With open plan home layouts especially, we have become accustomed to seeing the kitchen and living space as one, zoned out only by the placement of furniture. We have come to like it this way, as it keeps the family or guests in the same space, allowing different activities to happen at the same time as the conversation. The catch is marrying the two aesthetics: that of a kitchen, a task-oriented room where practical lights and surfaces are key, with that of a living space, where it’s all about comfort and ambience.
And even if you do have a separate room for your kitchen, we have now come to require it to look sophisticated and homely rather than cool and purely task oriented. The change needs to happen in the kitchen. A modern home aesthetic and usability require its design and styling to be practical, but elevated and homely enough to create a flow that is easy on the eye, passing from one area into the other without feeling that you’re in separate rooms with a completely different feel (regardless of whether you are or not).
