Open Up Your Bi-Level Kitchen With Our Brilliant Remodeling Tips
Bi-level homes, with their split-floor design, often relegate kitchens to lower levels lacking natural light and seamless connections to living areas. Through smart remodeling, these secluded downstairs cookspaces transform into stunning showpieces brimming with beauty and functionality.
Our guide unlocks bi-level kitchen potential with open layouts for unbroken sightlines, stairs to link levels, windows ushering daylight inside, and storage solutions maximizing every inch. With strategic changes, awkward bi-level kitchens become heart-of-the-home hangout spots both stylish and family-friendly.
Knock Down Walls for an Open Floor Plan
Removing walls imprisonmenting bi-level kitchens liberates closed-off spaces. The now wide-open layout enables unobstructed views from the kitchen through dining and living areas for a free-flowing floorplan. Without visual barriers, the kitchen feels less isolated from homes' communal areas.
Tips for Opening up Kitchen/Dining/Living Rooms
Exposing kitchens by eliminating adjoining walls demands considering load-bearing limitations. Consult engineers before altering important supports. Luckily, half-walls with cutouts or oversized pass-throughs also tremendously improve sightlines between rooms. We recommend opening kitchens to at least dining zones, if possible. Visually connecting these spaces imparts cohesiveness through rooms frequently used together when entertaining.
Island Ideas to Delineate Space Without Walls
While whole-wall removal maximizes openness, islands furnish natural room dividers maintaining some separation. Their bulk defines distinct spaces amidst sprawling great-room floorplans. Strategically placed islands carved with eat-in bar seating cater traffic flow. They divert it around work zones for smooth circulation patterns. For more adaptable islands, opt for wheeled models easily relocated as needs change.
Welcome in Natural Light
Sunlight-deprived bi-level kitchens feel gloomy and detached from cheerful upstairs living areas awash in rays. Simple lighting additions remedy dreary downstairs cookspaces with illuminating brighteness.
Skylights Maximizes Direct Sunlight Exposure
Skylights usher shining daylight directly inside. Positioned to catch optimal sun orientation, these roof windows funnel bright beams onto shadowy spaces. Especially when scattered throughout kitchens, skylights prevent any single area from becoming a dim corner. Clerestory styles installed high on walls similarly elicit illumination minus window obstructions at counters.
More Windows, Positioned High on Walls
Additional windows rally more light, especially when located riding tops of walls. Transoms lending glass above existing windows accomplish the same height-enhancing brightness. Lead glass doors or glass walls fully erase barriers obstructing outside views and welcomingly admit copious lightRoles.
Glass Doors/Walls to Expand Sightlines
Lead glass doors or glass walls fully erase barriers obstructing outside views and welcomingly admit copious light. Strategically placed mirrored walls infinitely duplicate rays' reflections for a perception of endlessness. Reflective surfaces similarly enhance perceptions of spaciousness within bi-level kitchens' confined footprints.
Connect Upper and Lower Levels
Staircases seamlessly bridge bi-level kitchens with upstairs living zones. Matching floor treatments visually blend spaces across split floors for cohesion.
Straight or L-Shaped Staircases
Straight staircases occupying narrow footprints foster close-knit connections between floors. For more flair, L-shaped stairs interject landing turns before changing directions. Such staggered stairs flexibly twist to meet layout requirements.
Open Risers and Minimal Railings
Limiting stair railings to only one side creates unobstructed views between levels. Similarly, open risers without kickboard undersides keep sightlines clear beneath tread steps. Continuing the same flooring materials from the lower level into the kitchen also imparts a smooth, unified flow between rooms.
Embrace the Unique Bi-Level Layout
Rather than forcing awkward, inefficient spaces attempting uniformity with traditional single-story kitchens, lean into bi-levels' split personalities. Take advantage of double-height ceilings and staggered floors when remodeling.
Multi-Level Islands, Countertops, Shelving
Islands, countertops, and shelving occupying double-tiered levels align with bi-level architecture. Vary surface heights to match kitchen planes for tailored functionality. Use the resulting vertical real estate for additional storage along taller sections of cabinetry or shelving.
Take Advantage of High Ceilings with Tall Storage
Soaring bi-level ceilings allow introducing tremendous vertical storage options absent in single-story kitchens. Floor-to-ceiling shelving, pantries built up to the ceiling, and two-story dry good storage maximize unused overhead space.
Storage Solutions for Compact Kitchens
Despite awkward layouts, smart storage keep bi-level kitchens highly functional. Solutions maximizing every inch help consolidate cookware equipment into the consolidated footprint.
Pull-Out Shelves and Roll-Out Tray Storage
Keep items accessible without sacrificing precious floor space with pull-out cabinets. Mounted on smooth roller glides, these retractable shelves offer a tabletop workspace for small appliances before tucking back into place. Similarly, roll-out tray storage neatly organizes wares once chaotically stacked.
Selecting petite appliances suits bi-level kitchens' confined sq. footage. Slim dishwashers, mini-fridge drawers, and apartment-sized stoves conserve valuable room. Yet despite condensed dimensions, today's models retain full-sized functionality. Space-saving gadgets liberate capacities for additional organization solutions.