Three-room apartment: pros and cons of combining kitchen and living room

We are looking for two authors for our site who are VERY well versed in interior design. Contact by mail

Kitchen redevelopment as a way to improve the operational characteristics of the space is one of the most popular interior procedures. Moreover, it’s not just compact kitchen spaces that are being expanded. Owners are making changes to the configuration of the walls of small and spacious kitchens, arranging combined functional areas to increase the comfort and efficiency of operation.

Overview of reconstruction options

Combining a functional area with an adjacent room is the most common; usually such renovations involve the living room. This is a convenient solution, as it allows you to arrange a large dining room, but it is not always feasible: in panel houses, the wall is often load-bearing and cannot be completely removed.

Adding the useful area of ​​the balcony comes down to expanding the light opening and moving some of the furniture. If it is a loggia, additional insulation and increased useful functionality are acceptable. It is forbidden to set up a dining area in the corridor and other non-residential spaces, but direct cooking and related manipulations are permissible here.

It is prohibited to arrange living areas in the vacated kitchen area, although by law you can place a dressing room or office or workshop here. The space remaining for cooking and washing dishes must meet safety standards - have light sources, properly placed utility networks.

Coordinated options for combining kitchens

Even the most common options for combining a kitchen and a living room, hall, corridor are always associated with a lot of nuances. It all depends on the age and type of house, the features of the project, as well as existing bans on gas and other safety-related services.

Combining kitchen and living room

The kitchen and living room are most often combined in one-room apartments. But there is one caveat: combining a kitchen and living room in a one-room apartment will lead to a change in the technical plan and a change in the status of the apartment to non-residential premises. If this is not included in the plans, then it is best to carry out such work in multi-room apartments.

Difficulties may also arise with replacing a gas stove with an electric one, moving a sink, and much more. Please note that moving the sink when combining these two rooms is sometimes possible only with the permission of housing services.

Sometimes it is moved to the window area to increase the space for placing kitchen furniture.

To avoid any overlaps, all work must be carefully planned, and in some cases, coordinated with experienced builders.

Combining kitchen and living room

The kitchen and living room in multi-room apartments are shared by those who have a large family that likes to gather around the same table. Guests can gather in the hall, parties can be held, and films can be watched in the home theater or on TV.

In new buildings, in addition to combining the kitchen and living room, a loggia is often added to this combined area. This increases the area even more, but may involve demolishing or altering a load-bearing wall.

As in the case of the living room, the gas stove is moved only if there is an agreed upon redevelopment project. Do not transfer the gas source to walls made of flammable materials (for example, plasterboard).

It is also possible to connect a corridor to the kitchen, which can also expand the living space. In cramped apartments, the kitchen with an electric stove is sometimes completely moved to the hallway or pantry, and the vacated room is used as a living room.

Combining a kitchen with a living room in a panel house

Removing walls in apartments located in panel houses provides a significant increase in free space. This type of house has the most load-bearing walls, so coordination is often inevitable. Sometimes radical redevelopment may even be called into question.

Please note that when carrying out redevelopment, it is prohibited to remove gas pipes into ducts, as well as to block access to taps and valves. It is also prohibited to design an association without windows.

What should you consider when implementing your planned kitchen remodel?

Combining the kitchen with the adjacent room allows you to organize a comfortable space with a functional area for cooking and a spacious dining area. It is also easy to arrange a kitchen-living room with a corresponding interior or design a kitchen-workshop. At the same time, unnecessary corridors are eliminated, significantly expanding the potential of usable space in the apartment.

What should you do if you need to demolish a main wall to combine the kitchen with the living room or other adjacent room? This redevelopment option requires approval from the responsible authorities, like any other method of making changes to the design. If this is a load-bearing wall, then its demolition will disrupt the frame rigidity of the entire building, which is fraught with serious consequences. It is very difficult to obtain permission to implement the idea of ​​such an association. Even if the outcome of the case is positive, it is only permissible to organize an opening in the main wall with its obligatory strengthening.

Dismantling work is carried out by specialists and only on the basis of an approved redevelopment project. The document contains calculations from the design institute, which indicate the permissible dimensions of the opening and recommendations for dismantling the wall with subsequent work to strengthen the structure.

