Open-plan kitchen cum living room: where does the table go?

Here’s how to arrange your table and the other elements in your living room in an open-plan kitchen

Are you furnishing an open space? A single room that doubles as your kitchen and living room encourages interaction between the household chef and their guests, while also meeting the needs of those who have a limited amount of space and are unable to separate each room according to function. So what is a must-have element in this sociable space? Definitely the table: let’s see where to put it!

Beside the window

When you’re designing an open-plan kitchen cum living room with a table, you first need to consider what your habits are: do you enjoy being surrounded by friends and relatives? Do you work from home and need an attractive workspace to make your video calls? In both cases, the ideal place to put your table is near a window or glazing, so that the conversation/study corner is bright and airy, encouraging chatting on the one hand and concentration on the other.

Make sure you leave a gap of approximately 80 cm between the table and the walls, considering the footprint of your chairs, to facilitate getting past.

Near the sofa or in the middle

Do you and your family enjoy watching old programmes on TV while you have lunch? Placing the table next to or behind the sofa together with comfortable seats is a strategic way to decorate your open-plan kitchen cum living room so you can enjoy watching a large screen without having to get up and change places or getting neck-ache from craning it just to watch. In this case too, remember to leave at least one metre between the table and the sofa, where you can lie back once your guests have left.

What if on the other hand you prefer to enjoy your time with guests and relatives and focus on the food you have prepared and avoid distraction? If you have a single open space you may need to separate the kitchen from the relaxation area, without compromising space: in this case, placing the table in the middle of the room to showcase your culinary exploits will come in handy to keep both settings visually separate.