Not all modern homes have dining rooms and it is incredibly common for kitchens to be slightly bigger to allow for a dining area in this room instead. Joint kitchen diners are more popular than ever before and these days, the kitchen tends to be more than just a place to prepare and cook meals, many will use this space for dining with their family and entertaining their friends.
The kitchen is known for being a notoriously difficult room to design and many homeowners will agree that designing a kitchen diner is even more difficult. Creating a space that is both multi-functional and aesthetically pleasing isn’t easy and there is a lot to try and juggle in your interior design. To try and help anyone who is currently planning a kitchen diner project, below we have put together some useful kitchen design advice for this type of living space.
Use the same colour scheme throughout the room
To prevent your kitchen area and dining area from feeling like two separate spaces, try to use the same colour scheme and materials throughout the whole room. Similarly, use the same flooring in both spaces to create a cohesive feel to the kitchen diner. You don’t necessarily need to keep everything the same across the two spaces and you can play around with different accessories, but keeping the basics the same will make the space feel more like one room.
Take into consideration the windows and doors
When you’re deciding on a layout for your kitchen diner, make sure you’re thinking about where the natural light is coming from. Not only do you want to keep the room bright and airy, but it tends to make more sense to have your dining area close to your exterior doors. Whether you have patio doors or bi-folding doors, for example, having your dining table next to these will help you to connect your garden to your home. During the summer months, opening these doors also provides you with opportunities for easy alfresco dining too.
Define the two different spaces
Although a kitchen diner needs to feel like one room, you should make sure that you’re defining the kitchen area and the dining area. One of the best pieces of kitchen design advice for joint kitchen diners is to install either a kitchen island or a breakfast bar. This will visually divide the room into two spaces, yet it doesn’t create too much separation between the different areas. This type of divider is much better for an open plan space than a floor to ceiling divider.
Incorporate additional storage into the room
A kitchen diner will essentially combine two rooms into one and this means you will have double the amount of items to store in one space. Simply, to ensure your kitchen diner isn’t cluttered, you need to incorporate enough storage solutions into your design. Instead of trying to find space for traditional pieces of dining room furniture, like sideboards, consider other storage options for your crockery and table linen. If you choose to install a kitchen island or breakfast bar, this is the perfect place for additional cupboards and drawers to store dining area items.
Install a visually appealing extractor hood
Having a kitchen diner can sometimes cause problems, especially when you’re cooking foods that have lingering smells. However, a high-quality extractor fan will prevent any issues in this regard. There are a number of aesthetically pleasing extractor hoods on the market, like Elica hoods and Falmec hoods, so consider making a design statement with this kitchen essential. These hoods work particularly well if your hob is being installed on your kitchen island.
Designing your new kitchen diner
There really are a number of benefits to having a kitchen diner and hopefully, the kitchen design advice above will help you to create a blended space that is perfect for your family home. No matter how big your kitchen diner may be, with the right design, you can create a beautiful space that meets all your cooking, dining and entertaining needs.
If you’re struggling to design a kitchen diner that works in the space that you have, our team here at Ashford Kitchens & Interiors can assist you. We have many years of experience designing modern kitchens and we can help you to create the kitchen of your dreams. From deciding on a kitchen layout to choosing the perfect colour scheme, we can assist you every step of the way and make this home improvement project as stress-free as possible. All of our bespoke kitchens are exquisitely crafted too, so you won’t have to worry at all in this regard.
Contact our team by emailing info@ashfordinteriors.co.uk and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Alternatively, call our Ashford showroom on 01784 245964 or our Farnham Common showroom on 01753 642362 today.
