It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the kitchen space in any home. The owners of small apartments or spacious private houses – all try to create the most comfortable, functional and at the same time cozy atmosphere in the kitchen. They use finishing resistant to various types of impact, spacious storage systems, and modern household appliances. But what about creating a truly comfortable room in which you can not only quickly and efficiently prepare food, but also enjoy it while sitting on a soft sofa? As you already understood, in this publication we will consider options for installing a sofa within the kitchen space, whether it is a separate room or combined with a dining room and living room. In small-sized apartments built in the last century, our compatriots could not afford to install such a large-scale piece of furniture as a sofa. There was not enough space even for a full dining area. In modern homes, kitchen spaces are increasingly boasting impressive dimensions, allowing owners to think over not only ergonomic, but also comfortable layouts with the use of additional furniture. In addition, the popularity of studio apartments, in which the kitchen area is connected to the dining and living areas, is still high. This means that the presence of a sofa in this combined room is inevitable. We invite you to consider the possibility, feasibility and benefits of installing a sofa in the kitchen using examples of real design projects.
Advantages and disadvantages of having a sofa in the kitchen space
The pluses of having a sofa in the kitchen include the following:
- the level of comfort of the dining area increases significantly if, instead of ordinary chairs, you can sit on a soft sofa;
- an additional bed for late guests, especially if the sofa model provides for folding into a bed;
- many models of upholstered furniture have free space in the lower part, which can be used as storage systems;
- if you install a TV opposite the sofa, then the kitchen space can also serve as a living room (important for one-room apartments with a spacious kitchen).
The disadvantages of installing an upholstered sofa in a kitchen space are as follows:
- a special microclimate and a complex functional component of the kitchen space dictates a more critical and careful approach to the selection of any pieces of furniture, and especially those that are accompanied by upholstery that can absorb odors and get dirty from various types of dirt;
- the need to install a sufficiently powerful hood follows from the original features of the kitchen;
- if the kitchen is small, then even a compact sofa model can clutter up the room, depriving it of the feeling of spaciousness and freedom of movement.
Choosing the size, shape and model of the sofa for the kitchen
Not many Russian kitchens can boast of a large area. Even in apartments with an improved layout, a small room is allocated for the kitchen (if it is not combined with the living room). In such conditions, compact sofas with shallow depth become priority solutions. It is more efficient to install such a sofa against the wall, and next to it already have a dining group.
Corner sofas are very popular with homeowners for both living room and kitchen use. The advantage of such models is that a sofa can be installed in a small space, which will provide the maximum possible number of seats. Another advantage is the effective use of the corners of the room, as the most difficult from the point of view of the selection of functional interior elements for installation.
Sofas in the shape of a semicircle or an arc are rarely found in kitchen spaces due to the lack of free space in these very kitchens. The more valuable and original will be the use of such a model. If the area of the room allows it and your dining table is circular or oval.
Built-in sofas with storage boxes are the best option for a small kitchen. Considering that such a sofa is made to order, its size and design will best match the capabilities and priorities of your kitchen. It is convenient and comfortable on such a sofa, it can be used as storage systems, and it looks attractive, decorating the kitchen interior. The disadvantage of built-in models is the lack of mobility and a rather high cost due to the execution of individual sizes and designs (but much depends on the materials of the frame and upholstery).
A sofa with a folding mechanism is able to turn any one-room apartment into a so-called «euro-two». An additional bed has not bothered anyone yet, especially if the family has a need to organize a separate room (and the kitchens are most often allocated in a separate room) for the possibility of an overnight stay. But the model in this case is not easy to choose. Pull-out sofas are rarely compact. And the upholstery of the sofa for sleeping should not be slippery (leather or leatherette), but at the same time have high hygroscopic properties.
If we talk about the design of the sofa in terms of the choice of upholstery material, then the most popular option for a long time has been the leather design of this piece of upholstered furniture. Practicality, aesthetics and richness of color solutions are the main criteria for choosing upholstery for many Russians. The ability to easily, quickly and without consequences clean the stained surface of the upholstery becomes the main advantage of leather upholstery, overshadowing the disadvantage in the form of a rather high cost.
The hardest thing to clean is cotton upholstery. Linen, wool derivatives, silk modifications, all of these fabrics are not suitable for use in the kitchen. The now popular flock will also not withstand the constant cleaning of food and drink stains, the appearance of which in the kitchen space, unfortunately, is inevitable, especially if there are small children, pets in the house.
Using a sofa as an accent element of the interior is a popular way of bringing originality to the design of a room, which is popular among designers and their customers. This space design option is suitable not only for living rooms, but also for kitchens combined with a dining room or just large-scale studios. Bright upholstery or colorful print of fabric will become not only an accent spot of the interior, but also its highlight, a focal point around which the rest of the design of the room is built.
A sofa from the line of garden furniture made of vine or rattan will look harmonious in a kitchen decorated in country style, Provence, shabby chic. The lightness of the design, its mobility and original appearance will certainly become the highlight of the kitchen design..
Where to install the sofa?
The choice of where to install the sofa in the kitchen space depends on:
- the size and shape of the room itself:
- the number and size of window and door openings:
- choosing the layout of the kitchen unit;
- the number of functional segments of the room (kitchen, dining room, living room);
- sizes and modifications of the sofa;
- availability and variation of the dining group.
One of the most popular uses for a sofa in a kitchen is to incorporate this piece of furniture into a dining group. It is logical that many owners want to provide households with maximum comfort while eating. And what could be more comfortable than sitting on a soft sofa? In this case, there are two options for integrating the sofa into the dining ensemble – installing a piece of upholstered furniture against the wall (variation for small rooms) and in the free space of the kitchen (method for spacious rooms).
If your kitchen can boast of having a bay window, then the best option for using this bright space of the room is to organize a place for meals by the window. The most effective will be the use of a sofa model that clearly fits into the dimensions of the bay window, repeating its shape. These can be either straight sofas, corner sofas, or those consisting of three sectors. Less often semicircular models are used (it is not easy to choose a sofa with an exact coincidence of radiality for a semicircular bay window).
A sofa as a way of zoning a room is used very often in so-called studio kitchens. If a spacious room combines the functions of a kitchen, dining room and living room, then the presence of a sofa in it is inevitable. In this case, the sofa belongs to the living room group, but in terms of choosing its model, quality of upholstery and color scheme, it will be necessary to take into account the criteria for kitchen furniture, taking into account the special microclimate of this multifunctional segment.
In the kitchen room, the furniture layout of which provides for the presence of an island (or a peninsula), it is logical to place the sofa with its end facing the facade of this separate furniture module. The best option would be to select a model that matches the size of the length of the kitchen island. But the corner modification of the sofa will also be appropriate if there is a sufficient amount of free square meters..