If the combination of a kitchen and an adjacent room requires the dismantling of a partition wall that is not load-bearing, the redevelopment should also be agreed upon.

What to consider before combining

The main rule of combination is a good project.

All fundamental changes begin with an architectural design, which must take into account the possibility of reconstruction. If a load-bearing wall is scrapped, then most likely the project will not be approved. But in this situation there is a way out. You don’t have to remove it completely, but arrange it in the form of a wide arch or a bar counter.

You should also consider:

• the presence of a sufficient number of sockets for easy connection of household appliances;
• placement of utility networks so that you do not have to pull a sewer pipe through the entire apartment;
• coordination of redevelopment with the building control service, management company and municipality.

If the apartment is connected to a central gas pipeline, for safety reasons, provide a sliding door. It will not take up much space, but will also protect you from troubles and excess soot in the apartment.

Is it possible to remodel a kitchen with a gas stove?

The presence of gas equipment imposes special restrictions on the redevelopment of the kitchen in the apartment. You will have to fulfill a lot of requirements in order to obtain permission to combine the catering unit with an adjacent room:

• If there is a partition on the way to the implementation of the redevelopment idea, theoretically it is easier to obtain permission for dismantling work here than in the case of a main wall. At the same time, it will not be possible to completely combine a gasified kitchen with a room, since this is prohibited by sanitary standards. You will have to divide the rooms with a sliding partition or create an opening with a tightly closing door. Most owners install structures with transparent or translucent plexiglass panels on the demarcation line between two spaces.
• Another way to combine a gasified room with a room is to turn off the gas. After gas service employees weld the elbows of the main gas pipeline, you can only use an electric stove. At the same time, it will be possible to legalize the redevelopment of the kitchen and combine the area of ​​\u200b\u200btwo rooms.

Meanwhile, turning off the gas in a separate apartment is associated with additional costs. In some cases, this procedure is not feasible due to the engineering features of the gas pipeline.

Combining the kitchen and living room: design, approval, permission.

Whether you implement your own ideas or designer ones, combining the kitchen and living room means dismantling the walls, and in some cases moving communications. Construction work, seething behind a closed door, is a purely personal matter. But the demolition of structures in an apartment is already public, since it affects the strength of the building, water and air supply to neighbors. Such redevelopment requires approval from the BTI.

The norms of the Housing Code establish what changes are permissible and what, for safety reasons, cannot be done under any circumstances. The combination of the kitchen and living room is subject to permission from the supervisory authorities. This is a mandatory condition before starting construction work. To obtain permission, the owner must collect a package of documents for redevelopment.

You can find a sample application here. The redevelopment project displays a new design of the device, as well as detailed calculations, technologies and implementation deadlines. An organization with SRO approval has the right to develop the project.

The Val-Service company provides a 30% discount when concluding a turnkey contract: design - approval - construction and installation work. We have SRO approvals for construction, reconstruction and major repairs, in accordance with the order of the Ministry of Regional Development of the Russian Federation dated December 30, 2009. At the customer's request, we provide quality certificates for all equipment and materials used.

Call us on tel. +7 (343) 382-47-87 for a free consultation.

Features of kitchen expansion

As practice shows, kitchens are not only combined with adjacent rooms, but also increase the area of ​​the catering unit due to the adjacent territory. With such an expansion, it is also necessary to comply with the requirements of the regulations. For example:

• Transfer of the septum. You can add part of the adjacent room to the kitchen, reducing the living area by no more than 1/4.
• When moving the partition, kitchen equipment cannot be placed on these added squares. This means that the stove and sink remain in the same area. But in the updated kitchen interior you can expand the work surface or organize a comfortable dining area.
• Housing legislation allows the addition of non-residential premises to the kitchen. These are corridors, storage rooms or dressing rooms.
• The regulations prohibit the expansion of the kitchen at the expense of the bathroom.

It is worth remembering that any type of redevelopment requires approval from competent organizations with documentary evidence. At the same time, you need to be prepared for possible difficulties when selling a home with redevelopment.

Combining the kitchen: technical part.

