Essential Guide to Small Scale Living: Designing a Kitchen

Designing a kitchen can be very dificult. Especially if yours his small, so here are some tips to help you maximise the space in your small kitchen! To start the year off right we are turning our focus back to our Essential Guide to Small Scale Living blog series. This week we are moving to the small kitchen to give you some ideas of how make the most of the space that you have.

Light and transparency

Designing a small kitchen.

As with our previous room suggestions, light is crucial to enhancing a feeling of space in a room. The more natural light, the better. However, adding windows or undertaking structural changes is expensive so installing bright lights can help create this effect.

Light can also be coupled with use of glass or transparent materials for cabinets and shelves. Glass in particular, when used as a shelving or cabinet material, can help add a visual depth. This creates a greater feeling of space and these materials can also help to further reflect light. Glass or transparent features can also help from an organisational point of view. It becomes easier to arrange and find any items that you may need.

However, be sure to add a few personal touches to the kitchen to retain the coziness of a home. This could come in the form of curtains across the window or a rug on the floor to add a pop of colour to the room.

Consider a kitchen island

Credit: pecansthomedecor.com

Islands are a fantastic, versatile feature to enhance the limited space that you may have in your kitchen. They offer invaluable extra storage space for large kitchen items such as plates, cutlery, pots and pans. Installing drawers or internal shelves in the island can also help keep the visual space clean. An island is also a great spot to put some larger kitchen amenities such as a sink, a dishwasher, or even the stove.

An island can also be a great way to make a small kitchen a social space too. It creates a central focal point to draw

attention and adds extra seating space to accommodate family and friends. From a design perspective too, an island can help delineate the room and give an impression of space beyond the room’s actual dimensions.   

Pot racks

Another top space saving trick is to introduce a pot rack into your kitchen. This involves hanging your pots and pans from hooks on a wall, or even on the ceiling if wall space is limited. This is a great way to free up cupboard space, and can help to dry them out after being washed! Space above the island or  the door, or behind the stove, tends to be forgotten, and this can be a great use for it. If done tastefully, the exposed pots can also add some visual interest and can make for a trendy looking kitchen.

You can also consider features such as magnetic knife racks which also help make the most of your space.

Space savers

As we touched on earlier, chairs that fit under the top of your island are a great idea for small spaces. In kitchens that are small, this allows you to do away with a dining table and use the island for eating as well as cooking. And in those with a dining table, it still allows for extra seating and the island can double up as a work or social space.

Kitchen and cabinet corners are also a great place to find some extra storage space. Ensuring that you find a specific cupboard to fill the space, or even working with a carpenter, can help use every last inch.

That’s it for this week’s instalment, thank you for tuning in! If you are looking for some more interior design inspiration check out our Instagram page. Or maybe you are looking to renovate your place entirely? Don’t worry we have you covered there too. Pop over to Nordic Developments who will be happy to help you throughout the process.