Studio apartments have become quite popular in recent years. The absence of walls makes the space lighter and more open, however, it requires competent zoning both in terms of functionality and hygiene. This issue is especially relevant for the kitchen, combined with the hallway. In today's material, we will talk about the features of such an association, its advantages and disadvantages. The photos of kitchen design combined with hallways presented in the article will inspire you to bold creative decisions, and expert advice will help make the combined space functional and stylish.
Features
Combined kitchens with corridors can be found in modern studio apartments, private houses, open-plan apartments. A kitchen combined with a hallway can be the result of an initial layout, a bold design decision, or redevelopment due to the need to increaseuseful area of small-sized housing space. First of all, this solution is suitable for those who rarely cook at home. Otherwise, the kitchen must be a separate room.
When combining such completely different functional areas, the main problem becomes the issue of hygiene. The kitchen is a place for cooking and eating, and the hallway is an area where dirt and dust from the street gets into, even if there is an entrance space in front of the apartment. This is still a place with a lot of garbage and bacteria that we bring into the house on shoes and clothes. This feature of the hallway, combined with the kitchen, requires the use of a closed storage system for clothes and shoes, as well as the rejection of open shelves in the cooking and eating area. The combined space will have to be cleaned many times more often.
Benefits
The kitchen combined with the hallway has a number of advantages, including:
- Increasing usable area. Due to the absence of a partition and a doorway, it becomes possible to use the vacated space for furniture placement. You can install an additional kitchen cabinet or increase the wardrobe space.
- Openness and lightness. The combined space creates a feeling of spaciousness and a larger apartment than it really is.
- Natural lighting of the entrance area. The entrance hall usually has no windows, so when it is combined with the kitchen, a small amount of natural light will enter the hallway.
- Moreergonomic shape of the room. If you combine two narrow rooms, you can get one more successful shape, which will make it possible to conveniently and functionally place furniture.
- The ability to implement creative ideas. A large area of the room allows you to realize more options for arranging space.
Flaws
Despite the many advantages of the interior of the kitchen combined with the hallway, such a planning solution has no less disadvantages:
- Frequent cleaning. When combining space, dust from clothes and shoes will actively fall into the kitchen area, which will require more frequent and thorough cleaning.
- Smells. Even with a powerful hood, some of the steam and odors from cooking will spread, so clothes, hats, and bags will need to be kept in tightly closed cabinets to prevent them from soaking into clothes, hats, and bags. This will cause some inconvenience if it becomes necessary to dry clothes in case of exposure to rain or snow. Do not hang wet clothes in a closed closet, this can cause mold and an unpleasant odor, and clothes will be damaged.
- Safety and convenience. The minimum width of the passage in a room furnished with furniture should be 1.2 meters. This requirement is due to concern for the convenience and safety of residents. Two people should be able to pass each other in the aisle without touching the dishes on the table and without ruining clothes on the switched on hob.
- Documentation. Any redevelopment must be coordinated with the relevant authorities. Bureaucratic delays make this process long and costly.
Under what conditions can redevelopment be done
Combining the kitchen and the hallway is possible only under certain conditions, otherwise you will not be given permission to redevelop, and in case of unauthorized merging, you will have to pay a fine and return everything to its original state at your own expense.
- The gasified kitchen cannot be combined with the hallway. The gas stove must be located in an isolated room with the obligatory presence of a door. Arched openings are also prohibited.
- When combining the kitchen and the hallway, you need to make sure that there is no bathroom in the apartment above on this site, and in the apartment below there is a living room or a gasified kitchen.
- The room must have a window for ventilation.
- Only non-load-bearing partitions can be demolished.
- Width of aisles in a furnished joint room must be at least 1 m 20 cm. These are fire safety requirements.
Finish recommendations
When designing a kitchen combined with a living room and a hallway, it is best to stick to minimalism or restrained classics. Decorate the combined space should be in a single color scheme. This technique allows you to achieve harmony in the room and expand the space, as in the photo. The kitchen, combined with the hallway, often suffers from a lack of natural light. Usagea light color scheme will level this drawback and make the room visually more spacious.
Designers recommend using two to four shades to create extra volume in a room. Light colors are closer, dark colors are deeper. Applying the 60-30-10 rule in practice will allow you to create an organic and stylish room, as in the photo. The entrance hall, combined with the kitchen, will seem larger if reflective glossy, glass and mirror surfaces are used in the decoration. It can be a glossy stretch ceiling, chrome parts, large mirrors, photographs in frames under glass, a glass apron in the work area.
Finishing materials for a combined room should be durable, practical, easy to clean. For finishing the floor, ceramic tiles, artificial stone, laminate not lower than the 32nd class are suitable. It is better to paint the walls or paste over with moisture-resistant washable wallpaper. In the decoration of a small kitchen combined with a hallway, excessively large and bright decor should be avoided. Patterned wallpaper and rich ornamentation on furniture fronts will “eat up” the space.
