How to decide: open or enclosed
An open kitchen suits you if you cook moderately, want to talk to family and guests while cooking and are prepared to invest in strong extraction and quiet appliances. An enclosed kitchen is better if you fry a lot, cook elaborate meals every day or want the living room to stay a calm place to relax. There is no option that is best for everyone, only the one that fits the way you live. Start by answering three questions: how often you fry, who is usually in the living room while you cook, and where the TV will go.
The decision has to be made before the design, because walls, extraction, electrics, flooring and even the living room furniture depend on it. Changing your mind halfway through the works means redoing several quote items at once.
Smells, noise and extraction
The main argument against an open kitchen is cooking smells in the sofa and curtains. Good extraction solves it, but only if the air has somewhere to go. In an apartment building, venting through the facade is often impossible without the agreement of the comunidad de propietarios, and in a listed building sometimes not possible at all. Then you use an existing duct or a recirculating hood with a carbon filter, which handles grease well but smells less well than ducting outside.
The second issue is noise. The dishwasher, the extractor on full and the fridge can all be heard in the living room. Choose quiet models and check the noise level on the spec sheet before ordering. Induction is safer and cleaner than gas in an open space, so in open kitchens we almost always fit induction.
Walls, light and the flat's layout
Opening up a kitchen usually means removing a wall. In Barcelona's older buildings interior walls are often load-bearing, so before planning an open space a technician checks whether the wall can come out and what that takes. Sometimes it is replaced with a beam; sometimes a pier or column stays and becomes part of the design.
In the long Eixample flats the kitchen is often in the middle, with no window of its own. Opening it into the living room gives it daylight from both facades, and that is frequently the strongest argument for going open. In the Urgel flat in the Eixample, 109.80 m², we went for exactly that: an open kitchen.
Think about lighting too. The work zone needs bright light, but when you are having dinner or watching a film the kitchen should not glow like an operating theatre. So kitchen lighting is split into groups with their own switches or scenes: task light, under-cabinet light and soft light over the table or island.
In-between solutions
The choice does not have to be binary. A glass partition with a sliding door gives light and a visual link while shutting out smells and noise when needed. Pocket doors that slide into the wall let you keep the kitchen open during the day and closed while cooking. A semi-open kitchen with an opening or a breakfast bar keeps part of the wall for units and appliances.
An island or peninsula adds worktop and a place to talk, but needs circulation space around it. How to choose between them is covered in another article. Here one rule is enough: the island must not block the main route between fridge, sink and hob.
How an open kitchen changes finishes and the budget
An open kitchen becomes part of the living room, so doors, worktop and lighting are chosen together with the materials for the whole zone. Appliances are either integrated behind doors or have to look good on show. Small appliances go into a cupboard with a lift-up door or a dedicated niche; otherwise the worktop turns into a display of kettles and coffee machines. The floor often runs continuously from living room to kitchen, in which case it has to cope with water and dropped objects.
Ask for the quote to separate cabinetry, worktop, services, extraction, work on the wall and installation. That shows what opening up the kitchen costs versus the kitchen itself.
We build kitchens as part of full renovations of flats and houses in Barcelona and along the coast, with one person in charge of the project, in Spanish or Russian, and stage payments under the contract. Send us the floor plan and tell us how you cook. We reply within an hour.