In the photo above is a very spacious traditional style kitchen with a contemporary update brings together both contemporary and classic styles. The traditional style kitchen cabinets in light cream comprises the main kitchen cabinets, while the massive kitchen island adapts a bold cobalt blue finish.
All counters are topped with a slab of marble for an elegant touch, while the walls of the kitchen are clad with marble subway tiles. The ceiling with exposed wooden beams is also interesting as it uses a textured wallpaper instead of a plain paint finish.
Open Concept Kitchen Ideas
Many homeowners these days are looking for open concept kitchens that can bring the entire family together and allow for easy entertaining and conversation. One of the great things about an open concept kitchen design is that even small kitchens can feel larger with an open layout.
Here are some of the best benefits of an open kitchen layout.
- Eliminates walls that can reduce natural sunlight
- Creates the illusion of a larger space for gathering and eating together
- Encourages conversations by making it easy for friends and family to talk with the cook
- Brings the family together to help with meal prep, social occasions, and helps keep small children within eye-shot
- Allows for eat-in dining and a more casual lifestyle
Ash oak engineered wood floors and off-white painted walls set a soft neutral mood to the entire interior, while the flat white of the kitchen cabinets definitely pops out.
The main cabinets uses black soapstone & white subway tiles for its countertop and backsplash respectively, while the large kitchen island uses white soapstone instead.
Open Layout
There are a variety of trends that an open style kitchen can be adopted accordingly to suit your desire, maintaining the functionality to match the existing aesthetic of the home.
Single Wall open kitchens usually bears a set of cabinetry on one side allowing ease of circulation and space serving. The storing and food preparing happens on the side of the single wall creating an expansive view of the open kitchen space overall.
Single wall cabinetry including a sink addresses a more compact layout of the work triangle which is between the refrigerator, store and the sink.
A kitchen island on the other hand functions as a storage space, food preparation area and a dining space while minimizing furniture, yet creating a collaborative view of the whole kitchen interior.
If a Kitchen Island doesn’t seem like the ideal solution for your space, there is always an option to shape the open kitchen with an additional table or peninsula that serves the purpose.
The idea of having an open kitchen is another reason that guests feel comfortable not leaving the living or the dining room. This is especially useful for those wanting to keep an eye on young children, spending more time with family members or for entertaining guests.
Some open kitchen spaces are divided considering the wet and dry areas of a kitchen. As a solution for the emerging problem many homeowners extend the tabletop to the living room or the dining that prevents the problem.
The extended tabletops or the kitchen islands could be easily converted into a mini bar area with an addition of few bar stools to fit your need. Installing open ledges instead of closed cabinetry are a modern approach that many of the homeowners adopt to.
Open concept kitchens and the rest of the home areas can be designed to be easily merged, when in doubt separating the areas with an object such as a couch or a rug or in terms of lighting, placing a large chandelier or an existing interior feature such as an attached wall are options at hand.
The open concept kitchen’s aesthetic are of vital importance. The lighting, color palette, flooring are some aspects that needs to be addressed sensitively.
The most interesting feature of open spaces is the unobstructed view that is visible from one end to the other. This helps to maintain a regular aesthetic throughout the home by merging the open concept kitchen within the entire household.
Considering certain situations, designs range in tow island kitchens that comprises of a work triangle for both islands.
Even though open kitchen spaces lack privacy the modern day world where gender roles are neutralized demands an open kitchen. The interaction provoking layout is a wise strategy to be used in modern day household.
The smell of the open space kitchen can be a real practical problem. The problem can be solved by installing a half wall with a glass partitioning on top that functions as an open kitchen all at the same time.
Open concept kitchens have their own pros and cons. For instance ease of accessibility and circulation are positive attributes of having an open space layout. Encouraging communication and an expanded view of the whole house lists under the advantages that is a result of minimalist walls.
The ease of storage and space management is of vital importance to any household. The aesthetic that it carries with a modern, sleek appearance are interesting elements that adds up to the design of the house.
Even though the open kitchen had been designed in a particular way that lacks privacy the pros are definitely at advantage to dedicate a space of the house for an open kitchen.
This is paired with turquoise countertops for that bold pop of color and stainless-steel finish kitchen island. The combination is unique and definitely brings out a polished industrial style vibe.
Open to Dining Room
The open layout directly connects it to the dining and living area, but because of the excellent choice of finishes for the kitchen, it can easily match whatever style the other areas of the house adapts.
The layout of this open kitchen is unique, in which it occupies 2 parallel walls for the main cabinets, while the dining area is placed right in between the two cabinets, as there is a large floor space available.
The main kitchen cabinets uses a cream paint finish with marble top, while the kitchen islands goes for a darker wengue finish with the same marble top.