Zoning trim
Any combined space requires competent zoning. To highlight the kitchen in the hallway, various finishes of the floor, walls, ceiling, as well as all kinds of partitions and furniture are used.
Designed in a single color scheme, but with different materials, the floor will create an accent on the division of space without the use of additional techniques. For example, inin the hallway you can put a laminate, and in the kitchen - ceramic tiles. In order to maintain cleanliness and prevent the spread of debris from the entrance area, you should pay attention to the traditional Japanese entrance hall. Right in front of the entrance, the floor level is made a little lower, about one step. The width of the recess rarely exceeds a meter. This is quite enough for the free opening of the door and comfortable putting on shoes. Street shoes are always left in this niche, so rubbish is not carried around the house. You can also install a shoe rack there to keep order.
In order to highlight the functional areas in the combined hallway, kitchen and hall, you can use the differences in the ceiling level. Multi-tiered structures look very impressive, but are only suitable for spacious rooms. In a small room, they will overwhelm the space.
Zoning with partitions and furniture
Partitions are the most obvious way of zoning. For a kitchen combined with a hallway, models made of glass, plastic, wood, metal are suitable. The kitchen-hallway is a rather aggressive environment, so the partition material should be easy to clean. For the same reason, tissue zoning will be inappropriate. Textiles actively absorb odors, which will be difficult to get rid of later. Partitions can be stationary or sliding, solid or through. The latter are preferable, as they do not overload the space, while maintaining the feeling of openness and lightness of the interior.
Another zoning option is furniture. As separatoruse shelving, bar counter, kitchen cabinet, peninsula.
Lighting
In the design of the kitchen combined with the hallway, lighting plays an important role. In the combined space, a large chandelier in the center will be out of place. Instead, zone lighting is used. Spotlights, spotlights, wall sconces are used in the corridor. Particular attention should be paid to the lighting of the mirror and wardrobe. Properly adjusted motion-sensing lights at the door and inside the wardrobe will make it easier to get to work every day and help save on energy consumption.
For the kitchen area, rotary spotlights built into the ceiling and furniture, spotlights are also suitable. Particular attention should be paid to the illumination of the working area.
If during the repair of the kitchen combined with the hallway there is room for a dining area, it can be emphasized with a laconic pendant chandelier or a cascading lamp.
Furniture Arrangement Options
The ease of use of functional areas largely depends on the ergonomic arrangement of furniture. For example, in the kitchen space, the location of the refrigerator, stove and sink is of particular importance. It is advisable to place them at an angle, this option is most convenient to use. However, the corner model does not always fit the shape of the room.
Often, when combining a kitchen and a hallway, a long and narrow room is obtained. In this case, it is better to arrange the furniture linearly along one wall, and leave the second free.
Two-row and U-shaped arrangement of furniture is often found in private homes, and L-shaped - instudio apartments.
Kitchen Area Tips
When arranging the kitchen area, only closed cabinets should be used. Dust will collect on open surfaces due to the close proximity to the hallway. It is advisable to install built-in appliances that can be hidden behind facades, while maintaining the unity of the composition.
If the shape of the room allows, then, taking into account the required fire safety of the width of the aisles, it is recommended to install cabinets with a depth of about 70–80 cm versus the standard 60 cm. This will allow you to install the sink and hob a little further from the edge of the countertop, which will help maintain cleanliness and more security when moving around the room.
In a limited space, it is important to use the entire height of the room. Mezzanines in the kitchen area will allow you to place things that are rarely used, without reducing the useful area of the room.
In the combined space of the kitchen combined with the entrance hall, both in a private house and in an apartment, one cannot do without a powerful hood.
Cabinet furniture, painted in the same shade as the walls, will allow bulky interior items to "dissolve" in space without attracting attention. This technique will make the interior lighter, and the room visually larger. Expansion of the volume of the room can also be achieved using glossy facades and mirror inserts.
Tips for arranging the hallway area
When arranging the hallway area in order to save spaceit is recommended to use cabinet furniture with a reduced depth, about 40 cm. The useful volume of cabinets can be increased by using the entire height of the room. Such a redistribution will save the usable volume while using a minimum of area. Narrow and tall shoe racks and chests of drawers fully retain their functionality, but take up quite a bit of space.
It is worth giving preference to compartment doors, not swing doors, as the latter take up a lot of space. The mirror facade of the wardrobe is able to visually double the space of the hallway.
Dining area tips
In the combined space of the kitchen-hallway, there is rarely room for a dining area. In this case, its functions are performed by the bar counter. However, if 1-2 sq. m of free space, organizing a dining area is not difficult.
With a lack of space, you should pay attention to multifunctional and transforming furniture: pull-out tables, folding shelves, folding chairs.
To make the space lighter and more airy, a table on thin chrome-plated legs with a glass surface and laconic transparent polycarbonate chairs will help.
Combining the kitchen with the hallway is a difficult task, but doable. The correct arrangement of furniture, the use of zoning techniques and visual expansion of space, effectively organized lighting will create a harmonious and functional room even in a limited area.
