From Italian, Turkish and Victorian-styled kitchens to use of wood, stainless steel, marble and infusing various colours, kitchens are now standing out. PHOTO | FOTOSEARCH
What you need to know:
You can get the best of both worlds with a kitchen that can hide the mess by:
Installing sliding doors or mesh curtains.
Closing off the part of the kitchen with half a wall, creatively designed to hide areas near the sink.
Installing kitchen appliances that hide clutter.
Building high countertops.
Interior designers are fast losing the old-fashioned wooden door and long corridors tucking away the kitchen in the far corner of the home as they knock down walls from house plans and open up spaces, turning the cooking area into a place for entertaining.
For architects, modern kitchens are now more casual, opening up to the dining area, where a visitor will be sipping whiskey or taking tea while chatting with the homeowner as she prepares a meal.
From Italian, Turkish and Victorian-styled kitchens to use of wood, stainless steel, marble and infusing various colours, kitchens are now standing out.
As the open-kitchen designs catch on in Kenya, they have sparked debate in a still conservative society. For such homeowners, an open design means no privacy, noise and clutter from the kitchen and “open smells.”
These are the people who think that designing a kitchen as the focal point of the home is a foreign idea. But more progressive types have embraced the idea that the kitchen should no longer be that room that’s hidden away. Visitors can hang around the island chatting, prepare meals as a family and dine together.
This is similar to the flex houses. Having the kitchen as the hive of activity within the house is seen as a great way of bringing the family together and strengthening relationships.
So which kitchen is right for you?
Zahra Majid, a real estate agent with Pam Golding, says open kitchens are ideal for people looking for contemporary designed apartments. “More people are opting for open kitchens as one can cook and entertain at the same time,” says Ms Majid.
Susan Karimi, an interior designer, says the illusion of a bigger space in the house has led to the open plan designs which have also pushed up the demand for modern kitchen appliances.
Tom Icharia of Newmatic Africa, a company that imports kitchen appliances, says the use of hi-tech kitchen appliances has driven the demand for open kitchens.
“Eco-friendly kitchen appliances come with hoods, gas hobs, fitted ovens, microwaves and dish washers,” he says. If you decide to bring down the walls, install modern appliances that will make the kitchen clean and tidy.
Mr Icharia says it is best to work with a contractor, interior designer and homeowner before installing the kitchen appliances. The location of the kitchen fittings will depend on the various design layouts – from the L-shape, U-shape and Island kitchens – all which can be open plan, he says.
Open plan or not, you can have both worlds of closed kitchens with open designs. You can have an open kitchen that does not completely open up to the adjacent room. Consider installing a countertop dividing the two rooms.
The countertop can be used as a work counter or a breakfast nook if one includes high counter stools.
Ms Karimi says an ideal open kitchen should open up into the dining area and not the living room as many have done, ensuring privacy whenever there are visitors in the living room. One can also close off the kitchen from adjacent rooms with the use of shutters or mesh curtains.
