Many of us are lucky enough to have a kitchen that is too small for us. An area that temporarily feels cramped and invasive, where two other people equals “too many cooks. “Luckily, mastering how to expand a small kitchen is less difficult than you think.
There are many techniques used by interior designers to improve the feeling of space in smaller kitchens. Here, we’ll tell you about indisputable flavor changes that you can try right away, without spending a lot of money. Whether it’s using paint. To make a room appear larger or reconfigure the layout, it’s the smaller tweaks that have a huge impact.
The key to avoiding a messy and stressful kitchen is to keep your small kitchen well-organized, getting rid of rice cookers and pasta makers that are rarely used and following a professional method of decluttering. perceive how complicated it can be.
It’s all about having less clutter and more light, while drawing attention up and into the whole with visual tricks. Here are four fundamental things I do to make a small kitchen look bigger.
Distractions are my first choice, because when you have a beautiful, preferably large, piece of art that’s visual going in, the small length of the kitchen becomes less noticeable.
We think art has no place in the kitchen, but place an oil-painted still life depicting a fruit bowl in a corner and watch as the space immediately becomes more poignant. Between you and me, this also makes your kitchen more beloved. on a budget.
Interior designer Kerrie Kelly of Kerrie Kelly Design Studio recommends opting for a few standout works of art, as they bring personality to your kitchen without overloading the space.
It’s all about being intentional and don’t forget that you can craft parts as the seasons change. Display one or two giant pieces of art in combination rather than having many small ones scattered all over the place, as this can make you feel right at home. You’re too busy.
Then think about soft levels. Do your best to welcome the herbal soft and update it in the evening with a soft synthetic.
For a spacious atmosphere, interior designer Breegan Jane recommends rattan lighting elements, which are one of the most sensible lighting trends of 2024.
Make the space the opposite of dark and gloomy by wiping windows and windowsills until they shine, pulling down curtains, and any light-blocking décor.
If you need decoration or plants on your windowsill, maybe you’re growing herbs indoors, follow Breegan Jane’s advice: “Plants and herbs (daisies are smart!) And even chunks like the garlic attached can contribute to an organic and airy vibe. wave. “
If you feel like touching up, you can frame the window with yellow paint to create the effect of letting the sun in. You can also place LED strips, available on Amazon, underneath cabinets to remove darkness from countertops and create the illusion of more than that. You can also place an adhesive mirror on your bribes (the space between the back cabinets and the floor) or open shelves.
Breegan Jane is a television host, designer, entrepreneur and philanthropist in Los Angeles. Breegan’s signature taste combines art and elegance with the comfort of life. It achieves a stunning, modern aesthetic with décor that maximizes elegance and promotes simplicity, serenity, and ideal comfort.
Lines and patterns are two of the keys to interior design and can be used to visually expand your kitchen space. Vertical lines create a sense of height and grandeur, giving the impression that a room is taller.
You can use vertical lines using a striped window treatment: “An overlapping Roman blind can be effective, with a texture or trend that creates the illusion of height,” says Laura Nicolson, interior designer at Decorbuddi. trend, go for anything that has a sagging part to make it look like the trend is dancing on the fabric. “
Or, if you have glass-fronted cabinets, you can upload a fluted glass effect film, available on Amazon. This gives you vertical lines and makes visual clutter less obvious, blurring the edges.
Horizontal lines, on the other hand, can widen narrow spaces. A striped kitchen rug like the one below makes a small open kitchen appear more spacious, and a checkerboard-print linoleum, from Amazon, placed at an angle so that the diamond-shaped squares will draw attention to the edges of the space.
RRP: £28 | Red and pink, washable and a way to test the unforeseen theory of red at home. We love this rug from Dunelm, which will expand tight spaces while adding color, pattern, and texture to update homes for spring.
Laura Nicolson, an interior designer from Kent, appreciates the variety of projects presented to Decorbuddi’s clients. Recent projects include an all-new brand new house, an 18th-century farmhouse and really extensive Georgian assets on a small country estate in Kent.
Making an effort to keep countertops tidy in a small kitchen is a daily habit that can make a big difference. Interior designer Sophie Clemson agrees: “If you fill your countertops with kitchen accessories or just must-haves like mail, bottles, plastic containers, etc. , your small kitchen will look cluttered and busy. Try to be super tidy to avoid any clutter on the countertop.
Over time, we become absolutely blind to clutter, so if you want to see results, I suggest cutting everything on your kitchen countertops. Place it on the dining room table, clean your kitchen while you’re at it, and then put things back intentionally. Opt for excessive minimalism and ask yourself if you want each item on the counter and where they logically deserve to go. The toaster can be stored in the cabinet under the counter, where you use it to waste valuable prep space. .
When you’re done, you’ll be able to take a step back and see a kitchen that feels more open and airy. As you walk around the room, the area feels larger because there is less room for the eye to rest. Keeping countertops tidy means you want to be more disciplined when organizing your kitchen cabinets, but that’s where smart kitchen organization products come in. Consult our consultant on kitchen organization strategies and organize kitchen countertops for inspiration.
£14. 39 | Often, we waste vertical space in kitchen cabinets, so it’s worth looking for under-shelf baskets like these, which allow you to use all the available space to buy food or cleaning supplies.
£12. 82 | Amazon offers a reasonable two-pack Lazy Susan turntable, with a sleek swivel design, ideal for storing spices, oils, seasonings, and other ingredients.
£13. 99 | Equipped with handles for easy movement, this five-pack of garage baskets is ideal for closets full of cleaning products and loose items.
Sophie Clemson is the co-founder of The Living House, an affordable online interior design company that helps busy families build their homes simply, online, and within their budget.
“For a small kitchen, it’s more productive if the floor matches the rest of the house. A trick for parquet is to lay it lengthwise to lengthen the life of the area, rather than laying it transversely,” says kitchen designer Looeeze Grossman. .
“If you can extend the floors to the adjacent garden, the exterior becomes a component of the kitchen, creating an additional outdoor area that would possibly be missing from the inside. When using parquet floors, use the same length and color. planks on the outside to open up the floor. Space out and continue the lines of the area.
“Opt for built-in appliances, as this will make your kitchen more spacious and more expensive. That’s exactly what I did in my small open kitchen,” says interior designer Sophie Clemson. “The fact that their appliances integrate seamlessly into the kitchen cabinets creates a more luxurious and modern atmosphere. “
Sophie says it works especially well when you opt for a painted kitchen, such as army blue or green. If the fridge, freezer or washing device is in plain sight, they may not reflect the pretty colors you’ve incorporated into your kitchen and those will be the first things you’ll see. So if your budget allows, opt for built-in appliances.
“I also propose using transparent countertops, such as quartz or marble. If you opt for dark countertops, it can make the area feel heavy, making it feel smaller. If you’re on a budget, there are also wonderful opportunities to laminate for marble work,” says Sophie.
It’s critical that everything is relative: If we take a look at small kitchens that aren’t unusual around the world (think compact, space-saving apartments from Manhattan and Paris, to homes in Japan), we temporarily realize that we don’t want as much area as we think. And in general, we don’t want more area, we just want less stuff.
Millie Hurst is an independent interior designer based in Sheffield, helping her clients create homes with character, clean and highly functional. Inspirations for interior design come from Jake Arnold, Beata Heuman, and Abigail Ahern. His personal taste is “livable maximalism” with bohemian designs fostered through nature.
She has seven years of experience in the world of virtual journalism, and recently ran for Chief of Solved at Homes.