Good design ideas for small kitchens

Johannes van Graan Johannes van Graan
AGNESE 1 - CUCINELUBE, Studio Ferriani Studio Ferriani Classic style kitchen
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We all have kitchens (well, hopefully), but not all of us have great big spacious layouts that allow us to practice the mambo while cooking. Yes, a tiny kitchen is a sad fact of life, but since architecture and home design is never written in stone, it means you can opt for a variety of creative tricks to turn your tiny little cooking corner into a most delectable kitchen space. 

After all, if not precisely planned, a tiny kitchen can lead to chaos of all sorts: appliances dominating countertops, overstuffed cabinets that barely shut, cookware stashed in the oven, and friends making excuses on why they can’t come over – so sad.

So, to help you cling on to your sanity and BFFs, let’s take a look at 8 clever ways to add more space (and style) to your small kitchen.

1. Extend the cabinetry height

Know what that little space between your top cabinets and the ceiling’s good for? Gathering dust!

To squeeze out some more space, extend your cabinets so they fit all the way to the ceiling, affording you a little bit of extra storage area, perfect for additional kitchen accessories or off-season items.

2. Rethink your seating

Know what’s more flexible than a regular chair? A folding one, as well as a bench, as you can hide these in the closet or slide it underneath that table/kitchen island you plan on using as a dining spot – plus, a bench can seat more than one person!

3. Think smaller

If you can’t increase the space, how about decreasing some of your appliances and accessories? 

A smaller microwave, stove, extractor hood, etc. take up less space because they’re, well, smaller – helping you add a little bit more room to the rest of your kitchen. 

Need a professional touch in your kitchen (or bathroom or garden… )? Check out our range of experts here on homify.

4. More cupboards, please

Is that teeny tiny kitchen of yours connected to, say, a living room or dining space in an open layout? 

See if you can extend your kitchen cabinetry or install some extra cupboards that flow into the adjoining room, reinforcing the idea that it’s one integrated space by also affording you more storage opportunities.

5. Look into it

One of the simplest ways of visually expanding a kitchen is by incorporating glass, which lets you see through the objects, thereby enhancing the feeling of spaciousness.

Try a glass counter or tabletop, or glass door cabinets. Glass kitchen doors, to the outside world or the adjoining room, can also visually expand the space. You can even try out highly reflective glass tiles that can give your kitchen sparkle. 

Mirrors, in a backsplash or strategically placed around the room, also lighten up the look.

6. Embrace a free-standing island

Maybe it’s time to trade in that wall-connected peninsula with a free-standing island, which will free up some legroom in terms of movement. 

Yes, this will cancel out a cabinet or two that you used for storage, but you will make this up with the new ones you’re getting in the adjoining room and/or right underneath your ceiling, remember?

7. Get repetitive

Create cohesion with your designs. This can extend into various places, like having the kitchen floor be the same wood/tile that’s carried throughout the rest of the main floor. Or letting your cabinetry and small dining table/island sport the same look in terms of colour/material. 

These small repeated decorative details ultimately go a long way in tying the room together.

8. Light it up

Like any other room, your small kitchen needs a combination of task and atmospheric lighting. To counteract with that fluorescent lighting (which is usually found in kitchens and casts a bluish light impacting the colourisation of objects in the room), consider hanging pendant lights that bathe your eating area in a more appetising colour. 

And opt for incandescent lighting (which is more yellowish) underneath the upper cabinets to shine down on the countertops. 

To save even more legroom, let’s have a look at some: Combined kitchen/diner space ideas.

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