As stated in “Banquette seating – will it work in your kitchen?” the trend in home design is to make the kitchen a place to gather, yet openly transition into other rooms. Kitchen islands play a key part as they go from food preparation countertop to banquette seating – making the transition seamless.
Any style is adaptable so it doesn’t matter if your home is industrial, modern, traditional or a fusion of something between. The way to pull it together is to coordinate…not match…the cabinetry you have in both areas. Matching looks contrived. Coordination gives you more versatility and a natural feel.
These days, farmhouse style is seeing a resurgence. This style is particularly easy to work with due to using a mix of antique finishes with a pallet of subtle colors. The same goes for rustic.
Modern and industrial styles may present a little more challenge. Here the versatility of shaker cabinets offers a number of variations that tie rooms together.
For example, a window seat with storage beneath may have wider or deeper frames and be a different but complementary color to the kitchen. The same can be done if you have cabinets surrounding a fireplace or beneath a buffet nook.
Another way to coordinate any style is with glass doors and open shelves. A mix of these in both the kitchen and adjoining room could show off similar dishes or art collections.
We tend not to think about having cabinets in the living area, yet they are the best way to store items you want to have handy but not always out in the open. When they compliment the cabinetry in your kitchen, you have a continuation of one room to the other, yet a separation that looks perfectly natural.