The kitchen is the heart of the house – and, therefore, you must think about all the details of each corner of the room when renovating or furnishing it. It is even necessary to analyze the concept of this space, as one of the biggest dilemmas people face is deciding between an open kitchen, the famous American kitchen, or a closed one.
In fact, many new apartment plans already deliver the project with an open kitchen planned – mainly, in reduced spaces. So if you can’t decide between an open and closed concept kitchen, read on. Below we will explain everything you need to know to have a kitchen in this model.

What is an open kitchen?

The open kitchen consists of an environment without the presence of walls or doors. So whoever is cooking is not isolated from the rest of the house. The main objective of this project is to integrate the kitchen with the other rooms, since the lack of partitions allows for the blending of spaces. This is mainly limited to the kitchen and living room walls, as the bedrooms and bathrooms remain isolated.

However, for the design of an open kitchen to be successful, great care must be taken when planning it. Otherwise, what should be a special charm in the house becomes a problem. See below what care should be taken for an open kitchen.

Invest in an efficient hood

The biggest problem with an open kitchen is odors. Due to the absence of walls between the kitchen and other rooms, smells and smoke spread throughout the house. Even if your home has good natural ventilation, the ideal is to bet on a very powerful hood to avoid discomfort.

When buying, the hood size depends on the width of your stove. For example, 60 cm hoods are recommended for four-burner stoves, while models with up to six burners (including cooktops ) require a larger hood. Remember to contact the landlord before installing the hood, to ensure that the structure of the property can withstand such a feature. Also, it’s critical to consult an architect or engineer before making any changes to your home.

Buy custom cabinets

Generally, open kitchens are integrated with other rooms, such as the living room and dining room. If there’s a lot of dirty dishes in the sink or a mountain of pots drying on the drying rack, it’s easy to get upset about the clutter. Imagine visitors arriving at your home and the first thing they see is a mess. Not pleasant, right?

As you can see, organization is a very important factor for open kitchens. Therefore, to keep the environment clean and organized, the ideal is to “hide” part of these items in the closets. A great option in this case is to order custom-made cabinets , so you can plan the ideal dimensions to also store your appliances such as a blender and mixer.

Dishwasher

We have seen that one of the biggest challenges of open kitchens is organization . With that in mind, a dishwasher might be a good option.

This device becomes even more useful on days when there are guests at home. For example, if you are preparing dinner, just put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher while you prepare food and serve your guests.

Open kitchen decor

As it is an open kitchen, the decoration must match the room in which there is integration. In the case of a kitchen merged with the dining room, it makes no sense for the room to stick to a rustic style and full of components that refer to nature, if the kitchen has a predominance of marble and metal. Integrated environments must talk to each other.

So, before investing in an open kitchen, think that you will have to redecorate some rooms. For this, the ideal is to use the same floors in the kitchen and living room, in addition to using the same paint colors and lighting components.

What are the benefits of an open kitchen?

The main feature of the open kitchen is the integration between the apartment’s environments, providing moments of coexistence between residents and even guests. For those who like to cook with company, it is an excellent alternative.

In addition, it ensures the feeling of spaciousness, as there is a greater use of space. As the open kitchen offers fluidity in the apartment, another benefit is the better diffusion of light, also offered by the reduction of walls.

What are the downsides?

Throughout the text, we come across one of the characteristic disadvantages of open kitchens, which is the smell that spreads throughout the rest of the house. Fortunately, the odor problem can be easily solved by installing a good hood. However, this item also makes a lot of noise.

Another disadvantage of an open kitchen is the need to keep everything organized at all times. Many people tend to integrate the kitchen with the living room, a room that is usually one of the first that the visitor has contact with when entering the house. Therefore, if you do not want to look disorganized, you will have to clean the kitchen several times a day. Another detail is that, the fewer walls, the less space to accommodate planned shelves and cabinets.

Generally speaking, the open kitchen concept is straightforward and simple, but there are many ways to follow this model. It all depends on your budget, the size of the rooms and the way you plan your kitchen decor.