Santos wood kitchen integrated into the daytime living area
18/ 07 / 2025
This flat is found in a building dating back to the early 20th century in the historic district of a port town. Its unbeatable location was the deciding factor for the current owner, who went back to his hometown after many years away. He chose it to put down roots and start a new chapter in his life.
The daytime living area, intended to be the heart of the home, has been set up in the space presided over by the glazed balcony. It’s a bright, free-flowing, open-plan room shared by the kitchen, diner and lounge, where the walls and ceilings painted in white further boost its natural brightness.
The interior design places a special emphasis on organic materials, seeking an innate connection with nature. Stone – visible in the lounge wall – and wood – found in the furniture, interior partition walls with slat wall panelling and the grey oak flooring running all throughout – stand out in this regard. Scrupulous furnishings offer maximum functionality with a few choice pieces, lightening the atmosphere to make the room feel larger.
In a nutshell, as a result of the perfect harmony between practicality and emotion, the project has created a warm, comfortable and serene atmosphere of a welcoming haven that invites everyone to relax and switch off.
Open-plan kitchen laid out in parallel
The renovation project took into account the owner’s requirements, as he usually cooked at home and had his adult children as well as family and friends over. Therefore, he needed a kitchen that would let him work comfortably and with loads of storage space. He also wanted the room to be integrated into the lounge/diner to make it easier to move around and foster interaction with his guests.
In the kitchen, which was laid out in parallel, the preparation, cooking and washing-up areas are all found in a run with a worktop and wall panel in Cream Quartzite laminate by Santos. The lower part of the run has been fitted out with a sink unit, a built-in dishwasher, a hob unit with ventilation grid and two drawer units. These FINE model units, with their sleek lines and smooth fronts in Vertical Rustic Oak wood, seamlessly blend into the home’s interior design. The seamless finish of the worktop, wall panel and gola profile gives the design an even more cohesive flow.
Base units with plinth drawer units
The drawer units and sink unit all feature plinth drawer units, an exclusive Santos product that makes it possible to make the most of all the height and depth available under the worktop. Thus, the most frequently used utensils are placed in full-extension drawers and double drawers, which are found in the most ergonomically sound area for the user, while the plinth drawer units are used for bulky or infrequently used items.
The other two units feature specific solutions to integrate the dishwasher and surface extractor. This, together with the visual alignment of the drawer units with the rest of the fronts, helps to consolidate the unity of the whole.
Glass-door units with interior lighting
The upper part of the kitchen boasts CUADRO NATURA glass-door units with side opening doors. These cupboards in Vertical Rustic Oak wood come with thin ribbed glass fronts with a discreet solid wood frame. Their interiors, customised in the same wood finish as the exteriors, include a lighting system for shelves which projects indirect lighting onto the back of the unit. The ribbed texture of the glass filters this lighting, helping to create a cosier atmosphere.
The glass-door units feature a second bar, integrated into the bottom, intended to illuminate the worktop. A diffuser keeps the light from shining directly into the eyes of users, avoiding any annoying glare while working.
Lighting bar with slit for accessories
In the kitchen’s intermediate area – underneath the composition of glass-door units – there’s a lighting profile that projects decorative indirect lighting onto the work surface. This element can hold switches, plug sockets and USB connects and features a slit to accommodate practical accessories such as a jar holder, a knife rack or a bar with hooks, while keeping them always within easy reach and in view. What’s more, in order to make the kitchen look even more cohesive, the front and sides of the profile have been customised in the same finish as the worktop, wall panel and gola profile.
Tall units with floor-to-ceiling furnishings
The kitchen furnishings are rounded off with a composition of tall units with fronts and interiors finished in Beige. These have been laid out around several steel columns that are part of the building’s structure. These units integrate two ovens, a fridge, two utility units and multiple storage options in a compact and organised manner. The top box units expand their capacity all the way up to the ceiling, providing valuable additional space to store bulky or infrequently used items.
Lounge/diner with bookcase and glass-door unit
The full integration of the appliances has made it possible to streamline the block of tall units, transforming it into an open partition wall around which the other spaces of the daytime living area have been laid out. Thus, right behind this composition is the lounge, with the diner perpendicular to it. To serve these two areas, two modular options from the Santos Living line were combined: A wall-mounted bookcase and a glass-door unit.
The bookcase is the perfect option to organise books and magazines, although it can also hold decorative items and living room accessories. Meanwhile, the glass-door unit is very practical for storing tableware and displaying delicate items. Its impressive design – with a black aluminium frame, concealed hinges and smoked glass fronts – makes it a decorative statement piece. The lighting system for shelves – aside from drawing attention to its contents – turns it into a source of indirect ambient lighting. The Vertical Rustic Oak wood finish found in both compositions and shared with the kitchen cabinets further enhances the flow and cohesion among the different spaces of the daytime living area.
THE PROPERTY
Category: Flat
Photography: Fernando de Bustos
THE KITCHEN
Santos furniture: Vertical Rustic Oak FINE (base units), Vertical Rustic Oak CUADRO NATURA glass door unit (wall units), Beige FINE (tall units)
Layout: Parallel
Worktop and wall panel: Santos laminate finished in Cream Quartzite
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