Dos and Donts of Small Kitchen Design
In terms of keeping it clean, a small kitchen can be a very helpful thing, a quick wipe down takes you just minutes! By contrast though, keeping a small kitchen tidy and clear of clutter can be a real pain, if you are short of storage space or counter tops. Here we have a few dos and don’ts for small kitchens, to help make your small kitchen design as user-friendly as possible:
DON’T
Don’t think that everything has to be kept in the kitchen: some kitchen appliances can be rehoused elsewhere – perhaps a condenser tumble dryer could be safely relocated to within the actual airing cupboard, whilst an understair cupboard can be cleared out, decorated, shelved and redesignated as a larder or pantry to give you convenient storage for sealed consumables such as tins and jars!
Don’t assume that all of your kitchen storage and counter space has to come from fitted units, as sometimes making the best use of a small kitchen space can be through using freestanding or individual units! For example, dressers are often not as wide as built in kitchen base units with standard counter tops, but they do still offer you counter space and storage cupboards which, because they are narrower, may well leave you enough space in the centre of the room for a small kitchen table.
Don’t include large size items into your small kitchen if you don’t need them to be large! For instance, why have a family sized dishwasher just for a couple of you? Small kitchen appliances are readily available and are a space friendly and economic option for both small kitchens and small budgets!
DO
Small kitchens can easily become cluttered if you are not careful, so do make good use of shelving so that you can keep items you regularly used items to hand.
Similarly, check every possibility for extra space: fabric pockets could hang on the back of the kitchen door, offering very useful extra storage space for sundry items such as napkins, paper bags, baking paper or aluminum foil.
Make sure that your small kitchen design does incorporate enough space to adequately open cupboards and drawers, particularly if you are fitting it out with freestanding units: it’s not a user-friendly move if you have to struggle to get items in and out of cupboards and drawers that don’t open fully because they are obstructed by other units!
If you are having a small kitchen design from scratch, do find out if there are any small kitchen islands designs that will help to make better use of your small space, such as an island with seating or an island incorporating some in-built appliance to save you even more space.
Include items which can expand as you need them to or offer extra storage space. For instance there are kitchen tables for small spaces that extend out when needed, often with drawers. Alternatively there are small kitchen tables which have storage space below for stools or folding chairs, so that when they are not in use all is safely stowed away!
So, if you are ‘stuck’ with a kitchen that’s smaller than you’d like, it may be time to re-think and find small kitchen designs that give you the uncluttered storage options you need. I like to use the following book when I need small kitchen design solutions. It’s jam packed with quality pictures and ideas.
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