An Open kitchen concept is something that has come from the west from the 90’s era. If we observe it was never something that traditional India believed in or would incorporate in homes. Kitchen from the point of view of traditional India is something that is worshipped, so it should never be included in home activities or near living areas, as in the kitchen we make food for the family, the food which is nothing but a blessing from the God.
An Open kitchen is a place where your kitchen area is connected to your living space directly, so you can even eat in the kitchen or live in the kitchen while someone is preparing food just beside you. Which can or cannot be a good idea depending on person to person?
It is a modern concept that people love today due to a variety of reasons that we will discuss in this article, but there are many disadvantages of the open kitchen concept as well that we need to keep in mind before incorporating them into our home design plans. Let us first look at some of the positive aspects of having an open kitchen in our home:-
Advantages of having an Open Kitchen
1. Creating an Interactive and inviting space
Imagine entering into your home with the smell of fresh food cooking and your family sitting and chilling in the background while talking to someone who is cooking in the kitchen. This is only possible in the open kitchen concept where there is no partition in between the living room and kitchen. This practice combines three spaces – Kitchen, Dining and living room .So if you are calling your friends over you don’t have to go to a separate room to cook with them while they are enjoying you can do both at the same time.
2. Ease of accessability of Kitchen
Open kitchen is a perfect idea for someone who loves being lazy or someone who loves watching T.V or listening to music while cooking or doing dishes in the kitchen. You can also walk from the living room while grabbing something from the kitchen. You can enjoy your time even while being in the kitchen and everyone at home can easily participate in the kitchen activities. Therefore it is also perfect for a bachelor’s a young couple or a studio apartment.
3. Spacious and enlightened space
An open kitchen removes partitions and walls between spaces as we know walls create a barrier to light, it always keeps glowing due to the sunlight always keeps coming through the window in the living or the entry door. So this reduces the cost of artificial lighting for most of the day even in the evening or night time if you have lights of your living or dining lit then it is not necessary to lighten the kitchen separately, so this overall reduces the cost and saves energy.
4. An eye for aesthetics
The most prominent reason why people love an open kitchen is that it looks pretty and pleasing. Also when your kitchen is visible from your living room you make sure that it is always clean, looks pretty by adding some accents or taking efforts to keep it tidy and beautiful through various approaches, which doesn’t happen in a closed kitchen as one just treat it as a separate room that can be separately taken care of.
2. Disadvantages of having Open Kitchen in houses
1. Cluttered and unimaginable
When you have an open kitchen, you have to constantly keep an eye on it to keep it clean and pretty. As you know every visitor will always have an eye on it so you can’t let the dishes be unclean for a longer time as it will look untidy when seen from the living area, you will also have to make efforts so the design of the kitchen area blends in with the design of the living area. This constant keeping of check can lead to a lot of stress.
2. Lack of privacy
If you are someone who doesn’t like to be seen while working in the kitchen or you want to enjoy your freedom in the kitchen then an open kitchen is not a good option for you. You might get lost with the sound coming from the adjacent rooms and you won’t be able to indulge yourself in the kitchen work.
3. Noisiness
If you are watching television in the living room and suddenly there is a lot of noise is coming from the kitchen chimney or a mixer grinder then there are higher chances of your moment getting ruined with the chaos of noises. Also, you are working in the kitchen by watching some recipes then you might not be able to listen properly due to the noises coming from the living area.
4. Issue of smell and heat
If there is a pleasing aroma of some food coming from the kitchen then you are good to go with it but what if there is a smell coming out of the burnt vessel? Or a smell of any cleaning product or some cooking smell that is not pleasing to you? These are some of the problems that you can face in an open kitchen while it is not a problem in the closed one.
Similarly, if your home does not have a proper HVAC or Air conditioner system installed then you might also face excessive heat in the living area which can be a problem especially, during the time of summer when there is already high temperature as it can increase your home temperature.
When is Open Kitchen Advisable?
- In a studio apartment or in a setup like a studio apartment it is a perfect option.
- When you have a small space, it helps as it makes the space looks larger than it is.
- If you love spending time with your family or having guests over all the time, it is a great option.
- If you love privacy all the time it might not be a good option for you.
- If you have a larger space then it might not be a great option if you have issues with the things mentioned as disadvantages above.
– Asmita Madan
