Designing an open-plan kitchen-living area with good acoustics
The open-plan kitchen-living area is the heart of the home. It is where food is prepared, meals are eaten, homework is done, television is watched and parties are held. Therefore, the room requires more than functionality and appearance. It must also be pleasant to be in when the whole family is gathered, and this is where many people find that their dream kitchen sounds harsher and more unsettled than they had imagined.
Good design of an open-plan kitchen-living area is about making zones, materials and sound work together. If done right from the start, you get a room that works in everyday life and does not become tiring to spend time in. If you want to see how the open-plan kitchen-living area fits into the rest of the home, we have a complete guide to acoustic ceilings in the home, which covers all rooms.
Why the open-plan kitchen-living area is the noisiest room in the home
The open-plan kitchen-living area is typically the largest room in the home, and it has more hard surfaces than any other room in the house. Worktops, cabinet fronts, tiles, appliances, glass sections and floors all reflect sound. At the same time, it is the room where the most sound sources are active at once. The extractor hood is running, the dishwasher is humming, the children are playing, and the television is on in the sofa corner while people are talking at the dining table.
When the kitchen and living room are in one space, there are no walls to keep the sound separate. Sound from the kitchen zone spreads freely to the rest of the room and continues to reflect between the hard surfaces. This is what creates reverberation, and we have explained the phenomenon in more detail in the article about reverberation in the home.
Design the open-plan kitchen-living area in zones
The most common approach to designing an open-plan kitchen-living area is to divide the room into zones. There are typically three: a kitchen zone, a dining zone and a living zone. The zones create order and flow, but they are also a good starting point for incorporating sound.
The kitchen zone is the work area with a cooker, sink and storage. Many choose a kitchen island that serves as a transition to the rest of the room and at the same time as a natural gathering place. This is also where most sounds arise, from pots and cutlery to the extractor hood and appliances.
The dining zone is the link between the kitchen and living room. The dining table is often placed in the middle of the room, and this is where the longest conversations take place. A rug beneath the table and a pendant light that visually brings the zone together help define the area.
The living zone is the quietest part of the room, with a sofa, coffee table and often a television. A sofa positioned with its back towards the dining zone acts as a soft room divider that both visually defines the area and absorbs some of the sound from the rest of the room. A shelving unit between the zones can have the same effect.
The point of the zones is that they also show where sound matters most. The dining and living zones are where people sit quietly, talk together and relax, which is why efforts to reduce reverberation make the biggest difference in everyday life there.
Materials and surfaces in the open-plan kitchen-living area
Materials in a kitchen are chosen for good reason based on durability and ease of cleaning. Stone worktops, laminate, lacquered cabinet fronts, tiles and glass are easy to keep clean and withstand daily use, but they are all hard and reflect almost all sound that hits them. This also applies to wooden floors and large glass sections facing the garden, which many people want in an open-plan kitchen-living area.
This is not an argument for choosing different materials in the kitchen. It is an argument for finding absorption elsewhere in the room. The kitchen zone will always be hard, and that is perfectly fine as long as the rest of the room can absorb some of the sound created there.
Soft materials such as textiles, upholstered furniture, rugs and curtains absorb sound, but they rarely cover enough surface area in a large open room to make a significant difference on their own. That is why it is worth looking upwards.
The ceiling is the largest surface in the room
In most open-plan kitchen-living areas, the ceiling is the largest uninterrupted surface, and it is not used for cabinets, shelves or pictures. It extends across the entire area where sound is created, making it the most effective place to add absorption without changing the interior design.
In an open-plan kitchen-living area, covering 40 to 50 percent of the ceiling surface typically makes a noticeable difference. It does not have to be the entire ceiling. By prioritising the zone above the dining table and the living area, you achieve the greatest effect where you spend the most time and where conversations take place. In an open-plan kitchen-living area of 25 m², this corresponds to around 10 m² of acoustic panels.
Large panels in the 1200 x 600 mm format are well suited to the large surfaces in an open-plan kitchen-living area because they cover efficiently and create a calm, cohesive appearance on the ceiling. The smaller 600 x 600 mm panels can be used where adjustments are needed around spotlights, ventilation or changes in the shape of the ceiling.
ARKU’s acoustic panels in PET felt weigh around 2 kg per m² and are glued directly onto the existing ceiling. They require no acclimatisation and can be installed as soon as they are unpacked. This means that the ceiling can be completed at the end of a renovation without getting in the way of other tasks. If you want to know more about which ceiling types are suitable, you can read about installation on an existing ceiling, and you can see formats and colours in our range.
A real-life example is a newly built standard house in Silkeborg, where the family experienced significant reverberation in the open-plan kitchen-living area due to hard plasterboard ceilings and high ceilings. The solution was acoustic panels installed directly on the existing ceiling, and the result was a noticeably calmer atmosphere in everyday life.
Open-plan kitchen-living areas with vaulted or high ceilings
Many newer open-plan kitchen-living areas have vaulted ceilings or extra ceiling height, which provide space and light, but also a larger volume of air in which sound has more room to travel. The sloping surfaces direct reflections in unpredictable directions, and reverberation can therefore be more pronounced than in a room with a flat ceiling.
In rooms with vaulted ceilings, slightly more coverage is typically required, and placement must be considered differently because the lower parts of the sloping ceiling are often the most effective. We cover this in detail in the article about acoustic ceilings for vaulted ceilings.
Textiles, furniture and plants as a supplement
The interior design plays a role in sound, even though it can rarely solve the problem on its own. A large rug beneath the dining table and one under the sofa arrangement dampen sound from the floor. Thick curtains in front of the glass sections absorb some of the reflections from the windows when they are drawn. Upholstered dining chairs, a soft sofa and cushions also contribute.
Shelving units with books and large plants break up the surfaces and diffuse sound so that it is not reflected as directly between the walls. These are small measures that together make a difference, and they fit naturally into an open-plan kitchen-living area that should feel homely.
The best result is typically achieved by combining solutions. The ceiling provides the majority of the absorption, while textiles and furniture fine-tune the room so that it both looks good and sounds good.
What does it cost to dampen sound in an open-plan kitchen-living area?
An open-plan kitchen-living area of 25 m² with 40 percent coverage requires around 10 m² of acoustic panels. With ARKU’s panels at 390 kr. per m² incl. VAT, two cartridges of installation adhesive and a pair of installation gloves, the total price comes to approximately 4.200 kr. when you install them yourself. If you want to calculate your own room or see more examples, we have compiled it in our price guide.
