try houzz dot com or search realestate listing in Alpharetta Ga esp. home built in 2004-present- I think you will find some great ideas...your idea sounds so cozy!

By definition a keeping room was off the kitchen and had a fireplace or stove so families could live and sleep there comfortably when the rest of the house was too cold to inhabit. IMO the modern open plan kitchen/dining/family room has similar uses except that most of us don't sleep there! :-D

Our semi-open plan home has a great room with a wood stove with glass door and we spend quite a bit of time there enjoying the fire, reading, playing board games on the small dining table, watching TV, eating, and visiting with guests. I've never slept there but our cats do love to snooze in front of the stove. Our kitchen is close by and also has a dining area and is not completely separate but not visible from the great room.

Since we have an efficient forced air heating system we don't *need* the wood stove to heat our home but we love the ambience of the fire so use it constantly in the cold months and the furnace seldom comes on. This reduces our heating costs substantially here in the cold north. I'd never want to live without a wood stove. It's a feature that adds immeasurably to our comfort. Wood heat just feels different and better.

The link below shows the kitchen in a home Sarah Richardson decorated for a charity lottery in the Vancouver area. It's the same home I mentioned on one of your other threads. This room has a fireplace with seating at one end, kitchen, breakfast area, and overlooks the sunken family room. IMO this 'room' is too large to heat with the fireplace but central heating has reduced the need for that and I'm sure a fire would look wonderful in that FP. Great place for a cuppa tea in the morning while someone else cooks breakfast! LOL

Here's the link to Sarah's site so you can see the rest of the room and house: http://www.sarahrichardsondesign.com/portfolio/project/oceanview-estate/kitchen

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

I always wondered what a keeping room was, so thanks for the explanation, Luckygal! I knew it was in/off of the kitchen and had a FP, but had no idea what it's function was.

Lavender_lass, I'd do a google image search for "keeping room" and "window seat". Sounds lovely!

Thank you for sharing that, luckygal. I love the idea of a keeping room. And I really love the one from Sarah Richardson's site. (I really love a lot of her designs.) A good friend of mine replaced a table in her small kitchen with a small sofa. She loves to cook and often I'll sit on the sofa and relax and talk with her while she cooks.

Keeping rooms are very cozy! Thanks for all the great responses, and the website, Luckygal :)

We have a lovely brick fireplace in the living room, but a woodstove would be perfect in the kitchen. Great back up heat (when the power goes off) and a place to cook and boil water..for tea. We do lose our power out in the country and I love tea! LOL

Having a cozy place to sit and visit with the cook is always fun. I think that's why people are looking for more upholstered seating in their kitchens. Why not be comfortable, while you visit, or if you're the cook, while you're taking a break or waiting for that last batch of cookies. If you leave the room, they always seem to burn!

I've always loved having a keeping room in a house. I'd happily lose the formal dining room to make space for one.

My apartment sort-of has one, or at least that's how we use the room.

I guess you could say that I have a keeping room. It's off of our kitchen and breakfast area. Very small and has a fireplace. :)

Sorry these photos are so bad. The sun was streaming through the blinds and the color looks off.