As the essential part of our home, the kitchen is supposed to be a place that is both spacious and well-organized. However, along with the on-going trend of micro-homes, kitchens are also shrinking. And just because yours might be small, it doesn’t mean you won’t be able to maintain the same efficiency, organization and style as if you had a larger kitchen. All you need to do is use those inches smartly and perform a couple of visual tricks at the same time in order to make your kitchen look a bit larger. Here is how to do so.
Glass
Using glass is definitely the easiest way to visually expand a space. Go with glass table tops, glass counters, door cabinets, tile, as well as doors that lead to other rooms.
Also, you can strategically place a few mirrors around to make your tiny kitchen seem much bigger. There are many ways to do so. You can group a couple of smaller mirrors together and paint all their frames the same color – this way, you will achieve an organized look without feeling cluttered.
Another idea is to place a big mirror behind your stove. Yes, it will get greasy and dirty – but tiles would too, and it is not like you are going to have a hard time cleaning, right? When you do this, a mirror is going to bounce the light around and will make your cooking easier and more enjoyable. Who doesn’t love to look at him or herself while doing things, right?
Finally, you can buy mirrored tiles and glue them to the fronts of your kitchen cabinets. No matter whether you go with top or bottom cabinets, tiles will still reflect the world around and enlarge your kitchen visually.
Opening up the cupboards
When you are in a tiny kitchen with cabinets towering over your head, it can turn into quite a claustrophobic experience. A great way to avoid that is to go with open storage instead. Replace cabinets with pot racks, shelves and magnetic knife and spice holders. This way, you will make your kitchen both look way more spacious and make it serve up the space for you to display your favorite pans, pots, dishes and artwork.
Function is the priority
One tiny kitchen simply cannot accommodate homework, laundry, mail storage and recipe hunting all at once. Unless you prefer cooking not to cook, the main focus of your kitchen should logically be meal prep.
Firstly, make sure you have all the necessary appliances and work areas. And note that you can save a lot of space if you opt for scaled-down appliances such as a 24-inch built-in Maytag dishwasher, a pint-sized freezer, a refrigerator, a microwave, two burner stove and a single sink.
Also, you can opt for a small-scale kitchen island as well as counter-top cart that can be rolled into a closet when not in use.
Keep it neat
We are all aware of the fact that we can fit more clothes into a suitcase when those clothes are folded nicely instead of being stuffed inside. it’s the same with kitchens, especially a tiny kitchen. Keep your counter-tops clutter-free, don’t shove unnecessary items in your kitchen, find the best spot for everything, and feel free to play with colors and mingle brightly colored surfaces with soft backgrounds in order to create cheerful areas that complement each other.
Also, use free space wisely – there are probably several feet of unused space between your ceiling and the tops of your cabinets; use that space for storing pots and pans and other bulky items. And speaking of pots and pans, prevent piles of dishes from forming by cleaning as you go.
Storage tricks
If you have limited cabinet and shelf space, you can, for example, store your baking sheets, muffin tins and cooling racks in the oven. Next, if there isn’t enough storage space in your kitchen, you can create one in another room by using a nook or a closet. Also, you can compensate the lack of drawers by installing hooks wherever you can so you can hang your oven mitts, strainers and knives there. Finally, make the most of every corner by installing corner shelves – they’re quite a life saver.
As you can see, no matter how small the space is, it still has potential. It is not the size of the dog in the fight, it is the size of the fight in the dog (Mark Twain). A few organization tricks in a combination with proper inspiration can definitely do wonders.