With so many homes featuring kitchen and family rooms adjoined in an open floor plan, our designers wanted to show how tying the two spaces together is a great design choice that can also have a positive impact on the entire family.
The Kitchen
The Kitchen is one of the busiest areas in the entire home. As such, it was important to the designers to provide enough room for multiple family members to work together at the same time, sharing the cooking experience. With the large number of cooking shows, children are now more interested than ever in cooking. Having a space that involves the whole family in the cooking process helps strengthen bonds between parents and children.
The island is a critically important feature in the kitchen. This piece combines storage space with an open area for decorative display. It’s important to keep this concept in mind with heavier finishes as there is a greater need to balance the dark color with open space to convey a lighter feel. An aged butcher block top was added for functionality, turning the entire top of the island into a cutting board. Now there’s enough room for everyone can be involved with food preparation.
The Family Room
Like the kitchen, the family room is a multi-use, hardworking space. The homework/office space is defined by a built-in desk at the window. The natural light pouring in brings out the warmth of the Burnished Ginger on maple that was likewise featured in the kitchen. With two seats it’s easy to help the kids with their homework or pay a few bills while they study.
Just as the hearth is the center of the kitchen, the entertainment center is the main focal 
point of the family room. This unit has plenty of display and storage space, and when the TV goes off and the board games come out, they’re as close to hand as everything else.
The designers used Vintage Onyx on the entertainment center, for many reasons, not least to help the TV fade away into the furniture when it’s not on. The Classic Crown valance, with single bead edge molding, plays well with the square solid raised cherry doors. Five piece deluxe panel drawer fronts add sophistication and maintain the strong furniture look of the cabinetry. The pewter hardware features copper accents, mixing a warm and cool color. This helps bring in the warmth of the wood while complementing the finishes used across the space.
Mix and Match
Repeating Casual Camed inserts in the kitchen and family room is a creative way to tie the rooms together. The caming in the kitchen matches the “X” shape in the Mullion and complements the furniture look in the living room. Both sets of glass can be visible at the same time, across both spaces, so this is a great way to maintain the overall feel, while keep the rooms separate.
KraftMaid designers are passionate about illustrating how it’s entirely possible to mix and match – blending shapes, styles and colors to produce a truly individualized look. KraftMaid products are versatile enough to make it easy to do this blending.
The two rooms are separated by an archway, and a Vintage Biscotti finish has been used along the two columns that divide the room and on the wainscoting in the living/family room.
The rooms, while clearly different spaces, now flow eloquently together thanks to careful and considered design choices.