How to use windows in kitchen design

The window and the space around it are often a hidden reserve, through which you can transform the kitchen and even slightly increase its "useful area".

In this material, we collected 70 photo-examples and presented 5 cool ways how to cope with this task by 100%.

Option 1. Kitchen with sink at the window

The best way to use space under the window is to install a washer under the opening. After all, it's so nice to wash dishes in daylight with a view of the courtyard or the neighborhood. When building a private house, creating such a plan is practically nothing to prevent, but in a city apartment to realize the dream will have to try.

To transfer the sink to the window, it is necessary, first, to extend the water communications from the drain riser (it is desirable to install pipes at an incline to prevent clogging), and secondly, to build in the sill a table top connected with headset. The latter task is often complicated by the need to raise the window and agree it.

However, sometimes you can do without radical measures and simply build a set along the window, while strengthening its back wall and... resigning to the restriction of the opening angle of the wings. As a result, between the floor stands and the window will be a niche, which can be adapted to store flower pots or kitchen trifles. Below in the photo you can see an example of a kitchen in Khrushchev with such design cunning.

Disadvantages of placing the sink under the window are also there, and they need to be taken into account when deciding on remaking the kitchen. So, for example, washing at a window obliges to wipe glasses from splashes more often and to reconcile that one leaf can not open completely because of the mixer standing in front of it. And in general, with the arrangement of the kitchen along the window, opening its doors becomes less convenient, since the standard depth of the pedestals is 60 cm, and if you add to this number the depth of the window sill, say 20 cm, then to open / wash the window and have to get up at all stool.

• Another drawback of the arrangement of washing at the window may be its misting, which threatens the appearance of mold first on the slopes, and then on the walls. To avoid "flowering" of the kitchen, in the countertop it is necessary to provide a small ventilation grille for the circulation of warm air from the radiator to the panes. It is also desirable to treat slopes and walls with an antiseptic primer.

Advice:

• By equipping the sink near the window, try to place the sink so that at least one sash of the window opens completely. If the possibility of opening windows for plowing is fundamentally important for you, then the crane should be placed closer to the edge of the opening as shown in the photo below or even almost in the corner.

• To prevent splashing of water from the window panes, give preference to a deep sink and mixer with middle or deep spout (18-25 cm) and preferably retractable, so that it was possible to pour water pointwise.
• If you do not have a dishwasher, it is important to choose a sink with a draining board and install a storage cupboard as close to the sink as possible.
• The place between the window and the sink can be decorated with room colors or a mini-garden with greenery. So plants will receive enough natural light, and you will be more convenient to water them.
• If the distance from the window to the edge of the table top turns out to be too large, we advise you to equip the lower tables (and a sink, respectively) of a reduced depth - 50 cm.
• Do not forget that the sink under the window should also be lit. For example, with a suspension or wall sconces installed on the sides of the opening or in the slopes.

• Curtains on windows with a sink are more convenient for hanging those that have a lifting mechanism, i.e. Roman or roller blinds or blinds. So you can conveniently close and open a review.

For the windows of the kitchen in the "rustic" style, the curtains-cafe are very suitable, since they can protect the glasses from splashes, slightly obscure the room, but at the same time leave the window open. Below in the photo slider there is an interior of the U-shaped kitchen with a window, decorated with curtains-cafe in the style of country.

Option 2. Sill-top

The place under the window is excellent not only for washing, but also for equipping the preparation area of ​​products. Pros are still the same - nice natural light, a view from the window, space saving, and the ability to create additional storage. However, unlike the sill-sink, the sill-countertop is easier to organize, since it does not need to pull water communications.

Advice:

• Ideally, the product preparation area should be placed in the middle between the sink and the stove. If this is not possible, it is more convenient to place a sink, rather than a stove, closer to the sill-countertop.
• Remember that in order to avoid fogging windows and the appearance of mold, in the countertop, you need to provide a small grate for the passage of air from the battery to the window.

See also: Everything about planning and arrangement of the windowsill-table in the kitchen

Option 3. Dining area by the window

If your kitchen is not a working area, but a dining room, then it's best to use the window for its decoration and lighting. After all, it's so nice to eat, looking out the window in the frame of beautiful curtains. In this case, you can attach a flip top to the window sill as in the following photo-example ...

... or just put the table.

Particularly cool is the dining area with a bench lined up along the window. The bench will save space, because unlike chairs, it does not require a seat left behind and can have under the seat built-in storage boxes. The main thing is that the window and the room itself are well insulated and heated.

For a small kitchen and people with a mobile way of life at the window, you can arrange a bar counter.

Advice:

• Well, if the table top and the windowsill will have something in common with the design or at least coincide, for example, in this kitchen with a marble table and a window sill.

• Pay more attention to the design of the window. For a small kitchen, you should choose Roman curtains or curtains of two canvases with an easy assembly. If the kitchen is large, then the decoration of the window can be more ceremonial and solemn.

Option 4. A place for rest, reading books and snacks

If the kitchen is very spacious or it has two windows (for example, if it is a kitchen-living room or a kitchen-hallway), one window can be taken to the recreation area where it is pleasant to read books, drink coffee, work for computer. For the arrangement of such a cozy little place, a bench along the window with built-in boxes under the seat and cute pillows is a good one.

Also it can be a coffee table and armchairs.

These photos show a 15-meter-high kitchen, in which a dining area and an armchair for needlework are located at the window.

Option 5. When the kitchen has two windows

Two windows in the kitchen provide twice as much design possibilities, light and coziness and this should be taken advantage of. So, for example, you can use in the interior design any shades, even very dark and cold. Depending on the location of the windows, you can use each one for no different purposes. For example, under one window to place a working zone, and under the second - a dining room.

Often in kitchens combined with living rooms, between the windows a partition is formed, which is great for placing a bar counter, an island or a dining table.

Also in this room is a refrigerator, a cupboard or a box with a built-in oven and a microwave.

Tip

• The decoration of two windows of one kitchen does not have to be the same, but it must be coordinated. For example, you can decorate the window in the work area with Roman curtains, and in the dining area - a combination of the same Roman curtains and curtains.

Also, it can be different curtains in style, but the same for the material and color.

If two windows are next to each other, then it is better to arrange them the same way as shown in the photo below.

See also: How to choose curtains for a kitchen with a balcony door - 4 solutions

And some more useful information

• According to the rules of the Snip under the window in the kitchen, in no case should a slab be placed. Moreover, this solution is simply not practical, because every day to wash the fat from the glass and curtains is too difficult.
• In most cases, the battery under the window easily hides in the furniture. The main thing in this case, to provide for its design of ventilation grilles for the circulation of warm air. If the battery still hinders the window, then you can transfer it to an adjacent wall, change it to a smaller radiator, or completely abandon it in favor of a system of warm floors.
• Remember that the window should be above the level of the table top of the headset or bar counter by about, -2 cm or higher.
• No matter how you use the windows in the kitchen, try not to litter the sills with extraneous things, accessories and equipment (except, perhaps, a small coffee machine). It is best for its decoration suitable room flowers, decorative topiary, candlesticks, small piles of books, photo frames.

• The window can become the main decoration of the kitchen. To do this, you need to decorate it with beautiful curtains and / or decorate it with a beautiful frame, for example, a colored headset.

Read also:

• . Kitchen design with bay window.
• . Combining the kitchen with the balcony - the idea of ​​design and the rules for redevelopment.
• . Design for the kitchen with a dining room - variations of layouts and ideas of zoning.
• . Design, zoning and arrangement of kitchen-studio.
• . Kitchen design and design without window.
• . How to arrange a refrigerator in the kitchen.