You can completely demolish the wall between the kitchen and the room if it is not load-bearing. Following this axiom, we can safely write off 90% of panel houses - in them it is just load-bearing. But this is not a sentence. The wall can be partially dismantled and an opening can be made in it. The permissible dimensions of the opening are calculated subjectively, taking into account the number of storeys of the building, the location of the apartment, the thickness and strength of the materials. Information about the type of walls is contained in the registration certificate for the apartment.

Attention: There may be ventilation ducts in the wall between the kitchen and the room. When installing the opening, they must be carefully bypassed.

simple steps to combine a kitchen

People who decide to combine a kitchen are creative individuals. If you enjoy creating interiors, don't limit your imagination! Getting an opening of an unusual shape, leaving a fragment of a wall as a partition, creating an intricate arch - all this is possible using the diamond cutting method. Jewelry work without the risk of cracking surfaces and breaking individual parts when working with any material.

1. First of all, you need to determine the type of house and the general condition of the structures, as well as whether the house is classified as an architectural monument. To do this, an expert (from the BTI or a commercial organization) visits the site, inspects the premises, analyzes the condition of the structures and draws up a technical report based on the information collected. This document plays an important role in the approval process. Based on the conclusion data, the commission decides to approve or prohibit the redevelopment.
2. The next criterion is the type of stove installed in the apartment: gas or electric. Combining a kitchen with the presence of gas equipment is more difficult to coordinate. The Housing Code contains a direct ban on dismantling the walls separating the kitchen with a gas stove and the adjacent room (clause 11.18 of Appendix 1PPM 508 as amended by 840).
3. The acceptable options here are the following: if the wall is load-bearing, you can create an opening in it and provide it with a tightly closing door (required!). Required opening width 90 cm + structural reinforcement. An alternative to a door closing the opening is a sliding partition or roller shutters. If there is an electric stove in the apartment, the prohibitive standards for combining a kitchen are several times less. The wall, if it is not load-bearing, can be completely dismantled. Using diamond cutting, an opening is created in the load-bearing structure that meets the requirements of fire, sanitary and household services.
4. If the stove is gas, but you really don’t want to deviate from the intended design solution, it can be replaced with an electric one. An analogue of a gas stove in terms of power is a two-burner electric stove. This can be installed independently, without approval. To install a full-fledged four-burner, you will have to deal with household services. It will be necessary to develop a power supply project, approve it with the supervisory authorities, purchase additional capacity, install a separate wire, and then at the discretion of the authorities.
5. You cannot expand the kitchen at the expense of living spaces. That is, it is possible to remove the partition partially or completely, but moving it to the side of the room is not. Expanding the room at the expense of the living area leads to the fact that the kitchen ends up above the room of the neighbors below, and this is prohibited by law (clause 24 of the Government of the Russian Federation of January 28, 2006 N 47)

Follow these simple recommendations and you will easily receive permission and pass any inspections.

Features of combining a kitchen with a balcony

Many believe that adding a balcony will help solve the problem of shortage of kitchen space. However, the balcony floor slab is a separate structural element that is not able to withstand the weight of insulated walls. This design is not designed for the load of winter glazing. Another thing is a loggia, in this case a legal association is possible.

Popular options for remodeling a kitchen with a loggia:

• replacing a non-load-bearing wall with French curtains in the form of a sliding glass partition or installing double-glazed windows with a door;
• organization of a dining area on an additional platform.

Here, as an example, is the transfer of part of the kitchen furniture to the loggia, which allows you to free up space in the kitchen for comfortable use.

Combining a balcony with a kitchen.

This layout leaves room for imagination. An ordinary balcony can be turned into a bay window or panoramic window, equipped with a dining area, office, garden, etc. Expanding the kitchen with a balcony can be done in two different ways:

• Without dismantling the wall. In this case, remove the door, window and threshold. The remaining part of the wall is used as a tabletop or bar counter. This combination of a balcony and a kitchen does not require approval.
• With the dismantling of the wall. This type of redevelopment requires mandatory approval from the BTI. First of all, we find out whether the wall is load-bearing. Based on this, we select an expansion option: either we cut the opening, or we disassemble the entire wall.

We recommend, even during partial dismantling, to strengthen the opening with metal structures, which can be easily decorated when finished. In the event of complete demolition, the structure should be secured as much as possible using racks and columns, the dimensions of which will be correctly determined by engineers.

