Yes, you can contain kitchen odors without loosing airy open spaces!
In this compact living space, the kitchen is updated with an edgy partial glass wall partition. Enclosing the tiny space might have been stifling, but by introducing a contrasting Moorish patterned flooring with tones that transition from the wood flooring elsewhere, the preparation area is a subtly energetic space.
Here, the smooth polished floor creates continuity while each zone: the living, kitchen, and corridor are cocooned in glass. It's both a contained experience and not. Without the brick texture that helps define and bring warmth to the seating area of this industrial, contemporary design, you might wonder why subdivide? The answer lies in the unspoken message: unlike the slippy, zippy, smooth surfaces elsewhere, this is a "retreat" zone a place to slow down in the home.
Does the front door cyclone unwanted breezes through the house? Is the basement passage a dark and scary staircase? With the smooth, streamlined but visually weighty cabinets and island, the glass wall in this kitchen lifts the space with a weightless volume--the paned glass, providing a contemporary, upgraded twist that a stair baluster would not achieve.
Have you heard the practical three-option triage for making a decision: Do nothing, do something, do something more? At one end of this home is the white/stainless kitchen, in the middle is a dining space that introduces a 'little more' color: a blue and white graphic wall paper and graphic black chairs that visually connect to the glass partition. The narrative thread continues to the blue and white patterned upholstered chair in the seating area which is embraced by a "decisively more" blue wall. The play of density and airiness, continues throughout these rooms. The weight of a dark wall and traditional upholstery pieces contrast with the glass panels and the linear chairs, while the bridging of color and graphic pattern across these zones makes the space successful.
The glass partition in this home maintains the breezy feeling of an open floor plan, but separates the preparation noises, smells and intimate kitchen/dining experience from other public activities in the home. The flat vent hood installed in the ceiling keeps sight-lines open both in the cooking/eating area and extends to the adjacent sitting area. However, the different floor materials are a subtle "signal" that delineates this space as a dedicated food-enjoyment zone.
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