When faced with a small kitchen, too many people settle. They stuff plates and cookware into tiny cabinets. They suck in their bellies when other family members try to squeeze past toward the sink or fridge. They dream of someday moving to a house with a spacious kitchen where they can once again prepare sumptuous meals for family and guests.
But you don’t have to settle. Award-winning designer and author Susan Serra loves small kitchens. That’s because she tells her clients about the many options for organizing a tiny kitchen space, combining utility with charm. Among her suggestions–raise cabinets up to the ceiling and down to the counter; buy small appliances; buy extra deep cabinets with roll-out shelving; hang knives on the wall and store utensils in bowls or crock pots already on the countertops.
Paint Your Small Kitchen to Open It Up
Using light color paint can open up a narrow space, and so can skylights and bay windows. Notice the use of spot lighting in the example photo here. White paint on cabinets and the countertops also help lighten the room. Serra recommends, where possible, to install the sink at an angle to create additional countertop space. Leaving the space over the stove and windows can remove the potential for additional storage and cabinets, but the sacrifice pays off in additional roominess.
Before your kitchen remodel begins, consider all the activities and potential uses you’ll need. If it’s too much to handle, why not spend a little on hiring a professional designer and get the sizing right the first time?
Designers consider the kinetic requirements for your chores. For example, do you know that it’s a good idea to organize your routine kitchen utensils and supplies above your waist to minimize bending or having to drag over a step-stool?
Using glass doors on your cabinets also create openness. Flooring and floor coverings are essential to creating the right effect. Notice how the stripes on this kitchen rug run the length–rather than the width–of the narrow floor? Using the deepest sink available for a small kitchen also helps with prep and cleanup without compromising counter space.
Better Homes and Gardens suggests adding reflective surfaces (on your fridge and appliances) to magnify the space of the room. Above all else, make sure your plans are for a kitchen makeover you can afford.
Isn’t this Young House Love’s kitchen?
with a cramped place you have to make it feel bigger then it is, light and airy. my kitchen is cramped so we painted it light colours and keep the window clear
Be cautious when designing a kitchen with non standard sized appliances. I tried to replace an old dishwasher that was made to fit under a sink, but I could not find a replacement, so I had to rebuild the cabintetry when the dishwasher broke!
Thanks for the ideas. I suffer from an overly small kitchen. I especially like the idea of using reflective appliances. I have heard of using mirrors to make a room feel bigger but a mirror would look pretty odd in a kitchen. That is unless it is in fact the reflective face of your fridge.
American houses have the largest kitchens when compared to those found in European and Asian homes. I stayed at a flat in England where the entire kitchen was stuffed under a staircase, but it worked.
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Lots of light opens up a kitchen a lot more. One positive about a small kitchen is there is less to cleanup, but everything can looked cluttered so essentially it always looks dirty… Good storage is key when designing a kitchen.
That is definitely what people call a “Dream kitchen”. Wow! The owner of that house surely knows what a kitchen should look and how it will awe people who will see it.
Woodrow, you offered some great tips in your blog about utilizing a small kitchen. In addition to the great advice you offer, here are some other things that your readers might find useful as well. Glass is a great tool to help make your kitchen feel bigger. Consider creating a breakfast nook by cantilevering out a big bay window. Glass-surface and mirror counters expand the look of the room as well. Replacing your old cabinet doors with glass doors will also open up your kitchen. If your cabinets don’t reach the ceiling, you can also use that space for storage as well.
Though small, this kitchen is beautiful! I will have to incorporate some ideas from this in my new kitchen!
Very nice kitchen, I would not use the striped rug and wood floor though. When designing small kitchens we usually install light tile floors maybe a crema marfil marble or a nice rectified porcelain, the light color will help in making the kitchen look bigger and the transition between tile and wood will help create the effect of a different -bigger- room than the rest of the house. There are nice crema marfil marble tiles available at places like http://www.sooplies.com that don’t make you brake the bank and come out looking beautiful.
Thanks for the ideas.
So, what if the kitchen is small and cramped and the available space is awkward in shape and contains structural walls that can’t be altered? How can new home owners take a kitchen from impractical to practical and make it effective?
Creating a design that allows for the most work space, as possible, can be tough.
As you imply, Woodrow, remodeling your kitchen cannot always include expanding it – either due to budget or due to need. (Does everyone really need a spacious gourmet kitchen?) The real trick is to improve the form and function of what you have. Even if you can handle the work involved in the remodeling, it can be well worth it to invest in a professional designer to suggest what to do with the space. You pay the designer for the vision even if you do the work.
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cooking knife set…
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Nothing makes a room look smaller than having over-sized appliances or furnishings in it. When doing a small kitchen remodel, buying appliances to scale will increase visual appeal and allow you to use the space you save for workspace, storage, or moving around. You can find a refrigerator that is no deeper than your cabinets, as skinny as 24”, and short enough to fit under top cabinets. You just have to keep in mind that if you go small in all dimensions, you will sacrifice cubic feet.
Some awesome ideas for house improvements, will try and incorporate some of them into my kitchen! Cheers, House Clearance Wiltshire.