Source: CUSTOM HOME Magazine
Publication date: April 1, 2007
By Bruce D. Snider
Kitchens were first to break out of the box, shedding walls to merge with dining and living areas. Now, master baths are following suit, with privacy zones redrawn to include fewer functions and washing and bathing areas joining the social sphere of the bedroom. For designers, the freedom of the open plan comes with a challenge: What to do with all the stuff we used to push up against the walls? In response, architects and designers are using cabinets to define space, channel circulation, and manage sight lines as well as hide the canned goods. Handled skillfully and strategically, storage becomes much more than just a place to put things.
Split Personality
Designing an open kitchen is easy; just erase a couple of walls. Designing an open kitchen that functions as well for cooking as it does for hanging out is another matter entirely. The kitchen of this California beachfront home is wide open to an adjacent sitting room and breakfast bay, to the open roof above, and to the ocean view.
“Everybody tends to hang out in the kitchen,” says architect Mary Andrulaitis, “so there's plenty of room for that.” And thanks to some judicious out-sourcing of storage, this kitchen works as well as it plays.
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The main kitchen efficiently handles cooking and primary storage functions.
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