Make the most of a small kitchen space

Many people live in small apartments where kitchen space is extremely limited. Even some houses have tiny kitchens and, let’s face it, the kitchen is one of the most important rooms in the home.

It’s not just storage space and ample surfaces that make a kitchen feel spacious, it’s also about how you store crockery, cutlery, utensils and food. Keeping your kitchen neat and tidy will make it feel bigger. Here are some other ways to make the most of a small kitchen.

Use mirrors in the kitchen

The kitchen is probably one of the last rooms in the house where you’d think to put a mirror. It’s a well-known fact that mirrors can make a room feel bigger. The bigger the mirror, the more of the opposite wall it will reflect, making the room appear double the size.

The same trick can be used in the kitchen. Cabinet doors above the countertop are a great place for mirrors. You can make the mirrors sleek and elegant, fitting the shape of the cabinet door.

They will reflect more light, making the kitchen brighter as well as seemingly more spacious. Mirrors on low-level cabinet doors will just reflect your feet and the floors, so it’s best to use them on the high-mounted cabinets if you have any.

Install high cabinets

Building on from the previous point, not many older kitchens have high-mounted cabinets above the countertops. If your kitchen cupboards and pantry are cluttered and overcrowded, think about installing more space at head height.

Nobody likes lifting heavy ovenware or pans to get something stored underneath it in a cramped cupboard. You can re-organise your cabinets, making it easier to find what you’re looking for and moving a lot of your lighter kitchenware to higher storage space.

If you’re worried about making the space feel more congested by installing cabinets, you can always paint them a light colour. White, cream or even a pale shade of grey will make them seem less intrusive. Pale wood is also a good idea if you’re concerned about enclosing the space with high-mounted cabinets.

Organise your cabinets in genius ways

Another solution to cluttered cabinets is to store items in clever ways that maximise on the space inside the cupboard. You can use sticky towel hooks on the back of cabinet doors to store pot lids.

Think about installing a pull-out cabinet mechanism inside one and then use it to store spices, condiments and dry ingredients. This will make it easier to access your commonly-used items, as well as being a smart storage solution.

A pull-out cabinet is also ideal for storing a rubbish bin. It’s out of sight but simple to access when needed. There are hundreds of great DIY ideas and storage hacks on the internet, so spend some time finding ones that will allow you to maximise on your existing storage space.

Utilise trays on countertops

Wooden tea trays are perfect for organising clutter on countertops. You can place your tea bags, sugar, coffee, hot chocolate and a box of rusks inside the tray to keep them neat and tidy.

A wicker basket is also ideal for storing countertop clutter – from bread and fruit to boxes of biscuits and teaspoons. Keep your surfaces clean and neat by packing items into baskets or trays.

You can get creative with wooden trays, painting them is a washed pastel colour to match the rest of the kitchen. You can sand them down to give them that vintage look or varnish them to show off the grain of the wood.

Redecorate your kitchen

Speaking of paint, you can also give your kitchen a new makeover that will make it appear more spacious. Light colours are known to open up a room, so give your cabinets a new lick of light-coloured paint.

You can also replace dark countertops with light marble or wood to brighten up the kitchen and make it less intrusive. Install new lights to ensure that the kitchen is properly lit at night. You can also make use of brightly-coloured accessories to brighten the space – yellow flowers in a vase, a yellow kettle, even a basket of fresh fruit will do the trick.

If you have the funds available, invest in some painted kitchenware such as a Smeg kettle or toaster. These will add a quirky touch to the kitchen and act as a bright decoration on the countertop.

Think about renovating the kitchen

Building on from the previous point, you may want to consider completely renovating your kitchen to create a brand new, space-efficient room. Start by making the kitchen window bigger to let more light into the room.

Think about knocking down a wall into the next room so that the kitchen becomes a more open-plan space. This will always make it feel more spacious. You can even just knock a hole out the wall and install a countertop between the two rooms. This ‘window’ to the next room will give you additional surface space, open up the room and allow you to socialise with people in the other room while you cook.

A renovation is an extreme solution to making the most of a kitchen space, but it will work the best. The rest of the tips are easier and cheaper, so start with those and give your kitchen a space boost.

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