Layouts and floor areas
2+kk flat layout
In Czech: 2+kk
2+kk is a Czech flat with two habitable rooms, one of which has a kitchenette (kuchyňský kout). It usually means a living room with kitchen and one bedroom, so it is closer to a one-bedroom flat.
Also called: 2kk, one-bedroom flat, one-bedroom apartment
What it means
The Czech layout code (dispozice) 2+kk is easy to misread. The 2 is the total number of habitable rooms, including the living room. The kk stands for kuchyňský kout, a kitchenette built into one of those rooms. So a typical 2+kk is a living room with a kitchen area plus one separate bedroom.
In English terms it is usually a one-bedroom flat. If you need two bedrooms and a living room, look for 3+kk or 3+1. The bathroom, toilet, hallway and any walk-in wardrobe are not part of the count.
How it works in the Czech Republic
The kitchenette is normally in the living room, which leaves the bedroom free of cooking smells. Layouts vary, though: sometimes the room with the kitchen is the smaller one, or the kitchen unit sits in a wide hallway. The advert will still say 2+kk.
What matters is whether the second room is a real room with its own door and window. In some refurbished flats the bedroom is only part of a room divided by a partition or a glass wall, or it is a walk-through room (průchozí pokoj) that you enter through the living room. On paper it is still 2+kk, but you get less privacy.
Two 2+kk flats can therefore live very differently. Read the floor plan as carefully as the price: room sizes, window positions and where the kitchen sits tell you more than the code.
Practical example
For example, someone relocating to Brno with a partner and a child reads '2+kk, 55 m²' (illustrative figures) and imagines two bedrooms. At the viewing it turns out one room is the living room with a kitchen and the other is the only bedroom. With separate rooms for the parents and the child, the search should have been for a 3+kk.
What to watch out for
- Count bedrooms as the number minus one: a 2+kk normally has one.
- Check on the plan that the bedroom is not a walk-through room and has its own window.
- Ask where exactly the kitchenette is and how much living space remains around it.
- If the bedroom was created by adding a partition, ask whether the change is documented.
Frequently asked questions
How many bedrooms does a 2+kk have?
Usually one. The other habitable room is the living room with the kitchenette.
What is the difference between 2+kk and 2+1?
In a 2+1 the kitchen is a separate room, so both rooms can be lived in without a kitchen unit. In a 2+kk the kitchen is part of one of the rooms.
Is a 2+kk enough for a family with a child?
It depends on the room sizes. With a baby it can work, but separate rooms for the parents and a child usually mean at least a 3+kk.