Long gone are the days when a kitchen was a smallish room in the cellar or tacked on to the back of the house. Over the last 50 years it has developed from a functional and useful room which was never on show to visitors, to a light, bright and spacious family room. Families often eat in the kitchen or it is part of an open-plan space and joined with the dining room or even the living room.

Because of the fact that the kitchen is now used much more frequently and by many more people, it is more important than ever to ensure that your kitchen looks great and that the other uses for the room are also catered for. Using replacement kitchen doors to get a cohesive connection between the living, eating and cooking parts of the kitchen is the perfect way to bring it all together – even on a limited budget.

Breakfast bars

Many kitchens now have a breakfast bar and they use them for a variety of purposes. This may include eating a snack, reading the paper, using the laptop or just as extra important worktop space. This part of the kitchen is often used to separate the main cooking area from the dining or living space.

You can easily create a breakfast bar with replacement kitchen doors and a carcass or two. All you need to do is add them at right angles to the existing cupboards and add an oversized worktop to allow extra seating room. Making sure that these doors match your existing ones will ensure that it looks as though it has always been there.

Your breakfast bar can also act as extra storage on both sides – perfect for storing those things you use in the dining area.

Dining rooms

Many dining rooms will have sideboards to accommodate serving dishes and other eating related items. If you have a dining section of the kitchen you can add a bank of kitchen cupboards to act as a sideboard. Obviously it is ideal to make sure that this matches with your kitchen cupboards, but could be in a different colour to mark out the space.

There are a variety of different sized cabinets and drawers you can choose to give you true flexibility when it comes to your storage options. You may also choose glazed doors to allow you to display your best china.

Living spaces

If you have a combined living, eating and cooking space you may feel that it is important to clearly delineate between each area. This is always a good idea, but you can still use kitchen cupboard doors and carcasses to create fitted living room furniture. This will bring the room together as a whole, but will still allow the living area to stand out.

Use a different colour or material, but in the same style as your kitchen cupboards. For example you could opt for white Visions doors in your kitchen and then go for the Legato doors but in Ultragloss Japanese Pear for the living room. If you use high quality carcasses with the correct end panels, the overall finish will be modern and very smart. Not to mention much cheaper than buying individual units for each room.

Open plan living is perfect for our contemporary lifestyles and making it work requires a little forethought and cohesive design. But with new kitchen doors, it all becomes a little easier. You will save money on the installation, the matching units and all that time shopping and searching.