Got a small kitchen? Worry not, we’ve got you covered! Here’s how you can plan the best possible design for your small kitchen, maximising the space and making the most of what you have.
Be practical about the layout
Image yourself using your kitchen while you plan the layout. Where do you spend the most time? Are the things you need easily accessible from your work zone? For instance, you’ll want to keep your cookware stored near the stove and oven. Make sure you plan in enough square footage for doors and drawers to fully open as well to avoid getting stuck with unusable storage space later on. Consider stacking appliances to use all of the available vertical space as well.
Image courtesy of Naomi Hébert
Invest in storage solutions
Smart storage solutions will be your saving grace in a small kitchen. Extendable counters like the Atim Oplà Top and pull-down shelves like the iMove by Häfele can fit into the smallest of spaces while giving you extra space when you need it. You can also look into things like corner cabinets, pull-out pantries and even an entire compact kitchen like the one by Spaceman.
Image courtesy of Häfele
Get hold of multifunctional appliances
Using appliances efficiently in a tight space can be difficult, which is why you’ll want to cut down the number of appliances you need as much as possible. Multi-cookers like the Thermomix TM6 are ideal for this. When it comes to standard appliances that you just have to make space for, like a trusty oven and refrigerator, look out for innovative options that maximise space, like the Tecno TBO 7000 ovens and the LG Insta-View Door-in-Door refrigerators.
Image courtesy of Thermomix
Install surfaces that work harder
With limited space in your kitchen, you’ll want your surfaces to be sturdy and get the job done without the need for lots of different work zones. Hardwearing surfaces like Caesarstone’s Supernatural Ultra range and Cosentino’s new Dekton Slim are absolute must-haves for countertops in high-traffic kitchens. If you’re looking to fit out your backsplash and floors, we recommend tiles by Hafary and Soon Bee Huat. Round off your surface shopping with Lamitak laminates for your kitchen cabinets.
Image courtesy of Cosentino
Brighten up the colour scheme
Small spaces can easily look dark and drab. To keep your kitchen looking lively and vibrant, brighten it up with colours like white, cream, yellow and other light shades. You can add deeper accent colours to create some contrast, but make sure the overall space is bright enough to reflect lots of natural light.
Image courtesy of Brim Design
Add lighting in the right places
We’ve established that small kitchens can appear quite dark and need to be brightened with a light colour scheme, but what about the deeper corners of your work zones? That’s where task lighting comes in! Get hold of bright spotlights to illuminate the nooks and crannies of your kitchen and all of your work zones in order to maximise the usable space.
Image courtesy of ZLC
Looking for more kitchen appliance recommendations? Be sure to check out the list of winners of the SquareRooms Kitchen Awards 2020.
