2+kk, 3+1 and the plus sign: reading a Czech flat listing like a local

A first-time reader of Czech property adverts sees a scatter of strange symbols: 1+kk, 2+1, 3+kk, 4+1. They look like arithmetic and, in a way, they are. The code is the quickest summary of a flat's layout, and it is the first filter most Czech buyers and renters apply. Once the system is clear, it takes seconds to read. The trouble is that the same code covers very different flats.

The basic rule

The number before the plus counts rooms (pokoje), meaning the habitable rooms: a living room and each separate bedroom or study. Kitchens, bathrooms, toilets, halls and storage rooms do not count. What comes after the plus describes the kitchen:

• +1 means a separate kitchen, a room with its own door.
• +kk stands for kuchyňský kout (kitchenette, or kitchen corner). The kitchen is a corner or recess within a room, almost always the living room, and has no door of its own.

So a 2+kk has two rooms and a kitchenette: a living room with a kitchen corner, and one separate room. A 3+1 has three rooms and a separate kitchen, which means a living room and two bedrooms. A 1+kk is a studio flat, with a single room that holds the living, sleeping and cooking, plus a separate bathroom and hall.

Compared with English-language listings, a Czech 2+kk is roughly a one-bedroom flat with an open-plan living area, and a 3+kk is roughly a two-bedroom flat. The match is not exact, because the Czech code counts rooms, not bedrooms. A 2+1 is also a one-bedroom flat, but with the kitchen shut away. Our housing glossary collects more of the vocabulary used in adverts.

Why the kitchen matters

The kitchenette is not a matter of taste alone. In a +kk layout the kitchen and the living room form one space, so a living room of the same area feels smaller once cooking happens in it. In exchange, the flat tends to look brighter and you pay for fewer walls. In a +1 layout a closed kitchen keeps smells and noise out of the living room but takes up area that could have been a room.

Newer developments lean towards +kk, because open-plan living is the fashion and because it lets a developer fit one more room into the same area. Older blocks, especially those from the panel-building decades, favour +1 with a small closed kitchen. The same label can therefore describe quite different experiences, depending on the age of the building.

Older codes you will still meet

A few other terms appear, mostly in older stock:

• Garsoniéra is a one-room flat, traditionally with a small kitchen area and sometimes a shared toilet or a very small bathroom. The word is used for the cheapest and smallest units.
• Maisonette (mezonet) is a flat on two floors connected by internal stairs.
• Attic flat (podkroví, půdní vestavba) sits under the roof, often with sloping ceilings, which reduce the usable floor area.
• Atypical (atypický) is the catch-all for a layout that does not fit the standard pattern, from unusual rooms to a loft.
• Loft appears in conversions of former industrial buildings. Lofts are normally large open spaces with high ceilings, and a listing may call it 2+kk even though the whole floor is one volume. For a sense of what is on offer, there is a list of lofts in Prague (in Czech).

Two flats, one label

The code compresses information, and the compression hides differences. A 2+kk may measure a compact area in a recent development or a much more generous one in an old brick building. The same applies to a 3+1 in a panel block and a 3+1 in a pre-war villa. The only reliable guide is the floor area and the floor plan (půdorys). Czech listings usually quote a figure in square metres, but how it is measured varies, which is the subject of our explainer on how floor area is counted. A longer glossary of advert terms is in how Czech listings describe flats.

Other room details are worth reading on the plan. In older Czech stock the bathroom and toilet are often separate rooms, so a listing that says koupelna s WC (bathroom with toilet) is describing a combined room. A šatna (walk-in wardrobe), komora (pantry or storage room) and předsíň (hall) are not counted as rooms in the code but affect how the flat lives.

The extras that are not in the code

Outdoor space and storage are part of the Czech flat but sit outside the layout code. A balcony (balkon) projects from the façade. A loggia is recessed into the building and covered, which makes it more sheltered. A terrace (terasa) is usually on a roof or a lower storey. A cellar (sklep) or storage unit (sklepní kóje) in the basement is typical in older blocks and often included in the sale. These extras can matter more to daily comfort than the difference between a 2+kk and a 2+1.

The floor is written in two ways. 1. patro is the first floor above the ground floor, as in the UK. Listings and plans also use NP (nadzemní podlaží, above-ground storey), which counts from the ground floor: 1. NP is the přízemí (ground floor), so 3. NP is two floors above it. Whether there is a lift (výtah) in a block of five or six floors changes the experience of the top flat considerably.

What the layout says about the building

Layouts also carry a date. The 3+1 with a small separate kitchen, a hallway and a bathroom core is the signature of the panel decades. The 2+kk with a sunny living room and a kitchen corner is the signature of the last twenty years of development. Pre-war brick buildings in districts such as Vinohrady or Žižkov tend to have larger rooms, high ceilings and a layout that does not fit any of the standard codes neatly, so the agent calls it atypical or just gives the number of rooms.

That is useful to know before a viewing. A panel flat with a rational, compact layout may have little wasted space and a predictable bathroom core, while an older brick flat may have generous rooms but awkward corridors. Neither is better in the abstract. The code is only the beginning of the question of how you would live in it, and the plan answers the rest.

Practical use

Treat the code as a filter, not a verdict. Set your search for the rooms you need, then read the area and the plan, and then ask about the extras. For ownership forms that look the same in an advert but are legally different, such as cooperative and personal ownership, see our guide to the forms of owner-occupied housing.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between 2+kk and 2+1?

Both have two rooms. In a 2+kk the kitchen is a corner inside one of the rooms, normally the living room. In a 2+1 the kitchen is a separate room with its own door.

Does the number include the bathroom?

No. The number counts the main habitable rooms only. Bathroom, toilet, hall, pantry and kitchen (if it is a separate room) are not included.

Is a 1+kk the same as a studio?

In practice yes: one main room with a kitchen corner and a separate bathroom. Some adverts use the word garsoniéra for older and smaller versions.

Can I trust the layout code to compare flats?

Only as a first filter. Compare floor area, the plan and the extras as well, because the same code covers flats of very different sizes.

Before you book a viewing, ask for the floor plan and the declared floor area, and ask which of the measures in the advert it is.