Zoning the kitchen: methods, rules and interesting ideas

The happy owners of a spacious kitchen understand that such a room should not be empty, it needs to be properly equipped. Architectural and decorating techniques help to zone the kitchen, which, with the right approach, can combine the living room, dining room, and the cooking area itself.

Zoning of the kitchen is the correct division of space, both in terms of functionality and from a decorative point of view. There are principles that supervise zoning, not allowing the decoration, furniture and accessories of the room to come into conflict.

There are 6 main zoning rules.

• Single style. It is very difficult to make friends of the Scandinavian style and modern, or oriental style and rustic on one territory. It is almost impossible. If you are not a designer, then try to choose a single style of the room, where several functional areas coexist.

• Lighting in each zone should be different. In the area of ​​the kitchen - a point, in the living room and dining room - general and local. Work areas are usually brightly lit, and the dividing area is soft.

• In the interior, there are usually 3 primary colors, their accent tones are acceptable. This is true for both large and small kitchens. Color accents can overlap in different areas. The smaller area of ​​the room becomes slightly darker than the larger.

• If the room itself is small, keep it in bright colors. If you choose massive and large furniture as a separator, it can “eat” the space.

• Two zones of one room are sometimes divided by filament curtains. Try to make the window design and this separator curtain have something in common: color, material, texture or something else.

• If the room is initially long and narrow, you do not need to put all the furniture against the walls - for a long kitchen this is a disastrous reception. She becomes even more elongated. It is better to put the furniture across to visually break a narrow rectangle into squares.

Zoning options can be visual and functional. Visual means the use for each zone of its own textures and colors, materials, surface finishes. Functional options involve the use of lightweight building elements, arched structures, furniture. Visual zoning can emphasize the functional, make the division more expressive.

We will figure out what zones can be in the kitchen.

• Cooking area. The kitchen area is a suite where you can find everything you need to store food, utensils, as well as for cooking classes. What it should be is the decision of the owner himself. Someone likes compact designs, where things that are not actually used on the farm will not accumulate for years. In this case, the kitchen area will be small. But be sure to have a powerful hood on it.

• Dining and / or tea area. It could be the same dining group. But sometimes a fragment of the room stands out for the tea area, for example, the window sill is lengthened, two chairs are attached to it - and now you can drink morning tea at a small table by the window. But more often the dining area consists of a dining group (and this is not always a large table).

• Rest zone. If the table is near a cozy, comfortable sofa, there may be a relaxation area at the same time. But often the sofa stands separately, in front of it is a TV. If necessary, the sofa turns into a berth.

Typically, a kitchen is a two-zone room where the dining area is combined with a place to relax, and the work area takes up less space. But the options may be different. Some owners in the kitchen do not have a traditional dining table at all, but there is a wide bar counter, which is also a delimiter. At the counter they have lunch and dinner. And immediately behind it is a sofa (relaxation area), and next to it is a low table, which is suitable for evening family tea parties or for gatherings with friends.

There are several ways to zone two different areas. In most cases, the task is this: to divide the kitchen into two functional zones, and this should be a clear and harmonious division.

There are many methods of division.

• Partitions. There is nowhere more obvious - the partition, like a small wall, strictly divides the room into two parts. In some cases, it can additionally serve as a support for the ceiling, can be a place for a home mini-gallery.

• Bar counter. In most cases, it is convenient only when it replaces a full dining table. Often, owners choose transformable designs. For example, a bar is enough for a small family for every day, and when guests arrive, it turns into a table for a festive dinner. An island stand is a great option.

• Curtains. If you choose this option, look for washable models. All the same, it happens in the kitchen, which means that smells and pollution cannot be removed. The curtain is usually floor-length, light, flowing. The thread option is the most preferred.There are also beautiful curtains made of beads, beads, shells, wooden decorative elements (they are more practical).