Redevelopment: moving the kitchen to the loggia

To combine functional zones, first of all, you should take care of complete insulation. Experts recommend paying attention to metal-plastic double-glazed windows. It is advisable to insulate the wall under the frame from the outside using polystyrene foam and siding trim. If space allows, the inner surface and ceiling are also insulated using insulation, for example, penoplex. In some cases, it is possible to install heated floors; a more common budget option is a “pie” made of bitumen mastic, foil and insulation.

Such redevelopment of a kitchen in a panel house requires approval, and the partition will not be allowed to be completely removed: its lower part can be used as a tabletop or the basis for decorative stained glass. After cutting out part of the wall, the room is finished with plasterboard and the interior is created by painting, wallpapering, and installing wooden or plastic panels.

Moving the kitchen to other living spaces

According to housing legislation, it is not allowed to move the kitchen into living rooms. However, homeowners on the ground floor are allowed such redevelopment. In this case, actions are limited only by the specifics of connecting to the engineering infrastructure.

According to the regulations, the kitchen can be moved to the non-residential part of the apartment. For example, it is allowed to organize a kitchen niche in the hallway if there is a spacious entrance area. The kitchen in the hallway is a functional space with an electric stove, extractor hood and sink. It is noteworthy that a niche kitchen can be organized in a room without a window, but for a standard kitchen with a dining table, the standards require natural light.

Most often, when arranging a walk-through kitchen in a hallway, folding door structures or sliding doors are used, similar to a dressing room. When organizing construction work, it is necessary to take care of the possibility of connecting the kitchen niche to communication systems.

In the old place of the kitchen, you can arrange an additional bedroom, living room, workshop or office. It is worth remembering that the regulations prohibit the location of the kitchen area above the living rooms, so in the documents it is better to call the premises non-residential, unless the apartment is located on the top floor of the house.

What is prohibited to do with the kitchen

According to technical building standards and legislation, it is prohibited to perform the following in a kitchen with a gas stove:

• dismantling or reconstruction of ventilation openings;
• moving the slab from its location to a distance of more than 1 meter;
• connection between kitchen and room. In the event of a gas leak, people should stay as far as possible from the source;
• installation of gas pipes in the walls. Such redevelopment should not be allowed in the apartment, because in case of unforeseen circumstances it will be much more difficult to detect a gas leak;
• repair of a sanitary facility without permission from special services.

Kitchen remodeling in Khrushchev

When remodeling a small-sized kitchen in a Khrushchev-era building, the owners have to “squeeze” the maximum potential of the space, using current options for organizing the area.

Combining the kitchen with the living room

Dismantling the adjacent non-load-bearing wall can successfully solve the problem of lack of space in the kitchen area. After repairs with the demolition of the partition, which is carried out only after obtaining permission for the procedure, of course, the overall square footage of the kitchen-living room area in the Khrushchev building will not change. In this case, you can move the dining group to the guest part of the territory, freeing up space for the work area. The updated kitchen will become visually more spacious and the perception of space will improve.

The advantages of combining a kitchen with a living room in a small apartment also include the fact that excellent conditions are created for family communication. You can simultaneously cook and monitor children who are busy with creativity or active games. In the combined kitchen-living room it is comfortable to welcome guests, organize holidays and celebrations.

Meanwhile, remodeling the kitchen into a kitchen-living room is also associated with disadvantages. Due to the lack of a partition, food odors will spread throughout the entire area. The problem is partially solved by installing a powerful hood above the hob. Although if you dine in the guest part, you will have to put up with such troubles as culinary aromas in the textile decoration of the combined interior. Another, no less significant disadvantage in the combination kitchen-living room is the noise from the water and operating equipment somewhat disrupts the harmony and interferes with the rest of the household.

Expanding the kitchen into adjacent rooms

Owners of a Khrushchev-era apartment building who need to maintain the isolation of functional areas can use the method of enlarging a small kitchen in a Khrushchev-era apartment building by moving an adjacent partition. It is not difficult to expand the kitchen area due to the adjacent living room, pantry or corridors.

During renovation work, it is worth making changes to the doorway. Since swing doors in the kitchen take up a lot of usable space and clutter the interior, during renovation it is advisable to install folding or sliding entrance structures. If a non-gasified room is being renovated, you can design an open doorway with a beautiful arch.