The kitchen cabinets also uses the same flat white color and matching white subway tiles for the backsplash to match with the general look of the interiors.
To add little bit more variety and contrast, the kitchen island uses Mahogany finish, making it stand out from the rest of the other white surfaces, but without upstaging other elements of the kitchen.
The large breakfast bar is an inviting place to eat or help prepare food, while the bright window seat bench is another little touch that adds a lot of personality and charm to the room.
This allows you to work on the kitchen and the same time, accommodate/entertain guests whether they are in the dining or in the living room, or both.
Since the architecture has a rustic country appeal, the kitchen also follows, adapting a weathered beige paint finish for the base cabinets with a solid wood slab bar counter top and granite counter top for the corner island.
A cozy breakfast nook with colorful cushions is tucked in to a corner of the room which offers a great place to sit, eat and socialize. The connected sitting room is basically unfurnished and is a blank canvas, except for the patterned two armchairs.
The combination of finishes gives this small kitchen a modern update, along with the use of metal bar stools and modern lighting fixtures.
The open layout of this gourmet kitchen helps tone down this “heavy” look, so despite of its use of large blocks and slabs of stones and dark oak wood cabinets and furniture, it still manages to look bright and light.
This kitchen is directly connected to the dining area, and has large windows, allowing much natural light into the space.
This design also exhibits excellent contrast, using a good balance of light and dark colors, such as the dark ebony kitchen cabinets combined with white kitchen island and solid wood ebony finish bar stools.
Open to Living Room
Designs layouts with the kitchen and living area in the same room have become very popular for those who like to entertain, spend more time with family, or just keep an eye on small children.
An open kitchen is great for someone who doesn’t want to cook alone or feel isolated during meal preparation. For even more ideas visit our page showcasing open kitchen designs with living room here.
The bar stools used also matches the general color scheme of the kitchen, using black iron framing with upholstered seats.
The kitchen itself is composed of 3 parallel counters, 2 wall counters in weathered ash finish and one kitchen island in aged white finish. The main counters were topped with a thick slab of white quartz, while the kitchen island, uses beige quartz.
Main cabinets were painted in white and topped with flat-nosed marble for a more modern profile, and the large kitchen island goes for a solid teak wood finish with marble to to contrast with the white main cabinets.
Right above it are 3 classic metal pendant lamps, and for the barstools, upholstered camelback was the chair of choice.
The only thing dividing the kitchen from the rest of the house is the corner kitchen/bar island. Style-wise, it uses classic walnut finished cabinets with beige sandstone counter top polished to perfection.
The space itself is of a traditional kitchen design, with a combination of white cabinets and grey countertop and stone backsplash for the main cabinets and dark mahogany finish of the island and breakfast table area.
The all-white cabinets helps balance out the bold yellows of the walls and the subtle orange of the floors, but at the same time, doesn’t completely stand out as its countertops still blend in with the yellows and oranges of the basic interior finishes.
The dark floors allow the cool all-white kitchen cabinets to really pop-out, creating a bright-looking space with a combination of white cabinets, white soapstone counters and white backsplash tiles.
All cabinets uses white finish with carrara marble countertop for an elegant finish, while the light cream marble flooring gives a soft warm color reflect to the kitchen, softening the stark white finish to a softer, warmer white.
Open concept kitchens that open to the dining room such as the picture shown here can be ideal for entertaining.
The traditional style white kitchen with marble countertop is a high-end classic beauty, making it look perfect whatever other style of furniture pieces you put into the space.
This small modern kitchen has a unique dynamic layout which effectively separates the kitchen area from the other areas of the house, without totally blacking it out/separating it.
The bar counter serves as the divider between the kitchen and the living area, providing a low and non-obstructive division between the two areas.
The timeless look of this kitchen can match any design style, be it modern or the more traditional looks, making an excellent design choice for your kitchen.
The transitional space opens up to a large dining table with plenty of natural light from an array of windows.
Large globe pendant lights are a contemporary touch while an elegant chandelier brings a touch of traditional to this otherwise modern space. The large island with chrome bar stools provides further opportunity for eat-in dining or entertaining.
To help tone it down, white counter tops were used, along with matching marble subway back splash tiles.
Are you planning an open concept kitchen remodel in the future? Let us know what you’re planning in the comments. Visit this page for more kitchen island ideas.
I really liked your example of an open-concept kitchen that utilizes kitchen islands as a way to determine the space and divide between areas. This seems like a great way to design a kitchen for a family as busy as mine since we regularly have guests over that we entertain by feeding them meals we cook ourselves. If I can find a custom home designer that can help me build my kitchen area this way, I’m sure we’ll enjoy it.