• Sliding modules. A kitchen with sliding doors that act as a divider is a common example of a shared room. Modules can be different: in the form of Japanese screens, glass partitions (frosted or transparent), wood, fabrics, plastic.

• Flooring. Very often you can see that the kitchen area is distinguished by tiles, and the living room - by the laminate. This is both a visual and a functional division. It is simple, but self-sufficient. For a more interesting effect, you can divide the territory not according to traditional geometry: changing the angle of the dividing line.

• Furniture. And here are a few of our own methods. For example, if the area is zoned in an angular manner, the furniture will be placed along two walls, and the suite will be able to enter two walls at once. In the island kitchen, the island can be formed by a corner sofa, a coffee table and several armchairs.

• Wallpaper. Another popular solution is wallpaper zoning. It's simple: there are some wallpapers in the kitchen, others in the living room or dining room. And this is not even necessarily a partner wallpaper. For example, in the kitchen, wallpapers imitating brickwork, and in the living room area - neutral sky-blue. The quality of the wallpaper is different, in the kitchen sector there should be walls that can be washed.

It is fair to say that not always the kitchen will have to let the dining room or living room onto its territory. Sometimes the kitchen space is occupied by an office, and this also requires zoning. In the second zone, a desktop will be placed on which there will be all the necessary equipment and high-quality lighting. Another name is a kitchen workshop.

The kitchen, combined with the bedroom, is a very rare option, but it can be found. They don’t usually put a full wide bed in the kitchen, but a comfortable transforming sofa can be there. By the way, this is not the life of single families who have acquired odnushka with a very large kitchen. In the kitchen, they separate the living area (recreation sector), and in the proposed hall they arrange a nursery.

Let’s look at specific examples of how to zone a kitchen, and what comes of it - 12 cases of successful zoning of the kitchen.

• A small room in which there was a place for both the working area and the recreation area. Perhaps, in such modest conditions, this is an ideal arrangement. Of course, in the event that there is no room for a full living room in the apartment. The room is contrasting, but the colors are distributed so competently that the visual space is not "eaten up".

• Very nice option: from the long kitchen made a combined space. Two twisted false walls, as well as the difference in floor coverings and wall finishes, separate one territory from another. The space turned out to be warm, cozy and unifying - all the households are together, even if everyone is busy with his own business.

• The bar counter replaces the dining table, is located in the kitchen area and does not take up much space. The separator is the flooring, but the wall decoration is repeated. Due to the well-designed headset, the kitchen does not look overloaded.

• Drywall construction, different design of the ceiling and floor perfectly divide the large kitchen into two spaces. See how cool the sofa upholstery and curtains are combined. Such design roll-calls are very related to the space, making it stylish and seasoned.

• The kitchen area is almost larger than the living area, but in this case it looks impressive and convincing. The separator is a powerful island, but the table by the sofa, quite possibly, transforms into a full dining table.

• A stylish wooden structure is almost the main accent of the space, at the same time it clearly and strictly divides the territory into the kitchen and living room.

• Glass sliding doors do not obscure the common area, but at the same time clearly divide it.The dining area is ideally separated from the kitchen.

• A variant of the studio, where in one territory there is a kitchen, a living room and a bedroom. For a young family without children or for single people - a worthy option.

• There was a project in which the territory made friends a kitchen, a living room and an office. Such a transformation often happens with kitchens that boast loggias. The bar was the separator of the working area and the recreation area.

• A very interesting and uncomplicated version of the arrangement of the kitchen. The headset is designed so that one of its parts becomes a separator. But there is also a transition of the planes of the walls, which can also be considered a boundary. Note that the kitchen unit and the wall module in the living room area are made of the same material.

• The shutter became a separator, discreet and uncomplicated in the device. It is interesting that she shares the kitchen and the bedroom rather than the kitchen and living room.

• Another cool idea for those who are not afraid of bold decisions. The wall continues to the bar, and together it looks very organic.

Have a good search for the perfect option!

In the video, see some original ideas on zoning the kitchen.