When remodeling a small kitchen, special attention is paid to the design of the window sill. By using the hidden potential of this interior element, it is easy to save space and improve the functionality of the room. What is the best way to remodel a window sill:

• Integrate into kitchen set. The window sill fits perfectly into the U-shaped furniture system; it also fits well into the corner design. During the renovation process, you should slightly raise the window so that the height of the window sill-tabletop matches the level of the floor cabinets. So it is convenient to use it as a cutting table, to create additional storage spaces;
• Organize a dining table or bar counter. Here, in order to redo the window sill, you need to select the appropriate tabletop and, if necessary, equip it with 1-2 supports.

When arranging an updated window sill, you should take care of the proper circulation of warm air from the heating radiators. It is necessary to make ventilation holes in the inner perimeter of the tabletop so that the warm air flow reaches the window system, and decorate the line with a decorative grille.

Harmony of unification

Kitchen-living room

Such a room can be decorated in different ways: either in the general style throughout the entire area, or by zoning using different stylistic directions. Organically combining rooms, the interior of which will be made in different styles, is the pinnacle of design mastery. There are several basic ways to mark boundaries between zones:

• construction of a bar counter. Its role can be played by a part of the undestroyed wall that stood between the kitchen and living room. It can be decorated with wood, stone or plastic - depending on personal preferences and financial capabilities;
• floor on two levels. If the floor in the kitchen is raised to palm height, all the necessary communications can be installed underneath it. But if, on the contrary, you deepen it a little relative to the floor in the living room, then it will be easier to clean in different areas. When choosing this technique, the main parameter should be the height of the ceilings. If it does not allow you to adjust the height of the floor, zones can be designated using different floor coverings;
• "island".
  This is the name for a structure that stands separately from any other interior items. It can serve as an additional work surface, dining table or bar counter; Combining rooms with a figured opening
• figured opening. To complete it, the wall should not be destroyed entirely, but an opening of the shape and size specified in the project should be left. You can supplement it with additional light;
• partitions. They are built into special grooves made in the floor or ceiling. If necessary, they can easily be moved or, conversely, close the kitchen from prying eyes;
• live plants, aquariums.

The choice of any of the techniques depends entirely on the taste and desires of the owners. The main thing is that the result pleases their eyes, and its functionality reminds them every time of the correctness of the decision made to combine the living room and kitchen.

Kitchen remodeling options

Owners of apartments with small kitchens often want to sacrifice space in living rooms, which include living rooms and bedrooms. Some are planning an expansion method, while others are deciding on drastic measures in the form of moving the functional area. Since there are a lot of problems with getting permission for the desired changes, you should be aware of government regulations when choosing kitchen remodeling options.

Combining the kitchen with the living room

The implementation of the project is possible only in some cases. If the wall between the rooms is not solid, then it can be demolished. If this is a load-bearing structure, then there is little chance of permission even to cut out a doorway. In buildings of the Brezhnev era, there are main walls between the kitchen and the room, the dismantling of which is fraught with violations of the frame structure. In most panel houses, almost all walls are classified as load-bearing, so redevelopment is difficult here, but in Khrushchev-era buildings such changes are quite possible.

According to state regulations, combining a kitchen area with an adjacent living space is possible only in an apartment with two or more rooms. Owners of one-room housing can circumvent this rule in several ways:

• leave a small piece of the partition in the form of a vertical narrow canvas against the adjacent wall, which will be nominal evidence that these are two different rooms;
• leave part of the partition 80-90 cm high and use it as a basis for organizing an additional work surface or bar table;
• visually delimit the space of functional zones by finishing the floor and walls.

The use of these techniques has a positive effect on creating an interesting interior in a combined kitchen-living room.

Kitchen relocation

In this case, the allocated space will be equipped with all relevant communications in the form of plumbing systems and ventilation, furniture and appliances will be installed here.

According to the regulations, moving a kitchen into a living space or expanding the first at the expense of the second is possible in the following cases:

• the apartment is located on the first floor;
• under the area being developed there is a non-residential object, for example, a store or office;
• The apartment on the floor below was remodeled according to the same scheme.

