How to meld the kitchen and dining area together?

9 years ago

I'm a relative newbie to GW, only finding this forum after looking for pointers on good kitchen design for our upcoming kitchen redo. We live in a 1960 track home where all the rooms are closed off from each other.

So..... we're taking down the wall between the kitchen and dining rooms to make one large area and our KD suggested we extend our kitchen cabinets into the dining area to connect the two rooms. Sounds like a good to me but I think it looks awkward the way the KD has designed it. We can't extend the cabinets all the way across the back wall of the dining area under the window because a dog door (Yes we love our dog!) is in the way. So the KD ended the cabinet run about 4' short of the side wall. It's just not balanced and looks odd to me. If we eliminate that run of cabinets the two rooms don't look connected to me. I need some help - what should I do to connect the two rooms better?

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Comments (9)

califpoppy
Original Author
9 years ago
Here's a picture of the dining area window.
califpoppy
Original Author
9 years ago
And the wall between the dining area and the kitchen in mid demo!
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badgergal
9 years ago
I don't think the kitchen cabinets need to be extended into the dining area to connect the two together. I think running the kitchen cabinets into the dining area might look like you didn't know where to end the kitchen.
What are you using for flooring in the kitchen? I thinks a better way to connect the 2 spaces is with the same flooring in both areas.
Another thing that might work is a buffet type piece of furniture (in the same finish as the kitchen cabinets) centered under the window. In the space on each side of the buffet you could put side chairs, potted plants or some other decorative items.
teacats
9 years ago
Perhaps have the cabinets built around the door?

Here is a link that might be useful: Pinterest -- built-in dog door
mgmum
9 years ago
I agree 100% with Badgergal.
veeham
9 years ago
I agree with the others. Same floor and same paint color(s) would pull the rooms together.
calumin
9 years ago
I think it depends on the design. You have a lot to play with and a good design can accentuate different aspects of the space. If it's done right, extending the line of cabinets could create a really nice effect to draw the two rooms together. But if the overall design isn't done right it won't look good.

We did the same thing you are doing. The first design we had was to have a long line of cabinets that extended almost into the dining room (along the side wall), which connected to a banquette that continued along the side wall and then the back wall in an L shape. It was actually really nice and gave us additional cabinetry that we wouldn't have thought about. In the end we only did the banquette on the back wall (for other reasons) but we definitely thought it was more functional and visually appealing than a lot of more conventional designs we thought about.

If you trust the skill of your KD you might want to ask him or her to dig into the design a bit.
greenhaven
9 years ago
Ix-nay on the extra Abinets-K. Unnecessary expense. I also agree with badgergal, same paint, same flooring and a piece of furniture that offers style and/or color repetition will draw those two spaces right together.
Majra
9 years ago
I agree that you can tie the two spaces together with furnishings alone. In our case, we refinished the dining table to mimic the tone of the cabinetry for a unified look.