How To Make A Small Kitchen Feel Bigger

Posted on Oct 10th, 2020

Whether you’re designing a new kitchen in a smaller home or updating your existing one, these basic tips can help your kitchen feel bigger inside and out.

Keep The Design Simple

It can be tempting to want to apply every trending design you find on Houzz or Pinterest but smaller kitchens do best when the design is simple. Instead of adding every embellished detail to your cabinet doors, moulding, and countertops, opt for a minimal design that opens up your space instead of crowding it. A modern, uncluttered design will allow your space to feel sleek and minimal regardless of its size.

Light It Up

Natural lighting and artificial lighting always play an important role in the look of feel of any room. While overhead lighting may seem like enough to light up your kitchen, it can also cast a shadow over your countertops from the upper cabinets making it difficult to provide ample lighting as you meal prep. Instead, a combination of overhead lighting, pendant lighting, and undercabinet lighting can instantly add depth to your cabinets and functionality to your workspaces. Thoughtful undercabinet lighting is especially important to lighten up those shadows, bring out your backsplash, and put your countertops on display.

Bounce Light

While we love a beautiful black kitchen, dark colors tend to absorb light and make a room feel smaller. Light colors will naturally bounce light around the room to instantly open up your space. This doesn’t mean you have to have a boring, all-white kitchen (though we equally love the classic white kitchen and white gloss really will reflect light), just opt for a lighter version of your favorite greys, blues, or creams and don’t forget the clever lighting!

Use Creative Storage Solutions

One reason we love a small kitchen is it is where the most creative solutions are born. There is nothing more satisfying than a place for each of your items without any wasted space. It requires you to be thoughtful and creative, to think through how you can use the most of the space you’ve been given. Keep items perfectly organized with storage drawers, keep clutter at bay with a garbage pull-out, and efficiently use that lower cabinet corner space with a storage Lazy Susan. The possibilities are limitless!

Add An Island

While you may think it’s impossible to squeeze an island into your small kitchen, they may be the perfect option in an open-plan layout. For an open concept kitchen, an island can zone the area to fully identify it as the kitchen. It can either replace a portion of an L shaped or U shaped kitchen while still offering plenty of storage space.

Make an appointment with one of our Kitchen Design Specialists today!