Even if your living conditions provide for these points, you should not take on the task of drawing up a draft of the planned changes on your own. You should choose a specialized company whose specialists will advise on all issues and help with obtaining permission for redevelopment.

Features of moving the kitchen into living rooms: if the kitchen is being remodeled into a bedroom or living room, in order to obtain official permission for the procedure, the premises should be decorated as non-residential, for example, as an office. Otherwise, it will not be possible to coordinate the changes, since there are regulations prohibiting the placement of the kitchen above the living space.

How is a kitchen moved to a non-residential premises? Converting the kitchen area into a corridor or pantry does not violate legal norms, but here, too, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of the procedures.

We combine the kitchen with the living room

Question : At work, the question arose: “A kitchen with a gas water heater must have double insulation (the door from the kitchen to the corridor and the door from the corridor to the rooms), and also cannot be combined with a living room.” How accurate is this or where can I read about it?

Answer : First part of your question. None of the regulatory sources listed below require “double insulation” of the utility room where gas stoves and heat generators are located from living rooms:

-SNiP 01/31/2003 Residential multi-apartment buildings;

-SNiP 21-01-97 Fire safety of buildings and structures;

-SNiP 2.01.02-85 Fire safety standards;

-SNiP 2.04.08-87 Gas supply;

-SP 41-104-2000 - set of rules for the installation of autonomous heat supply sources.

The kitchen is a utility room according to SNiP 31-01 and it must have a door separating it from the living quarters. This utility room has its own fire safety requirements in terms of ventilation and room volume. When installing additional gas appliances in the kitchen and keeping its volume constant, it is necessary to increase the inflow and outflow of gas combustion products. The requirements of gas workers for such a room and fire services are identical - the wall on which or near which the gas heat generator is installed must be made of non-combustible materials and the room must meet the requirements for the installation of autonomous boiler rooms (SP 41-104). Naturally, the requirements for supply and exhaust ventilation are changing upward. Thus, a door to the kitchen is needed.

Now the second part of the question. SNiP 31-01 requirement:

— The kitchen cannot be located above the living rooms

— A gasified room (or a combined space) is always non-residential and must have a “door” separating it from other areas.

If the kitchen is combined with a living room, doors to the remaining living spaces must be installed! By combining a kitchen with a living space, you will start to have problems; you are turning the entire room into a kitchen, which means it must comply with fire and gas safety requirements. For such a room, the requirements for the frequency of operation of exhaust ventilation (replacement of air in the room) and for the glazing area of ​​windows (SP41-104) are increased. In addition, you are violating the rights of residence of the neighbors living below you; part of your kitchen will be located above their living room. If you do this together with your neighbors below, then the BTI will be able to transfer the attached room to the non-residential category. You can take a different path, in the place of the opening through which you combined the kitchen and the room, install a sliding partition (not an accordion door!), such a redevelopment will be approved by the BTI and you will no longer need to convert residential to non-residential. And if the apartment is on the ground floor, this simplifies the solution to the minimum.

A wish from me personally: don’t bother with gas, install yourself an electric induction hob and an electric oven, as well as an 80-liter electric water heater and solve all the problems at once - demolish, unite. Good luck.

Added: 07/19/2013 10:45

Discussion of the issue on the forum:
Combining the kitchen with the living room

Would it be profitable to make a studio apartment out of a kitchen and a room?

Such redevelopment is justified if the housing is intended for a student, an elderly couple or a single person, newlyweds or a family without children. In other cases, combining a kitchen with a single living room may be accompanied by a decrease in the quality of life of household members.

An excellent way out of this situation is to organize space with the effect of isolating individual areas. Here, separation using mobile partitions, screens and furniture structures is relevant in order to create conditions for increased comfort in a room with the intersection of functional zones.

Combining the kitchen and the room: the space will breathe.

When people get rid of extra partitions, what do they gain?

• kitchen area increases
• there is a spacious dining area for the whole family
• the space becomes lighter
• mothers can cook and look after playing children, communicate with family or guests
• You can watch TV from the kitchen and living room
• You can implement your own arrangement ideas.

