio apartments or freely planned, such design decisions will be very useful there, since the kitchen is provided for in the plan, and in fact is included in the common living space. Also, such things are equipped in apartments where redevelopment is made.
The kitchen is in the corridor or pantry, and due to the kitchen space, the area of other rooms expands. It should be noted that the redevelopment will have to be coordinated in all the instances laid down for this, as well as the corresponding communications will have to be brought up, which can cause certain difficulties.
Soviet times gave experimental houses with apartments in which the kitchen and living room were connected through the transfer windows, as in the dining room. In such a layout, the kitchen space was in a rather dark room with no windows and, of course, needed additional artificial lighting.
But there was no need to think how to beat a feature of such a layout, because the communications had already been taken where it should be, and the design was quite definite.
There are no special differences between the niche and the kitchen-living room. Can say that one is a special case of the other. When the kitchen and the living room are combined in the process of redevelopment, a kitchen niche is obtained within the living room. In all other cases, when To equip a niche kitchen area, a room is selected that is not adjacent to the living room, we are talking about a normal kitchen in a niche.
How to arrange and arrange redevelopment?
The city apartment is not rich in places where you can position a kitchen niche. Documents like SNiP and SanPiN are adamant, leaving no room for maneuvers. In no case should your kitchen area, whether it is direct, angular or even built-in, should obstruct or completely block the exit from the room. These are the requirements of fire regulations.
You are lucky if the apartment in which the redevelopment is carried out is located on the ground floor. The same applies to the apartments, under which the technical floor is located. Here you can equip the kitchen in the place where you want it, because you will not flood anyone.
The kitchenette in the Khrushchev apartment is almost impossible, because such a layout does not have such wide pantries or corridors where 5 kitchen squares could be “entered”. Installation in a kitchen niche of a gas boiler will also not be coordinated, since SNiP does not allow this. It is important to consider that for arrangement in the territory of the former kitchen of any room, the kitchen should not have an area of less than 9 m2.
In addition to this requirement, the apartment must have a different living room of more than 9 m2. If we are talking about redevelopment of a one-room apartment, the only room should be 14 m2 or more.
If you transfer the kitchen area beyond the space allocated to it in terms of the apartment, it must be allocated to the specifications. The SRO admission is what the organization should have, which will give an opinion on the legality and admissibility of the redevelopment.
Design options
To take into account all the nuances and place everything you need in a small niche, it is better to order its design from professionals. They will carry out the work in such a way that it will satisfy you aesthetically, and also will not violate the applicable norms and rules regarding the arrangement of ventilation, summing up communications, lighting and everything else. So that the niche is not clogged and littered with unnecessary details, minimalism is recommended.
Yes, the kitchen area should be combined with the general style of the apartment, especially the areas adjacent to it, however, we should not forget that you have only 5-6 square meters of space. You need to use them as rationally as possible, organizing the work area in such a way that it is convenient for you to cook.
Designers in the process of developing the design of the kitchen area will take into account all the little things, even your growth. To make it convenient to get various accessories from the cabinets without having to climb the ladder every time, you need to place shelves and wall cabinets at the height level. A kitchen in a niche can be either angular or straight - this depends on the type of niche and its location in the apartment. A “corner” can be either “classic”, that is, the letter G, or have a U-shape if the niche is quite deep and allows for such a layout.
If the apartment is small, and the ceilings in it are low, you do not need extra partitions. You can confine yourself to separating the niche from the room with a curtain, a screen or a thin sliding door.
Look at the features of the kitchen niche in the next video.
