Hallway, combined with the kitchen: options for arranging furniture, design, photo

In recent years, studio apartments have become quite popular. The absence of walls makes the space lighter and more open, but requires competent zoning, both in terms of functionality and hygiene. This issue is especially relevant for a kitchen combined with a hallway. In today's article, we will talk about the features of such a combination, its advantages and disadvantages. The photos of kitchen designs combined with hallways presented in the article will inspire you to bold creative solutions, and expert advice will help make the combined space functional and stylish.

Peculiarities

Combined kitchens with corridors can be found in modern studio apartments, private houses, and open-plan apartments. A kitchen combined with a hallway can be the result of an initial layout, a bold design solution, or redevelopment due to the need to increase the usable space of small-sized housing. First of all, this solution is suitable for those who rarely cook at home. Otherwise, the kitchen should be a separate room.

When combining such zones that are completely different in terms of functionality, the issue of hygiene becomes the main problem. The kitchen is the place for cooking and eating, and the hallway is the area where dirt and dust from the street gets into, even if there is an entrance space in front of the apartment. It is still a place with a lot of trash 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 areas. The combined space will have to be cleaned many times more often.

Advantages

A kitchen combined with a hallway has a number of advantages, including:

• Increase in usable area. Due to the absence of a partition and a doorway, it becomes possible to use the vacated space for placing furniture. You can install an additional kitchen cabinet or expand your wardrobe space.
• Openness and lightness. The combined space creates a feeling of spaciousness and a larger area of ​​the apartment than it actually is.
• Natural lighting of the entrance area. The hallway, as a rule, does not have windows, so when it is combined with the kitchen, a small amount of natural light will fall into the corridor.
• More ergonomic shape of the room. If you combine two narrow rooms, you can get one of a better shape, which will make it possible to conveniently and functionally place furniture.
• The ability to implement creative ideas. The large area of ​​the room allows you to embody more options for arranging the space.

disadvantages

Despite the many advantages of the kitchen interior, combined with the hallway, the disadvantages of such a planning solution are no less:

• Frequent cleaning. When combining the 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, a certain amount of steam and odors will spread during cooking, therefore, in order to avoid soaking clothes, hats and bags with them, they will have to be kept in tightly closed cabinets. This will cause some inconvenience if it becomes necessary to dry clothes in case of rain or snow. Damp things should not be hung in a closed cabinet, this can provoke the appearance of mold and an unpleasant odor, and the clothes will be damaged.

• Safety and convenience. The minimum passage width in a furnished room should be 1.2 meters. This requirement is due to concern for the convenience and safety of residents. Two people should be able to miss each other in the aisle without touching the dishes on the table or ruining their clothes on the switched on hob.
• Documenting. Any redevelopment must be approved by the relevant authorities. Bureaucratic delays make this process long and costly.

Under what conditions can you make redevelopment

Combining the kitchen and the hallway is possible only if certain conditions are met, otherwise you will not be given permission to redevelop, and in case of unauthorized unification, you will have to pay a fine and return everything to its original state at your own expense.

• A gasified kitchen cannot be combined with a 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 a kitchen and a hallway, you need to make sure that there is no bathroom in the apartment on top of this area, and in the apartment below there is a living room or a gasified kitchen.
• The room must have a window for ventilation.
• Only partitions that are not load-bearing can be demolished.
• The width of the aisles in the joint room furnished with furniture must be at least 1 m 20 cm. These are the fire safety requirements.

When decorating and hallway, it is best to stick to minimalism or restrained classics. The combined space should be decorated in a single color scheme. This technique allows you to achieve harmony in the room and expand the space, as in the photo. A kitchen combined with a hallway often suffers from a lack of natural light. The use of light colors will allow to level this drawback and make the room visually more spacious.

Designers recommend using two to four shades to create additional volume in the room. Light tones are closer, dark ones in depth. Practical application of the “60-30-10” rule 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. This can be a glossy stretch ceiling, chrome details, 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. Ceramic tiles, artificial stone, laminate of at least 32 class are suitable for flooring. It is better to paint or paste over the walls with moisture-resistant washable wallpaper. In the decoration of a small kitchen, combined with a hallway, an unnecessarily large and bright decor should be avoided. Patterned wallpaper and rich ornament on furniture facades will “eat up” the space.

Finishing zoning

Any combined space requires competent zoning. To highlight the kitchen in the hallway, they use various finishes of the floor, walls, ceiling, as well as all kinds of partitions and furniture.

Decorated in a single color scheme, but with different materials, the floor will create an emphasis on dividing the space without the use of additional techniques. For example, you can put laminate in the hallway and ceramic tiles in the kitchen. In order to maintain cleanliness and prevent the spread of debris from the entrance area, it is worth paying attention to the traditional Japanese hallway. Directly in front of the entrance, the floor level is made slightly lower, by about one step. The width of the depression rarely exceeds a meter. This is enough for free opening of the door and comfortable putting on shoes. Street shoes are always left in this niche, so the debris does not spread throughout the house. There you can also install a shoe rack to keep things tidy.

In order to highlight in the combined hallway, kitchen and hall, you can use the differences in the ceiling level. Multi-tiered structures look very impressive, but they are only suitable for spacious rooms. In a small room, they will overload the space.

Zoning with partitions and furniture

Partitions are the most obvious zoning method. 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 material of the partition should be easy to clean. For the same reason, fabric zoning would 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 option for zoning is furniture. Shelves, a bar counter, a kitchen cabinet, a peninsula are used as a separator.

Lighting

In the design of the kitchen combined with the hallway, lighting plays an important role. In a combined space, a large chandelier in the center would be out of place. Area lighting is used instead. Spotlights, spotlights, wall sconces are used in the corridor. Particular attention should be paid to the lighting of the mirror and wardrobe. Correctly set up lights with motion sensor at the door and inside the wardrobe will make your daily work routines easier and help save on energy costs.

Rotary spotlights built into the ceiling and furniture, spotlights are also suitable for the kitchen area. 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 space for the dining area, it can be emphasized with the help of a laconic pendant chandelier or a cascade lamp.

Furniture arrangement options

Ease of use of functional areas largely depends on the ergonomic arrangement of the 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 the 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 furniture linearly along one wall, and leave the other free.

Two-row and U-shaped arrangement of furniture is often found in private houses, and L-shaped - in studio apartments.

When arranging the kitchen area, use only closed cabinets. On open surfaces, dust will collect 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 pedestals with a depth of about 70-80 cm against 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 greater safety when moving around room.

In confined spaces, it is important to use the full height of the room. Mezzanines in the kitchen area will allow you to place things that are rarely used without reducing the usable area of ​​the room.

In the combined space of the kitchen combined with the hallway, both in a private house and in an apartment, you 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 by using glossy facades and mirror inserts.

When arranging the hallway area, in order to save space, it is recommended to use cabinet furniture of reduced depth, about 40 cm. The usable volume of cabinets can be increased by using the entire height of the room. Such a redistribution will preserve the useful volume while using a minimum 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, rather than swing doors, since the latter take up a lot of space. The mirrored facade of the wardrobe is able to visually double the hallway space.

In the combined space of the kitchen-hallway, there is rarely a place for a dining area. In this case, its functions are performed by the bar counter. However, if there are 1-2 sq. m of free space, it will not be difficult to organize a dining area.

If there is not enough space, you should pay attention to multifunctional and transforming furniture: pull-out tables, folding shelves, folding chairs.

A table on thin chrome legs with a glass surface and laconic transparent polycarbonate chairs will help make the space lighter and more airy.

Combining a kitchen with a 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.