Family-friendly kitchen: tips to make it the hub of your home

Press profile homify Press profile homify
CASA 1101 by Harquitectes, HARQUITECTES HARQUITECTES مطبخ
Loading admin actions …

Without a doubt, kitchens are the busiest rooms in the house. Whether you are a family with children or without, you will want to ensure your kitchen remains a space that is serviceable, stylish, and ultimately functional. Generally a kitchen is the hub of a home, a central gathering point, and an area to chat and congregate with family members, as well as friends and guests. These days kitchens are more than simply a place to prepare and cook food, they are a melting pot of conversation and activity, therefore requiring a little extra thought and care. 

When creating a family-friendly kitchen, there are a few essential tips and tricks you should know. Be it how to employ a stylish informal breakfast bar, or simply whether or not to include a television, there are plenty of things that deserve consideration. Thankfully homify is here to help. We have compiled a list of several handy hints that we believe are the key to a successful family-friendly cooking space. Check out the examples and sophisticated kitchens below, and renovate your new domestic space with confidence!

Include a kitchen table

Other than the actual kitchen space itself, the dining table is a hub of activity and action. It is a place where we enjoy a shared meal, chat about the day, and get together each morning before work. Now, dining tables do not necessarily need to be relegated to their own separate room, they can be perfectly functional within a kitchen space. 

Take a look at this example above, the room is open, airy, and wonderfully integrates the dining space, to create a family-friendly environment. This is an ideal design if you have a long kitchen, which sits against one wall only, or even if you are missing a kitchen island. The table will function as a place to dine, converse, and can equally double as a prep area if you are lacking worktop space. 

Tips: choose a hard-wearing table as it will become a key component of one of the busiest spaces in your home. Additionally, pick chairs that are easy to lift, and possibly stackable, so that you can remove them if you need a little extra room. If your chairs are manufactured from sturdy and heavy timber, it will be harder to change around the setting when required. 

The informal breakfast bar

Other than an actual dining table within the kitchen, a breakfast bar is another optional stylish and sophisticated solution. When you want to create a family-friendly environment, there is nothing better than ensuring your friends, children, and other family members have a place to sit while the kitchen is occupied. Not only does a breakfast bar allow conversation between the two separate spaces, it bridges the gap, and allows a cohesion and continuity. 

Take a peek at this gorgeous example. The room is modern, totally practical, and features a brilliantly designed breakfast bar. The joinery is a perfect blend of fitting-free contemporary high gloss finishes, as well as a sleek white worktop. The breakfast bar has an auxiliary counter that allows those seated to enjoy a clean area upon which to place their meals. The dark black high gloss hue is perfectly coordinated with the white seating. This adds an inviting contrast, contributing to the overall appearance of the room. The ultimate in family-inclusive kitchens, this is great for a family of children or young teenagers. 

Tips: for a stylish and ultra-practical space, you could consider adding additional lighting over this space. Edison bulbs such as the example above, are a great way to soften the area, while ensuring correct illumination for the dining area. 

The ideal kitchen island

Similar to the aforementioned point, a kitchen island can generate a family-friendly space with little hassle. Kitchen islands bring a space together, and ensure the room is inclusive and inviting. If you have younger children, the island is often a great place for them to stand and prepare food, while being outside the hectic and often dangerous interior space. When you want to include children within a kitchen, it is often a good idea to ensure they are away from large appliances such as the oven or stove top. With an island you are able to include them, while also protecting them. 

In this example we see a stunning heritage style cooking space, with an equally gorgeous island. The space is well-lit with hanging pendant lights, and is replete with a white colour scheme. 

Tips: if your children or partner enjoy watching the action, consider installing the stove within the island. This will create a chef-style cooking area that will not only look great, but provide a space for the whole family to watch and convene. 

A sofa nearby perhaps?

As many of us these days reside within apartment buildings or compact homes, we know all too well how spaces need to be arranged correctly and stylishly. If you are attempting to create a family-friendly kitchen within a smaller apartment or house, check out this example. The beautiful minimal kitchen is hidden behind folding doors, while the living area is right beside the cooking space. If you choose to include a sofa nearby, you will undoubtedly ensure your room is inclusive, and perfect for children or older family members. 

Tips: keep your furniture a safe distance from the cooking space and stove. Furthermore, ensure your sofa is resistant from stains and spills, and you will no doubt end up consuming your dinner in the comfort of a cosy lounge room. Finally, purchase a well-manufactured exhaust fan to ensure your furniture doesn't soak up any unwanted food aromas. 

Consider some handy noticeboards

Anyone with a large family knows how difficult it can be to keep a kitchen well-stocked and tidy. There seems an endless need for different groceries from different family members, and keeping track of everyone can become a nightmare. To solve this most common problem, you need a noticeboard. Now, there are many different types of noticeboards on the market, from simple whiteboards, to pinboards, and even pegboards. Try to define exactly what you need to notate, and choose a product to suit. If you need to create a cleaning roster, a calendar, or keep track of children's co-curricular activities, then many a blackboard would be helpful? In this example we see a wall that has been painted with chalkboard paint. This neat idea is a great illustration of how to organise within a home, create a family-friendly space, while also looking chic and stylish. 

Tips: find and empty wall in your kitchen and consider a DIY project for the weekend. Chalkboard paint is inexpensive, and the results can look wonderful. Remember to tape your existing walls to ensure there is no spill-over onto your clean surrounding walls. Furthermore, you can utilise any area of blank wall, such as a splashback, or a thin strip of spare space to create a truly helpful and sophisticated noticeboard. 

Open up with spacious living

Open plan living has been a buzz-word for many decades. This all encompassing term basically insists that walls are taken down, and living areas work together and in an airy and spacious way. This is something we all think about when we plan a living or dining room, but not necessarily a kitchen. An open plan kitchen is a great way to ensure your cooking space is family-friendly. Without the kitchen being segregated and tucked away in its own room, your family will be free to co-mingle, and chat to each other easily. Not only that, but you will be able to watch over little ones as they do their homework, or chat to a partner while they cook. 

In this example we see a stylish open plan space with very high ceilings that contributes to the overall spacious ambience. The dining table is well configured to work with the kitchen, and the result is a multi-purpose living hub that adds to the funtionality of the home. 

Tips: if you are unsure how to create a successful open plan space, chat to a professional to get some style and decorating advice. 

Incorporating technology

Last, but certainly not least we are looking at the inclusion of technology to create a family-friendly kitchen. Adding a television is certainly not high on the list of people's priorities, but can surprisingly work extremely well in bringing everyone together. Watching sport, news, or the latest television show, can be a worthwhile pursuit if it is done in moderation. Nothing brings people together like a television, and in the kitchen space it is definitely going to create a space where the family will want to hang-out and socialise. Better yet, it is in an area that is only used at certain times, so there is no risk of it becoming overused like the television in the living room. 

Tips: check out this example, the television is well placed for the individuals to watch while eating breakfast or an informal dinner. It will keep children entertained while parents are cooking, keeping them in the same room, and ensuring they aren't tucked away by themselves.

We hope this Ideabook provided some interesting ideas and tips, if you would like to continue reading, check out: 7 tips to create a restaurant-standard kitchen

تريد مساعدة في إتمام مشروع بيتك؟
تواصل معنا الآن

يبرز من مجلتنا