By getting rid of the blank partition, you will fill the space to the brim with light, and moving around the house will resemble a pleasant walk, instead of wandering through a gloomy labyrinth. Combining a kitchen and a room invites you to play with the size and shape of partitions and counters, zoning the space with glass doors or through shelving (the most budget option) in the way you like and feel comfortable.

However, before moving on to the technical side of the issue, let me tell you about the main points of documentary support that are important to know.

How to plan a kitchen design in a studio?

To carefully consider the design of your workspace, you need to start by identifying your needs. Interior designers advise taking a sheet of paper and formulating your wishes on the following points:

• what kitchen functions will become basic;
• how much and often the family cooks;
• do guests come, if so, how many people;
• how is it customary to organize leisure time;
• Is a separate area planned as an office?

The answers to these questions will help you correctly zone the kitchen after remodeling, correctly install lighting and appliances, and choose furniture. Zones that are not needed are removed from the project.

In particular, if long meals and tea parties with guests are not accepted, it is better to replace the dining table with a bar counter. Those who cook a lot and with pleasure need to include in the redevelopment features the most functional and, accordingly, dimensional kitchen set. If cooking is not at the top of the list of interests in the family, a compact hob and a minimum of furniture will be enough. In any case, a tabletop 60-80 cm long should be placed in a convenient place in the kitchen area.

Housing converted into a studio in an old building and progressive new buildings are subject to the same standards regarding the placement of a bathroom and kitchen. It is not always possible to move even a sink to another place, as difficulties arise with connecting communications. Often, in order to arrange proper drainage, during repairs it is necessary to change the floor level or additionally install a sewer pump.

If an old Khrushchev-era apartment, equipped with a gas stove, for example, and a water heater, was turned into a studio, the cooking area should be isolated using sliding doors or a thick partition. This point is one of those possible nuances of kitchen redevelopment, without which the renovation will not be approved. In new buildings, electric stoves are usually installed immediately; here the partition is mounted at the request of the household.

Zoning the kitchen in a one- and two-room apartment, fully or partially converted into a studio

A well-designed renovation project allows you to achieve an effect where functional areas smoothly transition into one another. The boundaries can be conditional or real - it all depends on the area and configuration of the apartment. In small studios, the need for zoning usually consists of isolating the cooking area from the rest area. The spacious housing can be divided into sections and a catering unit and other areas.

For this purpose, the following techniques are used:

• a dining table or sofa as a boundary marking;
• creating a kitchen island to separate the dining room;
• a solution that has become a classic - a bar counter with chairs;
• budget sliding doors or more presentable sliding partitions made of tempered glass;
• built-in partition at 2/5 of the wall height, equipped with a countertop;
• multi-level ceilings. They are not suitable for Khrushchev houses with a miniature kitchen of 5 square meters. m, but in new buildings they will successfully hide communications running along the ceiling.
• Zoning is necessarily complemented by non-uniform lighting and flooring.

Combining a kitchen with a living room or room. parsing

For approval, you will have to think carefully about your options. Possible solutions There are two ways. The combined kitchen-living room is organized without changing the location of technological and plumbing equipment.

Utility area with all technical equipment. nodes are moved to non-residential premises according to the project. What you need to consider when doing this:

• it is possible to combine two adjacent rooms during the design installation of an electric stove;
• In the case of gasification, it is not permissible to completely remove partitions between rooms. You'll have to get creative by building custom arched doors or sliding panels. But only after agreement with the BTI.
• An almost win-win option is to move the kitchen to the corridors and verandas. However, it is necessary to design new communications and make changes to the housing registration certificate.

Kitchen arrangement: which set to include in the design project?

If a non-standard layout is planned, it is better to order furniture - this way there is a greater chance of obtaining the optimal ratio of storage areas and work surfaces. A built-in kitchen is a convenient solution for those who value compact and unobtrusive placement of auxiliary objects. If it is necessary to isolate the set from the corridor or living room, plasterboard walls are installed even at the renovation stage.

To ensure that there is no clutter in the future kitchen-studio, when designing the redevelopment, you need to provide space for a spacious furniture set with a large number of drawers. To do this, you need to make a list in advance of items, dishes, appliances, containers and accessories that will need to be kept somewhere during periods of downtime. Then, when drawing the design, you will be able to accurately fit shelves and cabinets of the required height and in the required quantity.