Planning a kitchen redesign but feeling concerned about the limited space you have available? Even if you may not be able to fit a large island or dozens of cabinets into your small kitchen, there are still plenty of ways to create a new practical and functional space.
While you have plenty of options available, you’ll need to plan and utilize a precise eye for detail to create the ideal results. You must make every choice with care, from the storage to the lighting to the layout.
Here are some of our top tips on how to make a small kitchen work:
The National Kitchen and Bath Association considers a “small kitchen” to be in the general vicinity of 150 square feet or less. This can be somewhat limiting when evaluating your design options.
However, some layout choices can drastically expand your perceived space. Those options include:
Small kitchens usually mean short countertops, and that can pose multiple problems. It can hamper your ability to prepare and serve food, and large appliances don’t help matters. If you can, try to purchase sleek devices that fit snugly into pre-determined areas.
Not only will this alleviate cramping issues, but it also gives you convenient access whenever necessary. Many top manufacturers sell plenty of new-age, pint-sized products — including blenders, toasters, microwaves, coffee machines, and much more.
With a small kitchen redesign, one of the best space-saving techniques is adding more shelving options to your walls and over your cabinets. This is an excellent way to free up space in your cabinets. You can use these shelves to store dishes, cookbooks, spices, dish towels or wine— the possibilities are endless.
You could also consider investing in a hanging drying rack, which you can fix to a wall to free up even more countertop space.
Cooking utensils take up a lot of space in your cabinets and drawers, especially if you have many dishes, pots and pans. You can combat this problem by hanging your utensils instead of storing them in drawers. Consider installing a hanging rack above your stove or under your cabinets to hang frequently used utensils, such as spatulas and spoons.
You can also insert a rod into your cabinet doors or under your sink to hang cleaning products, utensils or smaller pots and pans, freeing up even more shelving.
Switching to drawers instead of cupboards is an excellent way to create more space. Cupboards can result in a cluttered space, especially when storing oddly shaped items. You also might need to rummage through your cupboards and remove items to find what you need. Drawers, on the other hand, can use any available areas and provide an organized solution to storing your cooking materials.
Depending on the design of your stove, you may be able to add a drawer underneath to store large pans that take up space in your cabinets. Switching to drawers is the best way to both maximize and organize your small kitchen.
Boxes or trays are an excellent option to store smaller items and items you don’t use that often. You can store recipe cards, cleaning supplies, small utensils, silverware or spices in a box that easily slides under your sink or on top of your shelves or cabinets.
If you want to get creative, you can customize and label your boxes to better organize your items and designate a special place for them. Adding boxes is a must if you want to declutter your kitchen and free up cabinet and counter space.
You might be thinking that a kitchen island is out of the question with your small kitchen, but that’s not always the case. If you’re struggling to fit a table in your kitchen, a petite kitchen island or peninsula could make a great substitute and create more storage space. Some kitchen islands have breakfast bars with cabinet space underneath, where you can store a few of your cooking items. Breakfast bars also double as a countertop when you’re not enjoying meals.
Regardless of your circumstances, you can instantly upgrade your small kitchen storage with innovative cabinetry and other related options.
Implement pull-out containers for your wastebaskets, or include a cutting board and a knife block into the same drawer. You can place a movable pantry organizer in between open spaces, or you can even add a comprehensive storage system for your pots and pans so you don’t have to worry about them getting banged up.
Wolf Home Products offers all of these storage solutions and many more. We take pride in helping our customers construct their dream kitchens in spite of the space constraints they might find themselves up against.
With a careful plan of action, you won’t ever again feel constrained in your kitchen. Contact a dealer in your area to discuss your options today.
